Hassan Hamdan has revealed the sledge that almost led to a post-fight brawl between his camp and rival Trent Girdham’s trainer.
In what has been described as the most spiteful on the Newcastle card, things almost went to the next level after the judges’ scores were announced.
Hamdan, 23, trained by Jeff Fenech with his father, Aussie boxing great Nader also in his corner, defeated Girdham by unanimous decision, fighting back from a first-round knockdown to record a stirring comeback win.
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Girdham’s corner was angered in the final round, yelling at the referee to disqualify Hamdan for a throw, which resulted in their fighter rolling out of the ring.
The fighters shared an embrace after the final bell rang, but the pleasantries went out the window once it was announced Hamdan had won.
A seething Girdham stormed out of the ring as Hamdan tried to shake his hand. Girdham’s trainer, Rodney Sinclair, then insulted the Hamdan camp which led to Hamdan Snr. pushing the rival trainer, before both sides left the ring.
Speaking to Wide World of Sports on Thursday, Hassan Hamdan revealed what was said in the ring that sparked such a fierce reaction.
“I thought I’d go and shake his hand and show some sportsmanship but they brushed it off and he walked off without shaking my hand and the his trainer comes up to me and goes ‘You’ve got Jeff Fenech privilege’,” Hamdan said.
“He meant we had the judges on our side. So my dad gave him a bit of a shove. He was a bit agitated but he loves me.
“Jeff said ‘Lets watch the fight all together if you think you won’. My dad’s the most calm and quiet guy ever but when someone says something to one of his boys he’ll get in there.
“That’s not a representation of my dad, he’s just sticking up for his boy.”
Hamdan, who took his professional record to 5-0 with the victory, said he was taken aback by the comments.
“I really don’t like what he did, at the end of the day he wasn’t the one fighting and I don’t make the scores,” he added.
“I’m just coming to show my respect to another guy that I shared the ring with. It just shows what type of person he is.”
Hamdan was approached by one of the fighters who trains with Girdham after the bout, who gave him the all clear to chat to his rival in the sheds.
“I went into his dressing room afterwards and shook his hand and wished him the best in his MMA career. They don’t know I was carrying a hand injury leading into this fight which kept me from sparring for the last two weeks,” Hamdan said.
“I’m still upset about getting dropped and there’s still a lot to learn. I’ve watched the fight back already there’s a lot of things I can do better and have done better in training. I’ve just got to implement that into the fight.
“I’ve never been dropped in my life, it was a weird feeling, just a flash knockdown. I got caught cold but I knew I had to stand up and work for the next five rounds because I lost the first round 10-8.”
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