The Professor

Azumah Nelson

Azumah Nelson was born in Accra, Ghana on 19th July 1958. He had an amateur record of 50-2 and picked up the featherweight gold medal at the Edmonton Commonwealth Games in Canada.

He turned professional on 01st December 1979, beating fellow countryman and debutant Billy Kwame, winning a ten-round points decision. 

As a professional he had a meteoric rise, winning the Ghanaian featherweight title in only his third contest, beating Henry Saddler with a ninth-round knockout. In his sixth fight, he was African champion, winning by a tenth-round TKO over Joe Skipper. He beat Australian Brian Roberts for the vacant Commonwealth featherweight crown with a fifth-round TKO in bout number ten.

On 21st July 1982 at the Mecca of boxing, Madison Square Graden, New York, Nelson, in his fourteenth contest, came in as a late substitute and challenged Mexican great Salvador Sanchez for the WBC featherweight crown.

Sanchez, hailing from Tianguistenco, Mexico was born on 26th January 1959, turning professional on 04th May 1975, beating Al Gardeno with a third-round knockout. Sanchez won eighteen in a row, stopping seventeen, before losing a split decision to Antonio Becerra for the vacant Mexican bantamweight crown.

He won his next two bouts over ten-round decisions, drawing against Juan Escobar, after suffering a fifth-round knockdown. He then went on a thirteen-fight unbeaten run and on 02nd February 1980 challenged Danny Lopez for the WBC featherweight crown.

He stopped Lopez in the thirteenth round, outpointed Ruben Castillo over fifteen rounds in his first defence, and stopped Lopez again, this time in the fourteenth round. Sanchez made seven more defences against the likes of Juan Laporte, Wilfredo Gomez, Britain's Pat Cowdell and Rocky Garcia, before making defence number ten against Nelson. 

Nelson challenging the great Salvador Sanchez
for the WBC featherweight title

This is where Nelson made his name at world level as he pushed the champion into the fifteenth round, before running out of gas at one minute 49 seconds. Sanchez was behind on points before the last-round stoppage.

Unfortunately, Salvador Sanchez, at the age of twenty-three died on 12th August 1982 in a car accident. His record stands at 44-1-1 (32 KOs), going down as one of the all-time greats of the featherweight division.

Nelson got back to winning ways after the Sanchez defeat, winning six on the bounce, before challenging Wilfredo Gomez for the WBC featherweight title on 08th December 1984.

He knocked out the Puerto Rican hero in the eleventh round. He defended the belt six times, notably a first-round knockout of Britain's Pat Cowdell in Birmingham. The crowd was pro-Cowdell, but it only took Nelson two minutes 24 seconds to keep his belt, as a left uppercut relieved the challenger of his senses. "I came in to knock him out in the first round. I made my mind up because the people here didn't treat us good. They were making all kinds of words to get the title from us, but I want to prove to them I'm the best in the world and I want McGuigan. I will knock him out anywhere I fight him. I'm ready to fight McGuigan anytime, any day, anywhere," said Nelson in his post-fight television interview. 

He also twice outpointed future WBC featherweight champion Marcos Villasana, before moving up a division and on 29th February 1988 took on Mario Martinez for the vacant WBC super-featherweight belt. The LA crowd witnessed the Ghanaian become a two-weight champion via a split decision.

Nelson made the first defence of the belt with a ninth-round TKO over Lupe Suarez. He then stopped the undefeated Brazilian Sidnei Dal Rovere in the third round. In February 1989 he faced off again with Mario Martinez, stopping his opponent in the twelfth and final round.

On 05th November 1989, Nelson came to Britain again and took on Jim McDonnell. McDonnell had a record of 26-1, losing the previous November to Brian Mitchell, the WBA super-featherweight

Nelson on his way to stopping Britain's
 Jim McDonnell in a WBC super-featherweight defence

champion, via a unanimous decision.

McDonnell got back to winning ways at the start of 1989 and on 31st May that year ended the career of Barry McGuigan, cutting his right eye which ended the fight in the fourth. His reward was a shot at 'The Professor'. McDonnell put up a brave performance, but was dropped four times on his way to losing by a final-round kayo.

