Boxing: KIDS' STUFF FOR NAZ.

AWKWARD, unorthodox, difficult to get past and impossible to reason with. Just some of the difficulties facing Augie Sanchez when he confronts a certain person tonight - and that's before he gets in the ring with Naseem Hamed.

Sanchez is 22, married and one half of the main attraction at their own venue, but that was not enough to gain entry for him and his 20-year-old wife Dawn to the Foxwoods Casino before the head-to-head with the WBO featherweight champion.

Incredibly, Hamed's youthful-looking opponent and wife were turned away by a member of the notorious security staff at the Indian reservation site in Connecticut when he could not produce ID to prove his age.

To be under 50 and less than 15 stones leaves one at a serious disadvantage among an ageing community that wallows in excess at the dining as well as gaming tables. The diminutive Sanchez and petite spouse were forced to take another route into the building which circumvented the casino floor.

A nervous address by Sanchez followed his late entry into the arena, reinforcing the belief that the youngster from Las Vegas with the model looks is in too deep against the longest-serving champion at any weight.

Fellow Vegas resident and former Hamed opponent Wayne McCullough is well placed to comment. He sparred with Sanchez before his own duel with Hamed 18 months ago and believes the fight will not last long.

"Sanchez does not have the power to earn Hamed's respect. He does not punch with the same force. The fight will end early. Hamed will knock him out inside three rounds," he said.

Hamed made no predictions and spoke of his opponent in respectful terms, but the list of prospective candidates to be engaged next read out by co-promoter Barry Hearn showed how much is being read into this fight. Not much.

On September 30, Hamed will celebrate five years as WBO champion. He has talked already this week about fighting not for money or belts any more but for a place in boxing history as the best featherweight of all time.

A fight with Marco Antonio Barerra early next year has been all but rubber-stamped, to be followed by a duel with Eric Morales. Not the itinerary of a fighter contemplating defeat. "To hold your title for five years is a great achievement. It's not about just winning it, it's holding it," said Hamed.

"I'm not concerned about records. I believe I stand alone as a fighter. I have already made my mark but there is more to come. Above all I want to be remembered as fighter who brought sparkle to the game when their was no sparkle in it, who talked the talk and walked the walk, who had a devastating punch, perhaps the hardest of all, and who never lost.

"There aren't many who can say they have never been beaten. I want to go one better than my heroes like Sugar Ray Leonard, Muhammad Ali and Marvin Hagler. I refuse to lose."

Hamed's presedential-like address at the head-to-head was just the latest example of exaggerated behaviour whenever a camera pointed his way. The length of his "speech" and his place in history that it detailed did nothing for the man at his side, whose self-esteem had already taking a battering from the jobsworths on the door.

Sanchez said: "All the talk of who he will fight next shows me disrespect. He's arrogant.

"I sense the people back in Britain want to see this guy beaten. Well let me tell you, he has got a surprise coming."

But Sanchez has few believers, including your correspondent. Hamed to win inside four.