Hamed, Brook: Sheffield’s biggest boxing stars as Allen eyes knockout night

Dave Allen is set to headline in his hometown of Sheffield tonight when he faces Arslanbek Makhmudov, live on DAZN.

Sheffield is a proud fighting city that has produced some of Britain’s greatest boxers.

Now, Allen is looking to bring big-time boxing back to the city and knows a win over Makhmudov could lead to a huge clash with Deontay Wilder in the near future.

Ahead of the biggest night of Allen’s career, let’s look back at fighters who have shone in Sheffield over the years.

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Naseem Hamed

Let’s start with Sheffield’s favourite son, Naseem Hamed.

Hamed perfected his craft at the famous Wincobank gym in Sheffield under the tutelage of Brendan Ingle.

He built his fanbase by having some of his early professional fights in Sheffield before he travelled to Cardiff to win his first world title at the age of 21 by defeating Steve Robinson.

Hamed only made one title defence in his hometown when he faced Jose Badillo in October 1997.

As usual, he put on a show before stopping his opponent in the seventh round.

Hamed held the WBO featherweight title between 1995 and 2000 before he finally suffered his first loss to Marco Antonio Barrera in 2001.

He retired the following year with a career record of 36-1 (31 KOs).

Johnny Nelson

Johnny Nelson lost his first three professional fights but recovered admirably to work his way into title contention.

However, he was booed by his own fans after being held to a draw in his first title challenge against Carlos de Leon in 1990.

He fell short again when he was outpointed by James Warring for the IBF cruiserweight title in the US two years later.

Yet Nelson never gave up on his dream of becoming a world champion and his perseverance paid off as he beat domestic rival Carl Thompson to win the WBO title in 1999.

Nelson would go on to make 14 title defences over the next six years, with two of those being in Sheffield.

He retired in 2006 as a reigning world champion before moving into punditry with Sky Sports.

Herol Graham

Herol Graham is widely regarded as one of the best British fighters to never win a world title.

He still had some magical nights in Sheffield, though, winning British, Commonwealth and European titles in front of his home fans.

Graham was a slick operator fighting out of the southpaw stance, and only the very best got the better of him.

He fought for world honours on three occasions but was unable to get over the line against Mike McCallum, Julian Jackson and Charles Brewer.

The Jackson defeat was particularly heartbreaking as Graham dominated the early exchanges before being caught by a brutal punch that knocked him out cold in the fourth round.

Graham won 48 of his 54 professional bouts and had the skills to make his opponents look silly. It remains a mystery how he was unable to ever get his hands on championship gold.

Junior Witter

From one stylish fighter to another.

Junior Witter was accused of being boring at times during his career, but he was a very accomplished defensive boxer who became a world champion during a golden period for British pugilism.

He failed to get the recognition of the likes of Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe, but Witter earned a world title at 140lbs by beating former Floyd Mayweather opponent, DeMarcus Corley.

Witter made two successful defences before losing to America’s Tim Bradley, who went on to fight Manny Pacquiao three times.

Witter failed to regain a world title and missed out on a big domestic showdown with Hatton, but he did win the British title in the twilight of his career when he outpointed Colin Lynes in Sheffield.

Kell Brook

Kell Brook took up the mantle from the likes of Hamed and Witter to ensure Sheffield remained on the boxing map.

He headlined in his hometown on multiple occasions before finally getting his world title shot as he jetted over to California to face Shawn Porter.

Brook got the nod via majority decision and then made two of his three successful title defences in Sheffield.

Following an unsuccessful foray up to middleweight to challenge Gennady Golovkin, Brook went back down to welterweight to fight Errol Spence at Sheffield United’s home stadium, Bramall Lane.

Brook was stopped in the penultimate round but bounced back to win his next three fights – all in Sheffield.

He tried to win another world title when he went back over to America to fight Terence Crawford, but Brook was knocked out in the fourth round.

His final fight saw him stop domestic rival Amir Khan inside six rounds before he retired with 40 wins and three losses to his name in 2022.

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