How Sheffield boxer Naseem Hamed made his fortune - as filming for his life story is due to begin

Producers plan to film scenes in and around the Steel City for authenticity as they document the life of the showman boxer, known as Prince Naseem and Naz.

His story began in the city suburb of Wincobank, where he grew up with his Yemeni parents and his eight siblings.

His parents had come to the UK from Yemen and his father initially worked at a steelworks in Sheffield before taking over the corner shop on Newman Road, where he brought up his family in the flat above.

At the age of seven, Naz was taken by his father to the now legendary Wincobank boxing gym because the youngster and his brother were getting picked on at school. And the rest is history.

The Paddy & The Prince film will document Naz’s rise to stardom and his relationship with his boxing trainer Brendan Ingle, which coached him on his journey to world titles, fame and fortune.

Dominic Ingle, who now runs his late father’s gym, previously told The Star: “Every day after he got back from school he’d be the first in the gym and the last one to leave. He had a natural flair for boxing but what stood out in the early days was how he’d always be the first there waiting for my dad to open up.”

Naz is said to have idolised famous Sheffield boxer Herol ‘Bomber’ Graham, who trained in the same gym as the young boxer and he was determined to following in the Sheffielder’s footsteps and become one of the greats.

He perfected his craft and after making a name for himself as an amateur, rising up the ranks, he turned professional in 1992 when he was 18, and was 21 when he beat Steven Robinson in 1995 to win the WBO featherweight title.

He went on to claim the IBF and WBC featherweight world titles during a glittering career in which he won 36 fights as a pro and suffered a solitary defeat, to Marco Antonio Barrera in 2001. He was 28 when he retired from the sport in 2002.

Naz was a showman both in and out of the ring. His ring walks were legendary – for one fight he arrived in the ring on a flying carpet and for another he was driven to the canvas through his crowd of adoring fans.

Multi-million pound match day purses followed, sponsorship deals with major brands and Naz’s celebrity status and earning power rocketed around the world.

His rags to riches story saw him buy a 10-bedroom £3.3m mansion in Sheffield at the height of his fame and he led a flamboyant lifestyle and surrounded himself with celebrities.

At one time he was said to have had a net worth of £50 million and was one of the richest British boxers ever.

The lifestyle came crashing down around him though in 2006 when he was jailed for seriously injuring a motorist in a horror crash on Ringinglow Road in 2005.

Naz a married dad, now lives in Windsor.