Reno, NV -- Daniel Feldman, the World Boxing Association's twelfth-ranked contender in the Featherweight division, entered the ring by doing nothing more than walking up some stairs and stepping in, sources reported Tuesday.

The flairless, no-production-value-whatsoever entrance took place just minutes before Feldman's WBA sanctioned bout with fourth-ranked Prince Naseem Hamed, at Bally's Hotel and Casino in downtown Reno

"I haven't seen anything like that in my last fifteen, twenty years of boxing coverage," said longtime HBO boxing analyst and columnist Larry Merchant. "Really, I just could not believe my eyes. The entire audience was just…stunned."

Merchant continued. "I don't know what he [Feldman] was thinking. He just walked up to the ring in a completely non-menacing manner, no posse, no zoot suits or fedoras, no dancing girls, no pyrotechnics, no rap music, no animatronic dinosaurs or space aliens -- it was just him and his trainer. He then lifted the ropes, put his right leg in, followed by his left, went over to his corner, and started casually shadowboxing."

Merchant added that Feldman's entire outfit spat in the eye of longstanding boxing tradition -- from his tassel-less, non-glowing boots, to his sequin-less, mid-thigh-length shorts, to his plain, white terrycloth robe.

"He didn't even have a ferocious, marketable nickname stitched on the back," Merchant said of the garment. "It just said 'Daniel Feldman.' It could have at least said Dan 'Da Destroya' Feldman or Daniel 'The Jawbreaking Jew' Feldman.' But no….nothing. He just stood in his corner and did some neck-rolls to loosen up. It was embarrassing."

While Feldman's entrance was clearly an egregious rebellion against widely accepted pre-fight protocol, Merchant did concede that it may have been blown a bit out of proportion when weighed against Hamed's entrance, which took place just a few minutes later.

"Wow, 'The Prince' outdid himself this time, which is saying a lot," said a beaming, starstruck Merchant. "He and his 44-man posse came riding into the arena on a fleet of endangered Egyptian albino llamas -- graceful, majestic beasts, albino llamas -- which had been doused in a special liquid potpourri made with spices and rare flowers grown alongside the Nile River. Then, right before he reached the ring, the llamas were lit on fire, and they must have also been covered in fireworks, because each one just exploded in a symphony of blinding light, sending rockets up above the ring that spelled "Bow Down to the Motherfuckin' Prince, Sponsored by GoldenPalace.com, a Wholly-Owned Subsidiary of the Gateway Corporation!!" above the ring -- and believe you me, with the stadium lights down and Eminem's Billboard-topping 'Cleaning out my Closet' blaring at a million decibels, that was a spectacle to end all spectacles."

Merchant then reported that after the pyrotechnic show/llama-detonation, Hamed was carried over to his corner by a harem of topless Hawaiian Tropic girls where he was bathed in exotic oils and fanned with giant palm leaves while being orally serviced.

"But through it all, Feldman just stood there," Merchant said, shaking his head. "Just loosening up his arms like the boring, non-corporate-sponsored, un-on-fire, utterly un-marketable plain old boxer that he is. I felt sorry for the guy, actually."

Merchant added: "And when I saw that he didn't even have a sponsor tattooed on his back, well, that did it. It's clear why he's still ranked twelfth. This guy is just not good for the sport."

Unlike the pizzaz-less Feldman, Prince Naseem Hamed displays flaming gloves prior to bout.