The capacity for myth seems innate in human nature. If incidents of legend become an athlete's surest passport to immortality, then it is no surprise that those who write about Prince Naseem Hamed have sensationalized his story to the point of historical revision.  But as the events of his life unfolded, incidents arose that boxing fans, and the average human being, would do well not to ignore.

Since his retirement, we've heard little of Hamed. What we know is that much of his life has been strange and terrible. There is something ugly about his character something ugly.

In a recent interview, Hamed seemed avowed to remove misconceptions for which he has earned notoriety, but the facts speak differently. The realities include unchecked narcissistic personality disorder, vehicular endangerment, incarceration, and finally obesity.

 But before we address those things, let's first examine the definition of narcissism, his rise and fall, and the always-present rumors of a comeback.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders defines Narcissistic Personality Disorder as a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration and a total lack of empathy. The narcissist carries with him or her a grandiose sense of self-importance, need for admiration, and, beginning by young adulthood, certain qualities as indicated by five or more of the following:

1) Has a grandiose sense of self importance.

2) Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance , beauty or ideal love.

3) Believes he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by other special or high status people, or institutions.

4) Requires excessive admiration.

5) Has an unjustified sense of entitlement, unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations.

6) Is interpersonally exploitative, taking advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends.

7) Lacks empathy, is unwilling to recognize or indentify with the feelings of others.

8) Is envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her.

9) Shows arrogant or haughty behavior.

Hamed started his career as a bantamweight and quickly moved up to the featherweight division, where he stood out and was considered outstanding and unique. Many considered his natural qualities of speed, lethal precision, unorthodox style and wonderful reflexes amazing to watch.

What was not clear was whether he would ascend the summit of the sport. What was evident, though, was that his arrogant personality was starting to take shape. At 12 he already had lectured Harry Mulan, the former editor of boxing news, by declaring, "You ought to write a story about me. I'm going to be world champion someday." Little did Mulan realize how prophetic those words would prove.

Hamed's ascent was astounding. At 21, he gave a humiliating boxing lesson to WBO featherweight champ Steve Robinsonk knocking him out in eight rounds. From a fundamental perspective, Hamed did everything wrong. From the unorthodox style he came to exemplify, he did everything right.

Hands held by his waist and punching with lethal precision from crazy angles, he picked Robinson apart, leaning back to avoid any attack while effortlessly launching his own.

Hamed's abilities may have seemed a thing of athletic beauty, but there was something ugly and disturbing about his showboating -- and, even moreso -- about the enjoyment he gleaned from ripping Robinson apart.

His narcissistic demons suddenly took possession and rendered him powerless in the grip of a disorder that had all the strength of the primitive forces of nature.  It was a sickness so complete it left no room in his soul for mercy.  As if inhabiting a role of a sadistic dominator, it seemed almost a natural extension of his personality.

Hamed became a promoter's dream. But his ever-growing ego and self-destructive arrogance transormed him into a nightmare -- not only to himself, but to those around him. His egomaniacal ring entrances included fire, smoke, a flying carpet, and a throne, artificially inflating his ego even more.

But The Prince was beginning a steady decline. The skills that had carried him to almost effortless victories over Kevin Kelley, Daniel Alicea and Paul Ingle were slipping. He was becoming easier to hit --  due in part to an increasingly lackadaisical attitude toward each opponent. As his knockouts mounted, Hamed approached each fight as if a stoppage were  was inevitable.

Ultimately, his subtle decline was exposed by one Marco Antonio Barrera.

 The sport is merciless, especially at its summit, in exposing a fighter's shortcomings.   Hamed paid the price for his own hype. Tolerating others only to the extent to which he considered them useful, he split with promoter Frank Warren and trainer Brendan Ingle -- further evidence that he was losing touch with reality. Hamed was clearly outclassed by the more-experienced Barrera and lost by a lopsided decision. Then, in a comeback fight against an ordinary fighter named Manuel Calvo, he shadow of his former self.

What must be examed is Hamed's dwindling appetite for the ring and the noticeable decline in his skills. By the time he fought Barrera,  he was no longer in love with the sport. His dwindling motivation was made worse by a desultory training camp. By foregoing a Barrera rematch at the age of 28, he joined the ranks many fighters who, as one writer put it, "fought on too long after the fistic wellspring of their abilities had run dry."

So why did Hamed leave the sport at a time when his physical abilities should have been at their peak? Did he look down upon all the featheweights he'd already beaten and decide there was nothing left but to beat them again?

  Or was his career was cut short by his inability to accept a reality that Barrera had pounded into him -- that he was, in fact, beatable?

Hamed's Mercedes

The Prince pulled a virtual vanishing act until May 2, 2005, the day he involved in a 90-mph, three-car collision on Ringlow Road in Sheffield, England. Seven months later, a man in the car Hamed hit was unable to come to court because he was still hospitalized. The man's wife also had been injured.

According to testimony, Hamed had been anxious to impress a businessman, Asif Goro, a passenger in his $320,000 McLaren Mercedes at the time of the crash. He crossed a solid white line at at least 90 and crashed head-on into a Volkswagen Golf. Hamed's vehicle then hit a second vehicle he'd been trying to overtake. The driver of the Volkswagen broke every major bone in his body suffered bruising to his brain.

 Hamed, who was unhurt, fed the scene and walked the half-mile to one of his houses, claiming later that he didn't want to cause a scene with angry onlookers. When the police arrivd at his home, Hamed was climbing into another car. He told them he was on his way to buy butterfly bandages for his friend's superficial wounds.

Hamed plead guilty, was jailed 15 months, and was given a four-year driving ban. He was granted an early release on Sept 4, 2006, after serving 16 weeks, and the remainder of his sentence under house arrest, monitored by an electronic tag. 

 A civil judgment cost him a rumored 1 million pounds.

  And his appointment as a ''Member of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire'' (otherwise known as an MBE) was annulled.  "It will be a big blow for him to lose this honor. This will really upset him," Brendan Ingle told the London Daily Mirror. "He was really delighted at receiving the award from the Queen. Afterwards he was so proud he used to show it to everyone."

Sometimes it's not what a man has, but what is denied him, that excites the harshest hysteria of his narcissistic soul. "I love the sport of boxing it will always be in my heart," Hamed said in a recent interview. "Because of that, I'll never tell you I'm retired!"

Is there reason to assume that Hamed has rekindled his desire to get back into the ring after a long exile? If so, he his deluded. Time isn't kind to a fighter's reflexes. His punching power will remain, but his timing and coordination will never be what it once was.

Hamed's greatest chance of regaining any of the glory of his past is a reunion with Ingle; and that's not going to happen. Ingle is the man who principally made the best use of his distinct physical attributes and natural skills. Rumors of his impending return will no doubt arise over the next few years, but the Prince will never again reign as a

126-pound champion.

Psychologists say narcissists cannot tolerate getting older. They come to realize that the dream world they envisioned did not materialize and subsequently they implode psychologically.

The unstudied might excuse him as a young man who fell victim to glamour and excess he wasn't prepared to handle, but Hamed's seems to be an account of bad things that happened to others who were in his path.  A better ending might have found him transformed by the tragedy he inflicted on others.

To this day, though, he has shown no signs of implosion, nor any kind of remorse. As a human being, Hamed remains the proverbial piece of shit.

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