Prince Naseem film: Paddy Considine and Mena Massoud to star in boxing drama ‘Giant’ based on Sheffield-born boxer

Paddy Considine and Mena Massoud will be starring in the drama, written and directed by Rowan Athale, with Sylvester Stallone and Braden Aftergood of Balboa Productions also on board as executive producers.

The story follow the rags to riches life of Sheffield-born boxer, Naseem Hamed. It documents his rise to becoming world champion and his relationship with legendary Irish boxing trainer Brendan Ingle. Massoud will play the boxer, while Considine will play his trainer.

Sylvester Stallone is no stranger to boxing movies, having played Rocky Balboa in the Rocky film series. He also played the title role in the Rambo film series.

Paddy Considine has starred in many films and TV shows, his best known roles being Father John Hughes in Peaky Blinders and Viserys Targaryen in Game of Thrones spin-off House of the Dragon. Mena Messoud is best known for starring as the title character in Disney’s Aladdin.

Rowan Athale has previously directed The Rise, Gangs of London and Strange But True.

Introducing the project, he said: “I have wanted to bring this movie to screen for many years.

"The story of fabled boxing trainer Brendan Ingle and his tempestuous relationship with protege “Prince” Naseem is both legendary and truly cinematic.

“It’s exciting, necessary, hilarious, and heartbreaking, and to be making this movie with the incomparable Paddy Considine and Mena Massoud, and with the support of the one and only Sylvester Stallone and his Balboa Productions team, is a dream come true,” he added.

Naseem Hamed, nicknamed Prince Naseem and Naz, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2002. Naz walked into Ingle’s Wincobank gym as a seven-year-old boy and left it as a champion and multi-millionaire. The famous gym, in a former church hall, was close to where Naz grew up in a flat above the convenience store his parents ran.

Naz was one of nine siblings whose parents had come to the UK from Yemen and whose father initially worked at a steelworks in Sheffield before taking over the corner shop on Newman Road.

Naz’s dad took him and one of his brothers to the gym because they were getting picked on at school.

As of yet, there is no release date for Giant.