{"id":765923,"date":"2026-06-28T02:23:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T02:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/765923\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T02:23:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T02:23:30","slug":"naseem-hamed-explains-why-he-walked-away-from-boxing-at-just-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/765923\/","title":{"rendered":"Naseem Hamed Explains Why He Walked Away From Boxing At Just 28"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former featherweight star Prince Naseem Hamed says injuries, not a lack of desire, forced him to retire at just 28 years old, insisting he would have continued fighting had his body allowed it.<\/p>\n

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Looking back on the decision, Hamed explained that persistent hand problems ultimately convinced him there was no point carrying on, despite still having the motivation to compete.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually felt like I would have loved to carry on. I would have loved to have done loads of stuff in the sport, but I just felt like what\u2019s the use in trying to go and do what you were going to do, but you can\u2019t do it because it won\u2019t work,\u201d said Hamed to talkSPORT Boxing<\/a>. \u201cIf your hands keep breaking, and every time you hit, you get an obscene amount of pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamed said he has no regrets about ending his career when he did. After winning a world title, making 15 successful title defenses, and capturing multiple championships, he felt he had already accomplished everything he set out to achieve.<\/p>\n

\u201cStopping boxing at 28, financially secure with all my faculties. That enables me to come in here and see you today and speak the way I speak,\u201d said Naeem. \u201cThat is a blessing in itself. Why can\u2019t many fighters get to an age and be happy with their careers and be content? I\u2019m content from my heart with what Allah has wrote for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sheffield icon noted that his boxing journey stretched far beyond his professional career. Hamed began training at the age of seven before turning professional after more than a decade in the amateur ranks, spending over 20 years devoted to the sport by the time he retired.<\/p>\n

Although he admits his hands still cause him pain from time to time, Hamed believes leaving the sport while healthy was the right decision.<\/p>\n

Hamed retired in 2002 with a 36-1 record after winning world titles at featherweight, saying he preferred to leave the sport while still healthy rather than continue fighting through recurring hand injuries.<\/p>\n

More than two decades later, he remains convinced it was the right decision, and became one of Britain\u2019s most recognizable boxing stars during the 1990s and early 2000s.<\/p>\n

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Olly Campbell is a boxing journalist who has covered the sport since 2014, providing ringside reporting and technical analysis of major bouts. His work focuses on fighter tendencies, tactical adjustments, and the details that shape high-level competition.<\/p>\n

Boxing News 24<\/a> \u00bb Naseem Hamed<\/a> \u00bb Naseem Hamed Explains Why He Walked Away From Boxing At Just 28<\/p>\n

Last Updated on 2026\/06\/27 at 12:28 PM \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former featherweight star Prince Naseem Hamed says injuries, not a lack of desire, forced him to retire at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":765924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-765923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}