Hamed To Forfeit WBO Belt

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According to an official statement from Prince Promotions Naz will not be fighting again this year. The fight with Istvan Kovacs was not allowed by HBO and Paul Ingle wouldn’t have been ready to fight in November.

Official Statement

Naseem Hamed has lost his World Boxing Organisation world title shortly
after the fifth anniversary of his reign.
Hamed’s camp have accepted the WBO’s decision to take away the featherweight
belt he has held since beating Steve Robinson in Cardiff in 1995.
It means Hamed, regarded almost unanimously as the best nine stone fighter
in the world, is left without a title.
The WBO were angry that Hamed refused to fight his number one contender,
Hungarian Istvan Kovacs, on November 4. Hamed’s American cable television
paymasters Home Box Office were not satisfied with Kovacs’ credentials and
were offering Hamed a fraction of his usual purse for the bout, which was
due to take place in England.
The WBO are now likely to attempt to match Kovacs with Mexican Marco Antonio
Barrera for the vacant title, with Hamed - installed as the number one
contender in line to fight the winner.
The situation is unlikely to bother Hamed, who has shrugged off problems
with sanctioning bodies in the past to maintain his status as the best
featherweight in the world.
In 1997, Hamed’s quest to unify the titles suffered a blow when he beat Tom
Johnson to win the IBF’s version - only to be stripped six months later for
refusing to defend against Hector Lizarraga. Hamed beat reigning WBU
champion Kevin Kelley in December 1997, but his camp had refused to pay the
WBU a sanctioning fee and therefore the belt was not on the line.
In April 1999, Hamed beat Puerto Rican Wilfredo Vazquez who had been
stripped of his WBA title for agreeing to meet Hamed. And in October last
year Hamed beat reigning WBC champion Cesar Soto, but was prevented from
picking up that honour because the WBC refuse to recognise WBO champions.
Hamed’s brother and business manager Riath sent a letter to WBO president
Francisco Valcarcel informing him of the champion’s decision to accept the
loss of his belt.
Riath wrote: “As you are aware, Naseem is unable to fulfil his mandatory
obligation due to HBO not approving Koko Kovacs as an opponent.
“I understand the situation has become very difficult for everyone involved
and therefore in order to maintain the excellent relationship that we have
enjoyed for the last five years, I would like to notify you of Naseem’s
decision to vacate the title.
“Upon vacating the title Naseem would still like to be rated number one to
allow him the option of fighting for the WBO belt again in the not too
distant future.
“The situation is not the one we had hoped for considering that Naseem has
been champion for so long with the WBO, and that all parties have benefited
from their special relationship.”