Prince Naseem Hamed is on course for his golden path to a £50m fortune.

Flipping heck: everyone stops and watches as Naseem Hamed makes his trademark entrance to the ring at Manchester. Picture by Nigel Holland

The Sheffield superstar was given the all-clear after results of X-rays on his damaged left hand, hurt during his gruelling 11 round encounter with Scarborough's Paul Ingle on Saturday, revealed no break.

He has sustained only bad bruising and should be alright for the second fight of his lucrative six-fight contract with American TV giants HBO, scheduled for July.

Meanwhile, the Hamed camp maybe forced to rethink the champion's trademark ring entrance after crafty Ingle dealt the first blow in their all-Yorkshire world featherweight title fight in Manchester.

Ingle's manager, Frank Maloney, had warned the Sheffield superstar's somersault over the ropes could be into an empty ring if his arena entrance lasted longer than five minutes.

True to his word, and after waiting anxiously for what seemed an eternity, Ingle clambered back through the ropes just as the music started to signal the champion was on his way.

It was one of the most bizarre events ever witnessed in a British boxing ring, and certainly had those at ringside - ring greats like George Foreman, Chris Eubank and Barry McGuigan - confused.

What followed could only be described as pandemonium. Boxing officials stood bemused, the smiles of Hamed's cornermen turned to glares.

After flipping over the ropes, it was the upstaged champion who was forced to wait for Ingle's return.

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