What happened with Prince Naseem Hamed and his trainer?

The film, written and directed by Rowan Athale, was released in the UK on Friday and stars Amir El-Masry as the featherweight champion and Pierce Brosnan as his trainer Brendan Ingle.

Hamed was a cornerstone of 90s British sport and pop culture and known for his eccentricity and swagger, which went hand-in-hand with the era.

The now 51-year-old was in his early 20s when he conquered the world but had come a long way from his humble origins in Sheffield, as one of eight siblings in a Yemeni family.

And none of it would have been possible without the direction of Ingle, the Irish coach who initially taught Hamed to box to escape school bullies.

This is their real story.

Who is Naseem Hamed?

Hamed was a featherweight boxer who won five world titles in his career, spanning from 1992 to 2002, and was lineal champion from 1998 to 2001.

He won 36 of his 37 professional fights, with 31 wins by knockout, but was forced to abandon his career after failing to recover from injuries and surgery to his hands.

Who was Brendan Ingle?

Born in Dublin, Brendan Ingle had a mixed boxing career of his own, but went onto form a legendary training group in Sheffield.

As well as Hamed, he trained Johnny Nelson, Clinton Woods, and Junior Witter, all fighting by his strategy of using footwork to avoid attacks, to keep their hands free to strike opponents.

Ingle died in 2018, aged 77, and is considered a legend of the sport.

What happened with Ingle and Hamed?

Giant shows Ingle encouraging his protegee to be a showman and gave him the awkward early nickname of the “beast from the Middle East”.

The two had a relationship that blossomed while Hamed was on top, but they are said to have fallen out over contract and financial agreements when the boxer was 25.

The BBC reported that Ingle had wanted a 25 per cent cut of his winnings and the Hamed family considered this to be too much.

“He gave me the fundamentals, the movement, the confidence,” Hamed told Sky Sports.

“That flamboyance people remember — he believed in it before anyone else did.”

They parted ways in 1998, and Hamed has later said that he regrets this, and fought only six more times before being forced to retire.

What has Prince Naseem done since boxing?

Hamed served 16 weeks in prison in 2006 for a dangerous driving offence that resulted in serious injuries to the victim, Anthony Burgin. Strangely, two years later, Mr Burgin was back in court when accused by Hamad’s wife Eleasha of dangerous driving - but he was cleared.

He did not concede his boxing career was over for years, but has since turned his attention to his family - with the sons he has with Eleasha, Aadam and Sami, both also becoming boxers,

Aadam Hamed last summer defeated Ezequiel Gregores on the undercard of the Usyk vs Dubois world heavyweight title fight.

What does Prince Naseem think of the film?

Hamed had no involvement in the production, but has endorsed Giant on social media and attended the premiere.

He told TalkSport it was a “hard watch” at times and said that, although the ending scenes are dramatised, he wouldn’t admit to anything being untrue.