Prince Naseem preparing for his next fight A New Challenge, a New Coach [Archives:1999/09/Sports]

Prince Naseem Hamed, the current featherweight world champion is preparing for his next match with his Mexican challenger Antonio Farerra. The match will take place in the Albert Hall in London on the 10th of April, 1999. This will be Prince Hamed’s 14th fight to retain his featherweight title. Naseem was able to hold tight to his championship belt and defend his title in his last match in Atlantic City last year. The 12-round match between Naseem and his stubborn Irish contender Wayne McCullough was a very difficult one. Naseem barely won the match with a 4 point victory given by a unanimous decision after a very long struggle. In this match, Naseem revealed his strengths and weaknesses more than ever before. 
However, this upcoming match will take place under quite different circumstances. This is due to the decision of Hamed to sack his former trainer, Brendan Angel, the man who discovered his talents in the first place, and who took care of him through the last 17 years of his boxing career. Naseem also lost his former manager Frank Warren who resigned at the end of 1998. Naseem then hired his brother Riyadh as his manager and also as his coach. 
Riyadh is also the person arranging the upcoming match. 
Naseem introduced his brother to journalists and news agencies as the person responsible for arranging a new manager, Barry Hern. Indeed, Riyadh confirmed that negotiations had reached a very advanced level, and they are about to reach a final agreement. If an agreement is reached, Barry will be succeeding Naseem’s former manager Frank Warren. It is worth mentioning that Barry Hern was Naseem’s manager when he started his professional boxing career in 1992, and he coordinated 4 matches for him. 
In a press conference last week, Riyadh mentioned that Naseem wanted to coordinate his matches and supervise his business himself, especially the match agreements. This was due to the fact that his former manager Frank Warren used to only give a small percentage of the match revenues to Hamed. Thus, Hamed decided to exercise his own right to manage his business for himself. Riyadh also indicated that he had 4 years of experience in coordinating boxing matches. Also, he stressed that Naseem has a glorious history of victories and 17 years of experience in dealing with match coordinators and the boxing business. 
Naseem also announced that as he was the world champion with 31 victories – 28 of them by knockout – and with no defeats since his beginning in 1992, he was being offered opportunities to box in many countries such as Argentina and Brazil. He indicated that he is currently studying all these offers. 
 
US$5000 in Financial Aid From IAF to YAF
The International Athletic Federation (IAF) donated financial aid to the amount of US$5000 to the Yemeni Athletic Federation (YAF), to support the 1999 activities of the federation. Mr. Fuad Al-Kumaim, the president of the YAF also sent a letter of gratitude to the president of the IAF. In his letter, he thanked the IAF for the aid, and stressed the fact that Yemen is among the countries that continuously send updated information and reports of its activities to the IAF. He also explained that the YAF was able to secure the financial resources that support the federation and add to its effectiveness. He indicated that the amounts of money in dollars had reached the US$25,000 mark, this besides the assets kept in Yemeni Rials. Mr. Fuad also confirmed that there would be extensive YAF athletic activities locally and internationally. 
Athletics are considered one of the most widely known fields in Yemen. Many Yemeni athletes regularly compete in international and local competitions, and they have been remarkably succesful in international events. This is partially due to the attention and help they receive from the YAF. 
 
A Brazilian Coach to Train Yemen’s  National Football Team
The secretary of the Yemeni Football Federation confirmed the news that the Asian Football Federation has nominated the well-known Brazilian coach Joseph Roberto Fernandez to train Yemen’s national football team. He also added that the federation is currently engaged in intense discussions regarding this issue. The Asian Football Federation had previously shown its cooperation with the Yemeni Football Federation in sending a coach on short notice to train the national football team. 
Coach Joseph Roberto Fernandez is one of the best coaches in the area, and he is famous for his experience with Arab football because he used to work in the Arabian Peninsula and in some Gulf countries. He used to train the Kuwaiti Al-Salmiye team, the Al-Wahda team of the UAE, and the last team he trained was the Saudi Al-Nasr team. 

——
[archive-e:09-v:1999-y:1999-d:1999-03-01-p:./1999/iss09/sports.htm]