Victory over Paul Ingle will catapult Prince Naseem Hamed into the Super League of the world's richest sportsmen, according to promoter Barry Hearn.

His scrap with Scarborough's ring king is Hamed's first since he cut his ties with promoter Frank Warren and trainer Brendan Ingle.Hamed's 12th defence of the WBO featherweight title is being presented by Hearn and Prince Promotions, the Hamed family's new company.

But the real power behind the Prince's throne is American cable television company Home Box Office.

In return for a multi-million pound investment it has acquired the worldwide television rights to the Prince's next five fights after the one against Ingle.

Ultimately, it means that HBO will want a decisive influence on the Sheffield superstar's opponents. The bigger the name the bigger the selling to pay-per-view customers in the States.

The talk is of fights against World Boxing Council super-bantam champion Erik Morales, WBC featherweight title holder Luisito Espinosa, or even the mouthwatering prospect of clash with Floyd Mayweather, the WBC super-featherweight champion and one of the biggest draws in boxing.

All will be easy to sell to the American public, especially if Hamed can re-ignite the flames of interest shown following his debut appearance against Kevin Kelly in New York in December 1997.

Their four round humdinger - Hamed had to climb off the canvas three times before knocking out Kelley - turned more than a few heads in America.

But his disappointing showing against Ireland's Wayne McCullough back in October saw America's scepticism about the posturing Prince return.

Hence the need for a big win against Ingle, who is considered by some in boxing circles as a creditable but unthreatening opponent.

Hamed is in no doubt about the outcome of the fight before unifying the titles at his weight.

"I want the belts. All fighters love having the belts and I want to fight the best and be seen as the best," he said.

Hearn is equally adamant that the new deal with HBO and a new six-fight deal with Sky Box Office will earn the Prince a king's ransom and more.

"It will make him a legend across the world, the like of which boxing has never seen," said Hearn.

"Forget Faldo, Mansell, Beckham, Owen and Henman. Forget Wimbledon, Open golf and the FA Cup final. This outstrips them all. It is one enormous cash machine.

"I'm living large but now I'm going to be living larger," said a clearly delighted Hamed.

It is a far cry from Ingle's purse of around £350,000. It may be his biggest so far but when you take away his expenses for the fight it is certainly not enough to set him up for life, though it will enable the 26-year-old, raised on one of Scarborough's toughest estates, to buy his house outright.

In any case, Ingle is not intending this to be the last of his big pay-days.

I have seen first hand the Yorkshire Hunter in training and he is not planning to pull any punches. He is set on being the man who transforms Hamed's riches to rags come April 10.

As Frank Maloney said when tiring of Hamed and Hearn telling the world of their untold riches in waiting: "They seem to be forgetting what they say about all the best laid plans. They can be upset by just one bad day at the office."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.