Prince Naseem Hamed took a leaf out of the legendary Muhammed Ali's book to stoke up the war of words with Scarborough's Paul Ingle.

The gloves finally came off as the unbeaten featherweights came face to face for a final pre-fight press conference before their all-Yorkshire world title fight at the Manchester Evening News Arena tomorrow night.

Both fighters had vowed to let their fists do the talking but with the tension mounting Hamed could not resist resorting to some rhyming rhetoric to pour scorn on Ingle.

Echoing the pre-fight poetry of Ali, Hamed said: " Ingle claims to beat me in three. But he will make a liar out of you and me.

"And when he's been took out and it's all over he'll know who's boss. Because Ingle gets his first loss."

Ingle remained his stoic self, refusing to be riled by Hamed's rhyming reason.

"I am looking forward to the fight and I know it is going to be very successful," said the Yorkshire Hunter. "I have a lot of support coming from Scarborough and Hull and from around the country. My preparations have gone right, the sharpness, speed, accuracy, power and strength work have gone tremendous so I am looking forward to bringing the belt back to Scarborough."

The conference threatened to turn nasty when Steve Pollard, Ingle's trainer, grabbed the microphone and asked Hamed if he was carrying any injuries or was suffering from any illnesses. "Because we don't want any excuses after the fight," goaded Pollard.

Up against the ropes, Hamed hit back: "I want to know who you are going to be training after this fight when I knock your boy out?

"The only belt you are going to be carrying back is a leather buckle belt."

Then the champion went on the offensive.

"I'm putting food on your table so respect that," he railed, before provoking another bout of venomous verbals by highlighting reports Ingle had been knocked out during his training. "If you are trying to rile something up before the fight you haven't got a chance," said Hamed.

"When he meets me at this level he is going to realise what a real strong featherweight punches like. He will get proper knocked-out in a proper fight."

"Ingle touched down," admitted Maloney. "But you will know what a touchdown is on Saturday night when you will be sitting on your hands."

As the conference degenerated to the hurling of personal insults, it was left to promoter Barry Hearn to bring order to the proceedings.He promised fight fans an "unforgettable night of pugilistic entertainment" when records will tumble.

"We have a few hundred tickets left but it looks like it will be a sell-out show," said Hearn, who is co-promoting the night with Prince Promotions, the Hamed family's new company. "This will be the biggest indoor fight that I have ever promoted and will be the biggest indoor fight in this country in terms of a gross gate of around 20,000 people.

"The biggest contingent of travelling fans will, of course, be coming from Scarborough the home of the challenger, Paul Ingle. I am sure it is going to be an explosive atmosphere."

Hamed and Ingle were due to come face to face for one last time before tomorrow's fight at this afternoon's Manchester weigh-in.

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