‘I hit the cop, grabbed his gun’: How boxing saved Nader ‘Lionheart’ Hamdan

Boxing great Nader ‘Lionheart’ Hamdan reached rock bottom when he punched a cop and stole his gun. Then something changed. Listen to the podcast.

Nader Hamden is doing a podcast with Gary Jubelin for I catch Killers. Picture John Grainger

Australian former boxing champion, Nader Hamdan, was just 16 years old when he punched a police officer in the jaw, and took a gun right out of the officer’s hand.

“I thought he was going to kill my best friend,” Hamdan told Gary Jubelin, on his I Catch Killers podcast.

The pair had stolen a car, and spent the day driving from petrol station to petrol station, stealing food and drinks as they made their way from Sydney to Canberra - then the police caught up with them.

“The police were waiting. They stopped us. The cops came out. He had his gun out, and I just went, boom, and smacked him in the jaw.

“Hit the cop, grabbed his gun from him, I’d never had a gun in my hand before.”

Now a retired boxing champion, Hamdan was charged with assaulting police, the culmination of a troubled youth, triggered by intense bullying.

Nader Hamden is doing a podcast with Gary Jubelin. Picture: John Grainger

After being attacked with a metal pole, Hamdan decided he’d had enough, and set his sights on his biggest bully.

“I hammered him,” he said.

“He never looked at me again. And no one else I’ve looked in ever again. I pretty much went on a rampage after that. Where I just I lost myself.”

Boxing helped Nader Hamdan turn his life around.

From then on, Hamdan’s life was one of crime – fighting, stealing, and associating with gangs.

Today, he’s a revered former boxing champion, with two Australian titles under his belt, a string of regional belts, and two world title attempts, having lost to Anthony Mundine and Robert Stieglitz.

Hamdan’s is a familiar tale of redemption through boxing. He’d stolen a book from the library in the juvenile detention centre where he was serving time. It was Jeff Fenech’s autobiography.

It was the first time he’d been locked up, and he was sharing a space with youths who had been convicted of manslaughter. In the first week, he “cleaned up 50 boys” to gain the respect of his fellow inmates. It worked. But Hamdan had had enough.

“I wanted to be free,” he said.

Nader Hamdan took his fighting off the streets and into the boxing ring.

“My parents stood by me the whole time, I didn’t want to disappoint them either.”

He promised his parents, and his fellow inmates, that he wouldn’t be back. But no one believed him. They laughed.

“Everyone told me I’d end up dead. From my teachers, to my parents, to people on the street.

“Even the guys inside the boys’ home, thought ‘he’ll go to jail, he’ll die, he’ll get killed somewhere’. I told them, ‘I’m not going to come back, I’m never coming back’.

“When I was in boys’ home I was a devil. But I had this thing inside me, I had goals. I said ‘you’re going to watch me on TV, fighting. You watch…I believed in myself.

“I didn’t just read a book, I went and did it.”

Hamdan stepped foot into the gym and everything changed. He took his fighting off the streets, and into the boxing ring.

Before his retirement, Hamdan, also know as Lionheart, took part in 55 fights with 43 wins, 11 losses and a draw. He won two Australian world titles, five regional belts, and fought for two world titles, ultimately losing.

Nader Hamdan fought Anthony Mundine for the world title, ultimately losing.

These days, Hamdan has no time for his former self.

“I despise him. He’s no one to be proud of. He’s a violent animal.”

Instead, the Lionheart wants to share his story in schools and juvenile detention centres, with the goal of preventing other young people from choosing the wrong path.

“There are a lot of people out there who are lost, who think there’s no other way, but there is a way.”

Listen to the episode of the I Catch Killers podcast here.

Originally published as ‘I hit the cop, grabbed his gun’: How boxing saved Nader ‘Lionheart’ Hamdan