The Boxing History Blog

Salvador Sanchez  Next up to challenge Salvador Sanchez was Spain ’s twenty-eight-year-old reigning European featherweight champion Roberto Castanon. The challenger boasted a 42-1 (24 KOs) record, and his only loss was a second-round knockout in his challenge to Danny Lopez for the WBC title in March 1979.   Sanchez-Castanon took place on 22nd March 1981 at Caesar Palace’s Sports Pavilion in Las Vegas, with the twenty-two-year-old hardly losing a round on his way to a tenth-round technical knockout.   The champion did not fight again until 11th July in a ten-round non-title contest against America’s Nicky Perez at the Olympic Auditorium in front of a Los Angeles crowd. Sanchez was declared a unanimous winner with scores of 100-91, 100-90 and 98-92, improving his record to 40-1-1 (30 KOs), before a sterner challenge from Wilfredo Gomez scheduled for 21st August in Las Vegas.   Gomez, born in Puerto Rico on 29th October 1959, had a 96-3 amateur caree...

Since it's re-introduction in 1986, the British super-featherweight title was a difficult championship to keep hold of. It took fourteen champions and eight years for one to make a first successful defence. Here is a list of the British super-featherweight champions:- John Doherty - 16th January to 17th April 1986   Doherty didn't have the greatest start to his professional career, losing his debut to Taffy Mills in the first round on 26th May 1982. The Bradford-born Doherty then got back on track by winning his next eight and getting back-to-back draws against Ray Plant and Steve Enwright in 1983. He then lost his next bout to Anthony Brown over a six-round points decision. After two wins he ended 1983 with a seventh-round TKO defeat to Stuart Carmichael. He drew his first contest of 1984 against Les Walsh over eight rounds, then went on a winning streak of ten victories over two years, including a win over Les Walsh in a rematch. On 16th January 1986 he ...

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 ...