Azumah Nelson (born 19 July 1958, affectionately known as the Professor) is a

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

ian former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who competed from 1979 to 2008. He was a two-weight world champion, having held the WBC

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, ...

title from 1984 to 1987 and the WBC

super-featherweight Super featherweight, also known as junior lightweight, is a boxing weight classes, weight division in professional boxing, contested between and . The super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although firs ...

title twice between 1988 and 1997. He also challenged once for the unified WBC and IBF

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...

titles in 1990. At regional level, he held the ABU, and

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featherweight titles between 1980 and 1982. Widely considered the greatest African boxers of all time, he is currently ranked as the 69th greatest

pound for pound Pound for pound is a ranking used in combat sports, such as boxing, wrestling, or mixed martial arts, adjusted to compensate for weight class. As fighters in different weight classes do not compete directly, determining the best fighter pound for ...

boxer of all time by

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

Career

Nelson competed at the 1978 All-Africa Games and

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from 3 to 12 August, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics was held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with a ...

, winning gold medals in

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 An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or wikt:top dog, top dog. In the case where an under ...

when, on short notice, he challenged WBC

champion Salvador Sánchez on 21 July 1982 at the

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

in New York. Nelson lost the fight by fifteenth-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 Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. 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 ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

Super-featherweight

Nelson began 1988 by defeating Mario Martinez by a split decision over 12 rounds in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

to win the vacant WBC

super featherweight Super featherweight, also known as junior lightweight, is a weight division in professional boxing, contested between and . The super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although first founded by the New ...

title. Nelson was dropped in the 10th round of their encounter and the decision was not well received. On 1 December 1995, 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 six-round knockout. That was the only fight Nelson had in 1996, as had become his custom. In 1997, Nelson lost the Lineal & WBC titles to Genaro Hernandez when beaten on points in twelve rounds.

Legacy

The Azumah Nelson Sports Complex at Kaneshie in

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

was named after him.

Biography

In 2014 the biography of Azumah Nelson was published. Written by

Ashley Morrison Ashley Malcolm Morrison is an Australian/British sports commentator, broadcaster, writer, and documentary filmmaker. Early life Born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, he grew up in Purton, near Swindon. He was educated at Stowe School, Buckingham and p ...

it was titled "The Professor - The Life Story of Azumah Nelson" () was published by Strategic Book Publishing.

Personal life

Nelson has six children. Currently married to Priscilla Boakye Nelson. In July 2018, Azumah organized a fight night to celebrate his 60th birthday at the Bukom Boxing Arena. This event brought together fighters from highly-rated gyms in the country to fight contenders in their divisions. Some dignitaries including Nii Lante Vanderpuiye and Nii Amarkai Amarteifio who are two former sports ministers, Ian Walker the British High Commissioner to Ghana 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

References

External links

*
Azumah Nelson - CBZ Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Azumah 1958 births Living people Ghanaian male boxers Featherweight boxers Super-featherweight boxers Lightweight boxers Boxers from Accra Ga-Adangbe people International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees World boxing champions World Boxing Council champions African Boxing Union champions Boxers at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Ghana Boxers at the 1978 All-Africa Games African Games gold medalists for Ghana African Games gold medalists in boxing 20th-century Ghanaian sportsmen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in boxing