"Prince" Naseem Hamed, master of the outrageous entrance, exited on the heels of his first career defeat afterdropping a unanimous decision to Marco Antonio Barrera of Mexico in a 12-round, non-title featherweight showdown last night.
Boxing's great showman was completely out-fought and out-classed in the town known for garish entertainment.
The bout at the MGM Grand was delayed 45 minutes while the Briton had to have his right glove repeatedly re-wrapped as fans grew impatient.
Barrera wastedno time producing some fireworks however and got stuck in from the first bell.
He staggered Hamed three times in the first round and never let up his assault. The Mexican had a point deducted in the 12th round for a bull-rushthat hammered Hamed's head against the ring post.
Even with the deduction, Barrera won by scores of 115-112, 115-112 and 116-111.
The preening Prince showed no emotion when the decision was announced and was remarkably gracious in defeat.
"The delay had no effect on me," Hamed said. "The guy boxed better than me tonight and that's it."
Hamed, whose record fell to 35-1, tried to put a positive spin on his upset defeat.
"I'm happy. I'm still confident," he said. "The fact is he couldn't drop me and he couldn't knock me out. I'm going out of this ring as a championstill."
Barrera, a 3-1 underdog before the bout who improved to 53-3, came away less than impressed with the man who had been considered one ofboxing's best.
"He doesn't hit as hard as he thinks he does," Barrera said.
After Barrera's barrage in the first round, Hamed took down his opponent with a headlock in the next round.
Barrera scored with a big left hook late in the fourth round, assuming control of the fight the rest of the way.
After Barrera used a late flurry to win the ninth round, Hamed began making faces at him following the bell.
Prior to the 11th, trainer Emanuel Steward told Hamed he needed a knockout to win. Instead, it was Barrera who pressed the attack to the finalbell.
Hamed's reputation as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters may have been shattered by this outing.
Although he has most recently held the lightly regarded WBO belt and also captured WBC and IBF titles over the last five years, he hassurrendered all his crowns by avoiding mandatory contenders.
In August, Hamed posted a brutal fourth-round knockout of American Augie Sanchez, who was carried out of the ring on a stretcher. But theflashy Briton was stripped of even the WBO belt for failing to meet 1996 Olympic gold medalist Istvan Kovacs of Hungary.
-Reuters