Sadly for Nelson, his wife passed away from cancer and he was still grieving when he stepped up to the lightweight division to challenge Pernell Whitaker for his WBC and IBF belts. 

Whitaker was a gold medal winner in the lightweight division at the 1984 LA Olympic Games. That same year he turned professional on 15th November, winning in the second round against Ferrain Comeaux.

He won both the NABF and USBA titles by defeating Roger Mayweather and Miguel Santana respectively, before travelling to France, losing a controversial split decision to Jose Luis Ramirez for the WBC title.

Whitaker finally won the IBF lightweight crown against Greg Haugen on 18th February 1989 with a twelve-round unanimous decision. In his second defence he picked up the vacant WBC title, gaining revenge over Jose Luis Ramirez with another unanimous decision.

Nelson failed against lightweight champion
Pernell Whitaker

Two defences later Nelson was next for Whitaker. On 19th May 1990 Nelson suffered only his second defeat as he lost a close unanimous decision 116-114, 115-113 and 116-111, to arguably one of the cleverest performers of the era.

Nelson defended his WBC super-featherweight crown with a lacklustre points win over Juan Laporte. He muted afterwards that his next fight against Australia's Jeff Fenech would be his last.

Jeff Fenech turned professional after a controversial loss in the 1984 Olympic Games quarter-final. In the December of that year, he stopped Bobby Williams in the second round. In his fifth contest he picked up the vacant South Pacific and South Seas bantamweight title, stopping Wayne Mulholland in the fifth round.

On 26th April 1985, he contested his seventh bout against Japan's Satoshi Shingaki for his IBF bantamweight title. He stopped the champion in the ninth round. He made his first defence against Shingaki, stopping him faster than the previous meeting in the fourth round.

After his third defence, he stepped up to super-bantamweight and picked up the Australian title on his way to claiming the WBC belt against Thailand's Samarat Payakaroon in round four.

After another three successful defences, Fenech moved up to the featherweight division and won the vacant WBC crown against Puerto Rican Victor Callejas with a tenth-round TKO. The victory made the Australian a three-weight world champion.

With four defences under his belt, the undefeated Fenech (25-0 with 19 KOs) looked to become a four-weight champion when he took on Nelson for the WBC super-featherweight crown. 

The bout took place on 28th June 1991 at the Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas, on the same bill as the Tyson/Ruddock rematch. Nelson started the contest fast, but Fenech's swarming attacks rendered him ineffective. The challenger nearly stopped his man in the final round, but the judges scored the bout a draw, with many believing that Fenech was the victor. Nelson blamed the poor performance on the fact that he was recovering from the effects of malaria when he agreed to the contest.

The rematch took place at Princes Park Football Ground, Melbourne, Australia on 01st March 1992.

Nelson was the stronger fighter in
the Jeff Fenech rematch in Autralia

At the age of thirty-four it appeared that Nelson had come to the end of the line, but he proved the doubters wrong and put in his most ruthless performance.

The 40,000 crowd watched as Fenech was floored in the first and second rounds. Nelson was like a rock this time around and the busy Fenech looked fragile. Fenech was on the canvas again in the eighth and referee Arthur Mercante waved it off at the two-minute 20 seconds mark.

Nelson then outpointed his next two opponents, Calvin Grove and Gabriel Ruelas. He was held to another draw against the unbeaten Texan Jesse James Leija. In May 1994 he looked an old fighter when he dropped a decision to Leija in the rematch. 

Nelson took eighteen months off and it was assumed that he retired from boxing. But in December 1995 he knocked out Leija's successor Gabriel Ruelas in the fifth round, to regain the WBC championship. He then stopped Leija to establish himself as the world's best super-featherweight at the age of thirty-seven.

In March 1997, he suffered his fourth defeat against Genaro Hernandez for his WBC title. He retired in 1998 after suffering another points defeat to Jesse James Leija for the vacant IBA belt.

Nelson was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2004, but on 24th June 2008, Nelson came out of retirement at the age of forty-nine to take on the forty-four-year-old Jeff Fenech in Melbourne. Fenech won a ten-round decision 96-94 twice and 95-95 a piece in the light-middleweight division.

Nelson never fought again, but his greatness was still intact as he left with a record of 39-6-2 with 28 knockouts.

All the best fight fans

Lea

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