NAZ IS KING OF THE HILL ..FOR NOW

Prince Naseem Hamed came within an ace of blowing his big American debut in a crazy Friday night shoot-out in Madison Square Garden.

His cloak of invincibility was left hanging by a thread, his WBO world featherweight crown cock-eyed on his battered head as he was forced to take three counts before knocking out American Kevin Kelley in the fourth round.

It was almost boxing's version of Russian Roulette as the two fighters entered into a bizarre pact to forget about defence and try to take each other out.

Promoter Frank Warren - desperately worried that his big Stateside gamble had backfired - revealed afterwards that the fighters talked after the weigh-in and agreed on all-out attack to test each other's chins.

Ultimately, only the sharp eyes of referee Benji Estaves probably saved Naseem's unbeaten record in the drama-packed fourth, giving him a mandatory count of eight to clear his head after his glove had faintly brushed the floor.

If native New Yorker and former WBC world champion Kelley had been allowed straight back on the attack without a count, the Prince would have looked more like a pauper this morning.

Instead, Naseem pulled himself together to deliver a final, crushing left cross that felled Kelley, who wobbled up just as the count reached 10, after two minutes 27 seconds of the fourth round.

Naz, who had infuriated Kelley with his eight-minute entry to the ring, was almost made a laughing-stock when sent crashing to the floor in the first round.

His legs turned to jelly as he was put down again in the second, only to get up and make Kelley fall to square the round.

Naz was strategically out- manoeuvred in the third, before producing the big finish just when he so badly needed it.

Naseem dearly wanted to be King of the Hill here but nearly came crashing down it with his wild attempt to take out Kelley from the start.

Instead he had the hard- bitten New York press crowing about another horizontal Brit with a glass jaw, though to be fair he did show tremendous heart by pulling himself together in time to win.

However, there will now be a gang of featherweights around the world licking their lips at the prospect of hitting Naseem on the chin, knocking him down and keeping him down.

Naz was unrepentant and said: "I wanted a war, a real fight - but I don't lie down for anyone.

"Kelley did hurt me with some shots and he's probably the best I've fought, but you saw the heart of a lion, a true champion to come back the way I did.

"I came to the lion's den, to Kelley's home, and still won - I'll fight any featherweight out there. I'm still a pure winner and you've got to nail me to the floor to beat me."

Warren, who admitted to almost having heart failure at the risks Naseem took, then detailed the strange deal the two fighters brokered. He said: "After the weigh-in, they went back stage and said: 'Let's test our chins, go toe to toe and forget about boxing.' And that's what they did, throwing caution to the wind - it was crazy stuff, but so exciting.

"Okay, Naz didn't fight the fight he should have fought but he delivers, those bombs land and very few can take the power.

"Mind you, I've just had resuscitation out there! It was too exciting for my liking."

Naseem was determined to put on a show for the New York fight fans, with almost 12,000 paying record gate receipts for a featherweight title fight of 822,127 dollars (pounds 550,000).

He left Kelley fuming in the ring as he danced behind a screen, dry ice and an explosion of tickertape heralding his eventual entrance with the same old somersault over the top rope after eight minutes of pure showing- off.

By this time Kelley was standing on the ropes imploring Naz to get a move on, and his back-up team were stoking up the fighter's rage.

It looked to have worked in a stunning first round, Kelley's southpaw stance seeming to confuse Naseem. Boxing cleverly at range, Kelley suddenly dropped a left cross on Naseem's chin and the Sheffield stylist was down, though he scrambled up before the count reached four.

Suddenly all Naseem's clowning disappeared. Kelley had caught his attention - and how.

A long right in the second had Naz touching down again and he once more had the embarrassment of a mandatory count of eight as he tried to make out he had slipped.

Naseem recovered some composure to send Kelley crashing with a big right, though the American was still focused enough to signal that he'd been caught by a good punch.

In the third round, Kelley got back to his boxing and won it with a jab that jerked Naz's head back and a left cross that put the champ off balance and staggered him.

Suddenly Naz looked a mere mortal and had to step up the pace in the fourth. A heavy left and right did the trick and Kelley was down, rising at six.

But Naseem still let Kelley take another liberty and a powerful right had the Sheffield fighter touching down to take that mandatory eight count.

It was all he needed to clear his befuddled mind and he then produced a short left that crumpled Kelley on the canvas.

The game New Yorker tried to get off his knees but it was too late. There was huge relief in the Naz corner, and no one knew more than trainer Brendan Ingle how close his man had come to a Garden debut disaster. Ingle said: "He's got to start listening again and get back to what he was doing a couple of years ago."

The only time Naseem had been floored before was against the lightly- rated Daniel Alicea in June last year when he won with a second-round knockout.

Challengers will be lining up to test the Naseem chin now - not least new WBO junior featherweight champ Kennedy McKinney, who stopped big- hitting Junior Jones after getting off the floor himself, on the undercard.

This was the battle of the big right hands with Memphis mean machine McKinney prevailing in two minutes 39 seconds of the fourth when Jones got up only to stagger across the ring, his legs out of control.

McKinney, IBF world super-featherweight champion Arturo Gatti of Canada and a possible return engagement with Kelley are being lined up for Naz.

He will fight again in March, probably back in the US, then in London when American HBO cable TV company cover the Wimbledon tennis.

Naseem would have four fights next year, two in the US and two in the UK, earning around a cool pounds 6m - if he can keep on winning.

But suddenly that 29-fight unbeaten record doesn't look quite so secure.

Copyright 1997 MGN LTD
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.