Prince Naseem Hamed's Las Vegas debut was confirmed in London today. Hamed will meet Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera at the MGM Grand on April 7, his fifth fight in America.
The former WBO featherweight champion said, "This is the fight that is going to make me, just like Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler made each other. This is a real fight that is going to stick in people's minds - that I boxed Barrera in his prime and he boxed me in my prime."
Barrera has fought 56 times, losing only three, piling up 37 stoppages in his career. He was involved in a memorable clash with fellow Mexican Erik Morales in February last year. Morales took the verdict, but many observers thought Barrera was unlucky to lose. Since then Barrera has successfully retained his WBO super-bantamweight crown three times. Unbeaten Hamed first boxed Stateside in December 1997, when he stopped Kevin Kelley in the fourth round at New York's Madison Square Garden, a dramatic bout of six knock-downs. Hamed then outscored Belfast's Wayne McCullough in Atlantic City 10 months later. And in October 1999 he out-pointed Cesar Soto in Detroit, and last August stopped Augie Sanchez in the fourth round in Connecticut.
Filed by Pat Nugent
