He has played James Bond, the Prime Minister and Thomas Crown among countless others but Pierce Brosnan described it as ‘a joy’ to take on one of British and Irish boxing’s most famous trainers Brendan Ingle.

Brosnan plays the late, great Ingle in Giant, the biographical film about the life and career of ‘Prince’ Naseem Hamed, released Friday June 9.

Naz was the most famous fighter to emerge from Ingle’s fabled gym in Wincobank, Sheffield but the pair fell out during the former featherweight champion’s rise to superstardom. They never reconciled and Ingle died in 2018, aged 77.

Their relationship and its eventual breakdown is the heartbeat of Giant, which also includes references to other Ingle fighters who went on to become world champions like Johnny Nelson and Kell Brook.

But, despite a brief encounter with Ingle during the 90s, Brosnan was not aware of the Dubliner’s impact on boxing. On receiving the script, however, the 72-year-old fell in love with his fellow Irishman.

“Of course I was aware of Prince Naseem,” Brosnan tells The Ring at a hotel in Soho, London. “I saw the glory of this man, I saw him captivate and enthral the world.

“I was ringside in New York when he fought Kevin Kelley and I met him afterwards. I went backstage, those were the days I was playing Bond.

“I met Brendan that night but it didn’t register. Then I was sent the script for this and it became a beautiful joy of revelation finding this man. I fell in love with the script as soon as I read it and I was honoured and touched to be part of it… then you have to do the darn thing.”

For Brosnan, born in Drogheda, Ireland, that meant immersing himself in whatever footage he could find.

“I lived with the interviews of Brendan constantly,” he adds. “I was listening to him and watching him, morning, noon and night.

“There wasn’t much time on the clock to make the film and I’m in the gym, I’m talking to his sons John and Dominic and I have a big responsibility. I owe it to this man, who is a saintly man in my books, and an Irishman like me. My middle name is Brendan, too.

“How am I going to make him believable to myself and then to an audience? I had to try and find the essence of him. I can hear his voice now and it’s a joy to hear his voice and it was a joy to play him.

“There is one particular interview where he is sitting in the gym, I watched it over and over again. I would just sit and watch it on repeat. But because you’ve fallen in love with the script and the character you want to shine for the person in question.”

Hamed (36-1, 31 KOs), 51, who retired in 2002, was played by Egypt-born Amir El-Masry who had just four weeks to whip himself into shape for the role.

“When you get a role like that, where do you start?” El-Masry says. “For me it was training in the gym 12 hours a day, from 7am to 7pm. I even dislocated my finger in one of the fights.

“But Naseem Hamed has always been a hero of mine and we actually have a signed flyer of his at home from back in the day. It was an honour to play him.”

Hamed was not involved in the making of the film but he attended Wednesday's premier in London and has personally got behind the release. It is understood that most of the plot points were provided by John and Dominic Ingle, the sons of Brendan.

"I remember being in Sheffield and going to the gym in Wincobank," Brosnan says. "We were all there, me, Amir, Dominic, John. That was a powerful moment and that gym is such an amazing place.

"There was so much unsaid in that moment between us. With me playing their father and the work that I've done as an actor and the image that has been created with this film. They were very generous, kind and at the end I think they were very happy."