'Prince' Hamed KOs Vazquez

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

April 19, 1998 / 12:59 AM EDT / CBS Sportsline

"Prince" Naseem Hamed unloaded his full range of shots on ex-champion Wilfredo Vazquez on Saturday to score a seventh round knockout and hold on to his WBO featherweight title for the 10th time.

Vazquez, a 37-year-old former three-time WBA champion from Puerto Rico, was floored twice in the seventh and was being battered by the young, unbeaten British fighter before referee Gino Rodriguez stopped the fight 2 minutes 29 seconds into the round.

In his 22nd world title fight, Vazquez was expected to be a tricky opponent for Hamed, the unorthodox champion whose defensive frailties were shown up by Kevin Kelley in his last fight.

But Hamed (30-0), who went down three times against Kelley before scoring a spectacular fourth-round knockout, tightened up his defense and threw more jabs against Vazquez and was troubled only once.

Vazquez (50-8-3), who gave up his WBA title to take this lucrative fight, was put down four times in the fight but got up quickly each time.

"He was a very good champion but I am the truest world champion," Hamed said."I took him apart. He was good but a little bit slow and I knew my speed and my heart were going to get me through."

Both fighters were very cagey in the opening round and few punches were thrown. Toward the end of the round, Hamed pushed Vazquez to the floor and it was not ruled a knockdown.

The left-handed Hamed got through with a right hand in round two but the challenger hit back with a right to the head that shook the champion down to his knees.

Hamed missed on his prediction of a second-round knockout but he did come close to finishing it in three when he landed a left hook a minute into the round and Vazquez was dropped onto his back. He was up at two.

Hamed landed a combination to the head inside followed by a long-range right hand as Vazquez' face began to redden in round four.

Another left put Vazquez down in the sixth and the challenger was straight up on his feet again before the fight was held up when the ropes started to collapse.

The fight was held up for five minutes while the ropes were repaired with the two fighters staring at each other from neutral corners.

The end for Vazquez came in round seven. Another Hamed left hook put the challenger down again early in the round. It looked so clean and powerful it was difficult to see Vazquez getting up again but he rose, staggering, after only a count of three.

Hamed continued the attack and came up with a combination of rights, lefts, hooks and uppercuts that put Vazquez down for the fourth time in the fight.

Referee Rodriguez, from Chicago, had a good look at the Puerto Rican before letting the fight continue but it didn't last much longer.

Hamed charged in with more blows to the head and Rodriguez had seen enough.

Also on the card, Chris Eubank lost a unanimous decision in his latest bid to win a world title when he was beaten by WBO cruiserweight champion Carl Thompso.

Another British fighter, Herbie Hide, needed less than a minute to overwhelm overmatched American heavyweight Damon Reed to score a first-round knockout victory in his second defense of the WBO championship.