Paul Ingle's trainer Steve Pollard says his man will be "the fittest man on the planet" when he gets into the ring to face Naseem Hamed on Saturday night.

Scarborough man Ingle, who challenges for Hamed's WBO featherweight crown, has been completing preparations at the St Paul's gym in Hull, having returned from a stint with Lennox Lewis' camp in America.

It is nothing new for a trainer to shout up his fighter's credentials as big fight time approaches.

But Pollard and Ingle's promoter Frank Maloney differ in that they freely admit last month they doubted Ingle's chances of a momentous upset.

"I've never seen anyone fitter now," said Pollard. "He's definitely focused on the fight now - two or three weeks ago I didn't believe he was."

Ingle believes Hamed is running scared - again.

The Scarborough ace said he was due to fight Hamed in his hometown twice as an amateur.

But on both occasions the Sheffield supernova failed to show.

"I don't know why," said a smiling Ingle. "He just didn't show up. I think he was keen to avoid me."

Hamed did fight in Scarborough at a charity show in 1990 aged 16.

The flamboyant fighter stopped an opponent from Hull in the first.

Ingle will be backed on Saturday by thousands of fans from Scarborough, and he received a hero's welcome at the Scarborough v Carlisle football match when he paraded on the pitch at half-time on Easter Monday.

Versatile Pollard is the man to rely on

by Dave StanfordPAUL Ingle couldn't have a better man if not fighting his corner then at least standing in it.

Shaven-skulled Steve Pollard has a wealth of experience in and out of the ring from which Ingle, who tackles Prince Naseem Hamed on Saturday for the Sheffield superstar's World Boxing Organisation featherweight crown, can draw.

As he approaches his 40th birthday, Hull-based Pollard has spent almost a quarter of a century amid the blood and thunder of the fight game.

He carries the distinction of being the only man in Britain who combines his 'day' job of pub landlord with that of trainer, promoter, manager and boxer.

To cap it all, he's also a staff sergeant in the Territorial Army.

In October, journeyman fighter Pollard will put on his own gloves and enter the ring once again.

With gloves will fight should be the former Merchant seaman's motto who has contested more than 70 fights professionally and another 72 as an amateur.

His career in the ring maybe modest in its achievement but shows no sign of letting up.

"If I'm going to get fit I might as well get paid for it," said Pollard, who runs the Humber Pilot pub, in Hull, and fights at light middleweight or welterweight when he steps into the ring.

"I was supposed to have a fight at the end of March but it was cancelled because of the Ingle fight and me having to take care of him.

"I usually spar with Ingle but obviously he is sparring with southpaws for the fight with Hamed."

Pollard was the go-between that brought Ingle and his manager, Frank Maloney, together.

"Paul just rang me up and asked if I would come to one of his fights.

"He was looking to turn professional and said Mickey Duff had offered this, Barry Hearn had offered that and I told him to have a word with Frank Maloney.

"He did and Frank doubled what everyone else was going to do.

"Paul asked me what he should do and I said 'I shouldn't have to tell you that'."

But while Pollard and Maloney have played crucial roles in Ingle's rise, of all the influences that helped shape the Yorkshire Hunter's early career none were more important than Tommy Johnson.

Johnson was Ingle's coach and guiding light from the first day the raw novice walked into the Scarborough Amateur Boxing Club at Edgehill aged just nine years-old to when he left some 13 years later to turn pro with Frank Maloney.

Indeed, it was Johnson who turned the then southpaw Ingle to an orthodox ensuring his left jab is a piercing weapon in his armoury.

Johnson, who lives in Norton but still trains up and coming youngsters at Edgehill, was a distinguished amateur in a career spanning two decades, six appearances for England and a runners-up spot fighting at welterweight in the 1957 ABA final.

His long association with Scarborough Amateur Boxing Club began in the 1960s and since then he has seen hundreds of young lads come and go.

But in Paul Ingle he always knew he had a talent.

"We used to have an overflow at the club, a back room, for all the young lads coming in where Pat Govier, one of the trainers, and my lad helped out," explained Johnson.

"It wasn't long before my son brought Paul over and said he was a bit special so I had a look at him and I could see it for myself."Johnson is convinced his protg will win, stopping Hamed in nine rounds.

"I have predicted all Paul's fights so far and not been wrong.

"I know Naz has got a big punch. I have seen him fight since he was 11. But he has never been able to box. He was always a big hitter but a bit of a comedian too.

"Paul is the finest defensive boxer out there today, there is never a mark on him when he comes out of the ring and if he gets over the early rounds I think he will step it up.

"Naz has never been hit in the stomach but when Paul won the British title from Colin McMillan he threw 120 body punches in one round alone and when Paul throws his left hook Nas will know about it."

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