Hamed's fight for credibility

Harry Mullan expects the WBO champion to continue his rise to greatness

The evidence is accumulating that Naseem Hamed's enthusiastic assessment of his own abilities may indeed be accurate, but there remains a hard core among the public and the critics who prefer not to believe their eyes and retreat instead behind the "Yeah, but" line of defence. However spectacular his victory, they always find a way to downgrade it: were he to knock out Mike Tyson in the first round, some barstool pundit would still say: "Yeah, but Tyson had only fought three times in five years... what do you expect?"

The begrudgers will be heard again after Hamed disposes of the next challenger for his World Boxing Organisation featherweight title, the vastly experienced and undeniably competent Mexican Manuel Medina, whom he meets in Dublin on Saturday night. Medina has held the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Council versions: he was IBF champion in 1991-92, and WBC champion for three months last year. Even if he is not the force he was in his prime, it is worth noting that the man he took the WBC title off a year ago, Alejandro Gonzalez of Mexico, would probably have been considered too severe a test for Hamed at that time.

The 29-year-old from Tijuana is certainly the best boxer Hamed has faced, but he looks destined to go the way of the other 22 men the Sheffield prodigy has met since launching his career four years ago. Hamed has displaced Chris Eubank as the fighter the fans love to hate, and no doubt there were whoops of delight from the armchair punters when his last challenger, the unbeaten Puerto Rican Daniel Alicea, sent him crashing in the opening round. Hamed bounced straight back up to demolish Alicea in the second, and viewed the knockdown as no more than a temporary embarrassment.

Brendan Ingle, the trainer who has nurtured Hamed's talent since the boy was seven, has a more positive view. "It's the best thing that could have happened to him," he said. "It gave him a kick up the backside, and hopefully it will stop his being so careless another time." It was Hamed's first live appearance on American major TV, and the knockdown made for a dramatic fight that showcased his style and chilling finishing power.

I watched the fight in the Las Vegas home of Wayne McCullough, the WBC bantamweight champ and one of the few men in the business who wants to fight Hamed. Afterwards, I took soundings from a few of the local sports bars - always a useful reference point. Reaction was positive and confirmed the belief that "the flashy little English guy with the big punch" and the world's most flamboyant city were made for each other.

Hamed could have boxed there by now, but his promoter, Frank Warren, wants him to make his Vegas debut at the top of the bill rather than buried in a supporting role. A solid win over Medina, who is respected on the American circuit, would boost his marketability, especially if he followed it up with a unification match against the IBF champion Tom Johnson, who also defends his title on the Dublin show.

Johnson, who has beaten Medina in two of their three title meetings, is regarded as the best of the champions, a label Hamed covets. To earn that recognition, Hamed will have to beat one of the game's genuine superstars, like Azumah Nelson, the ageless Ghanaian who, at 37, continues to dominate the super-featherweight category (9st 4lb), or Marco Antonio Barrera, the unbeaten young Mexican who holds the WBO super-bantamweight (8st 10lb) title. Both are major names in Las Vegas, and a league above Medina or Steve Robinson, from whom Hamed won his title 11 months ago.

Medina has won six of his 10 world title fights for an overall record of 52 wins and seven defeats. The fact only 23 of his wins have come inside the distance virtually eliminates him as a threat. The only way to beat Hamed is to hurt him not just once but repeatedly, and anyone lacking the power to do so is in trouble. Medina was floored twice in a winning title fight against Troy Dorsey, and has been shaken in other major fights, including his WBC title win over Alejandro Gonzalez a week before Hamed dethroned Robinson in Cardiff.

Hamed's punching power is prodigious - even his cruiserweight gym-mate Johnny Nelson says he has frequently been hurt in sparring sessions with an opponent he outweighs by around five stones. However seasoned Medina is, he will not have faced that kind of power, and Hamed should dismiss him inside three rounds. Impressive? Yeah, but ...