The BBC have opened informal negotiations to bring Naseem Hamed back to terrestrial television. 'We have talked to Hamed's people,' a BBC insider said yesterday. 'He has two fights left on his HBO contract in America, so there is room for negotiation.'

Already chasing the signature of the Olympic super-heavyweight gold medallist Audley Harrison, the corporation seem serious in their plans to move back into big-time boxing. Having lost several other sports over the past couple of years - most calamitously Match of the Day for next season - the BBC know that boxing can revive their portfolio.

Hamed was turning into one of British sport's major drawcards when he moved from ITV to Sky in 1995, attracting an audience of seven million for his last terrestrial bout. He later signed a concurrent six-fight deal with the American company, HBO, and went on to amass a fortune rumoured to be at least £50 million.

Now that Hamed has made his money, a move to the BBC - or even back to ITV - as his career enters its final stages would raise his domestic profile again. While Sky retain a hardcore boxing following, the satellite channel cannot hope to match the ratings of a terrestrial broadcaster.

Hamed's audience on Sky is sometimes as low as 300,000. He rates well in America, but HBO's plans to air his next fight on pay-per-view have struck problems. Hamed, who gave up his WBO version of the world featherweight title in October because of boxing politics, was due to meet the charismatic Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera on 3 March in a much-anticipated contest for what the promoters would like to consider the linear title. But Evander Holyfield and John Ruiz meet in their heavyweight rematch that night.

The Hamed-Barrera fight was also pencilled in for 7 April. But it seems likely now that Lennox Lewis will take that date, possibly against Mike Tyson. (Reports on Friday that Lewis will fight Tyson in Malaysia on 3 March are fanciful and have subsequently been denied.)

So, Hamed might yet fight on 3 March - but in Britain as part of a double-header with the American card. More likely, he will box later in the summer.

Hamed, whose 16-fight reign as world champion fluctuated between brilliant and ordinary, needs a big fight to recapture his considerable British fan base. Barrera on BBC late in 2001 would be such an event - although HBO and Sky will have something to say about that.

Lighter boxers may be more likely to sustain severe head injuries than their heavyweight counterparts according to the doctor, who performed emergency surgery on Paul Ingle.

Robert Battersby, a consultant neurosurgeon at Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital, said professional boxing was a recipe for disaster and added that he is surprised the sport does not cause more serious injuries.

Ingle was injured in the final round of his IBF featherweight defence against South Africa's Mbulelo Botile in Sheffield last month. He is making good progress following an operation to remove a blood clot from his brain, and the British Boxing Board of Control will continue their inquiry into the fight at the end of this month.