Azumah Nelson

Azumah Nelson (born 19 July 1958, affectionately known as the Professor) is a Ghanaian former professional boxer who competed from 1979 to 2008. He was a two-weight world champion, having held the World Boxing Council (WBC) featherweight title from 1984 to 1987 and the WBC super-featherweight title twice between 1988 and 1997. He also challenged once for the unified WBC and International Boxing Federation (IBF) lightweight titles in 1990. At regional level, he held the ABU, and Commonwealth featherweight titles between 1980 and 1982. Widely considered one of the greatest African boxers of all time, he is currently ranked as the 69th greatest pound for pound boxer of all time by BoxRec.

Career

Nelson competed at the 1978 All-Africa Games and 1978 Commonwealth Games, winning gold medals in featherweight at both events. He was awarded Amateur Boxer of the year by the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) that same year. However, Nelson was virtually unknown outside Ghana. Because of this, he was a decisive underdog when, on short notice, he challenged WBC featherweight champion Salvador Sánchez on 21 July 1982 at the Madison Square Garden in New York. Nelson lost the fight by a 15th-round technical knockout.

Featherweight champion

Nelson won all four of his fights in 1983, and he began 1984 by beating Hector Cortez by decision on 9 March in Las Vegas. Then, on 8 December of that year, he became boxing royalty by knocking out Wilfredo Gómez in round 11 to win the WBC featherweight championship. Behind on the three judges' scorecards, Nelson rallied in that round to become champion in Puerto Rico.

Super-featherweight champion

Nelson began 1988 by defeating Mario Martinez by a split decision over 12 rounds in Los Angeles, to win the vacant WBC super-featherweight title. Nelson was dropped in the 10th round of their encounter, and the decision was not well received. On 1 December 1995, he defeated world champion Gabriel Ruelas in the fifth round to claim the title. His first defense took place almost a year later, when he and Jesse James Leija had their third bout. Nelson retained the title with a sixth-round knockout. That was the only fight Nelson had in 1996, as had become his custom. In 1997, Nelson lost the Lineal and WBC titles to Genaro Hernandez, when he beaten on points after 12 rounds.

Legacy

The Azumah Nelson Sports Complex at Kaneshie in Accra was named after him.

Biography

In 2014, a biography of Azumah Nelson, written by Ashley Morrison and titled The Professor – The Life Story of Azumah Nelson (ISBN 978-1628571059), was published by Strategic Book Publishing.

Personal life

Nelson has six children. He is currently married to Priscilla Boakye Nelson. In July 2018, Azumah organized a fight night to celebrate his 60th birthday at Bukom Boxing Arena. This event brought together fighters from highly-rated gyms in the country to fight contenders in their divisions. Some dignitaries, including formers sports ministers Nii Lante Vanderpuiye and Nii Amarkai Amarteifio, the British High Commissioner to Ghana Ian Walker, and Peter Zwennes, the president of the Ghana Boxing Authority, graced the occasion. In all, there were five bouts, three of which were won by knockout.

Professional boxing record

This biography is adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA.

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