Daniel Teasdale: the rise and stall of the boxer once billed as 'the next Prince Naseem'

Daniel Teasdale, once touted as the heir to Prince Naseem Hamed, saw a promising professional career fail to materialise, a BBC feature published on 19 September 2026 reports. The Rotherham fighter progressed through Brendan Ingle's Sheffield gym as a teenager but made only five professional appearances over a seven-year period.

Trainer Brendan Ingle told those around the gym, "He's better than Naz at the same age," while Hamed had won his first world title aged 21 and Teasdale was still a teenager. Ingle, who moulded a conveyor belt of talent, guided both fighters from childhood, and photographer Simon Roberts recalls being told in 1997, "Brendan said 'don't worry about Naz, start photographing that kid in the corner. He's going to be bigger than Naz'. That was Daniel,".

National newspapers, books and filmmakers followed Teasdale before his first professional bout; filmmaker Stuart Mitchell says, "We were selling the documentary as 'who's the next Prince Naseem?'" Mitchell also accompanied Teasdale to an event gathering the best British prospects for the new Millennium. Former stablemate Amer Khan remembered Teasdale as exceptional at junior level: "Teasdale was exceptional as a junior, he was stopping everyone." Teasdale learned ballet and gymnastics to improve his footwork, having taken up the sport aged six, and said, "I was very teachable, could talk, had the looks and could box."

The bitterness of Hamed's split from Ingle in 1998 coincided with Teasdale leaving the gym to follow Naz and link up with three-time world title challenger Herol 'Bomber' Graham. Roberts says Teasdale's exit was driven by his father, who "essentially gave up his career" to support his son, and by a businessman with no prior boxing experience who funded the move. Teasdale called Graham's influence "a breath of fresh air."

Those around Teasdale say he attracted opportunists as his profile rose. Roberts recalled, "People started to try and feed off Daniel," and added, "I photographed [Mike] Tyson and Lennox [Lewis], I have seen all of this stuff before." Mitchell, who had been filming future Olympic bronze medallist Darren Sutherland at Ingle's gym, said "Daniel was probably more talented than Darren, the trouble with Daniel was he was always being wooed," while Teasdale himself said, "I was like catnip for cats, everybody wanted a piece." Roberts also warned: "To some extent Daniel was used because he was seen as a big potential and was a good scalp for somebody who wanted to get through the ranks."

Teasdale's early professional career suffered several setbacks: his debut was abandoned because of rioting in the crowd and the following year he received death threats before a bout, pictured with then trainer Glyn Rhodes in 2004 after those threats; he won that fight. Mitchell filmed Teasdale across five years but shelved the documentary when commissioners lost interest and after a session in Graham's garage said, "It felt very small and I didn't think this was going anywhere."

Teasdale acknowledged personal failings, saying, "Everybody has a weakness and mine was women," and "I lost the edge and my focus wasn't where it should be." He walked away from the sport in 2005 after being stopped in the first round of a light-heavyweight contest — his first professional defeat — returned in 2010 to reunite with Ingle and won his one and only comeback fight, then said, "After that I just gave it up, I thought 'I'm not going to be second best to the first me.'" His professional career ended after just five fights over a seven-year period and he reflected, "At 27 I should have been a world champion defending my title."

Photographer Simon Roberts said, "There were a lot of unfortunate circumstances with him which meant he didn't fulfil his potential," and Mitchell recalled, "There was so much clamour around him - then it just evaporated." Teasdale summed up his experience as a professional by saying, "everything went up in the air" and admitting he had been "living for other people's dreams and ambitions." He now works as a support worker and said, "It's made me who I am," adding, "I'm doing the job that I love, it's not the profile that I was but it's all about being stable in your life."