Undefeated WBO Featherweight Champion "Prince" Naseem Hamed goes to war with Augie Sanchez in a short but thrilling bout. Sanchez folds Hamed up on the canvas with a pair of straight right hands in the second round, but Referee Mike Ortega bizarrely rules it a slip. Once Hamed gets back on his feet, Sanchez snaps his head up with a straight right hand and left hook that nearly makes the champion's glove touch the canvas. Sanchez opens the third round by knocking Hamed's head back with two more straight right hands, bloodying the champion's nose, and Hamed has to grab the ropes to stay upright. He answers with a hard left hand that momentarily freezes Sanchez and a right uppercut that sinks Sanchez to his knees, but Ortega again misses the knockdown. Hamed lands a left hand that doubles the challenger over early in the fourth but makes the mistake of leaning on Sanchez and giving him a body shot, prompting Ortega to dock him a point. After wobbling Sanchez with a straight left, Hamed closes the show with a four-punch combination that floors the challenger. Ortega stops the fight without counting, and Sanchez has to be stretchered out.

Business Has Never Been Better: Naseem Hamed vs. Augie Sanchez

Undefeated WBO Featherweight Champion "Prince" Naseem Hamed returns to the United States to unify titles with WBC Champion Cesar Soto. Soto shakes Hamed up with some big left hooks in the second round. In the fourth round, after multiple warnings to Soto for hitting on the break, Referee Dale Grable bizarrely takes a point from Hamed for what he deems unsportsmanlike conduct. A frustrated Hamed shouts in Soto's face after the bell to end the round. When Soto leans on him in the fifth, Hamed comes up and completely body slams him to the canvas, costing him another point. After Emanuel Steward comes into the ring to give Grable an earful following the sixth, Grable docks Soto a point for use of the head in the eighth round. Hamed collects himself and wins the remaining rounds to take home both titles by unanimous decision.

Business Has Never Been Better: Naseem Hamed vs. Augie Sanchez

Naseem Hamed vs. Cesar Soto

On this Day