On a separate note mate, my favourite Chuck Norris fact without a doubt is... When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, he had 3 missed calls from Chuck Norris.
Pocket rocket was based in the USA and had most of his fights there. Hamed was looking for exposure with a view to cracking the US market after the Kelly win.
McCullough was a name in the US because of his Irish heritage and HBO wanted Hamed (who was on an HBO contract) to look good by beating up a name opponent. But it backfired quite badly as I recall, Naz acted like a complete dick in the buildup and then looked underwhelming in the fight because of McCullough's chin and heart.
Yeah hamed boasted how he would knock Wayne out at a certain time of a early round if I recall and he Barely put a dent in him for 12 rounds.
This. Also, in the late 90s there was still a feeling that in order to make it "big" you needed to perform in the US. Thankfully, the belief that a win somehow has more intrinsic value if it happens on the other side of the pond, is now less prevalent.