Oscar Matthew "Battling" Nelson (June 5, 1882 – February 7, 1954), was a

Danish-American Danish Americans () are Americans who have ancestral roots originated fully or partially from Denmark. There are approximately 1,300,000 Americans of Danes, Danish origin or descent. Most Danes who came to the United States after 1865 did so ...

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 held the World Lightweight championship. He was also nicknamed "the Durable Dane".

Personal history

Nelson was born Oscar Mathæus Nielsen in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, Denmark, on June 5, 1882. He emigrated to the United States the following year and was raised in Hegewisch, a neighborhood on the Southeast side of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. In 1913, he married Fay King, a cartoonist who did his portrait for Nelson's 1911 guide ''The Wonders of the Yellowstone National Park''. In 1916, they had a very public divorce. Nelson died February 7, 1954, in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, from lung cancer. The Veteran Boxing Association paid for part of the cost of his funeral; his ex-wife paid the remainder, in addition to purchasing "beautiful arrangements" for the ceremony.

Boxing career

Nelson began

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

professionally at age fourteen, in 1896. He fought for the vacant lightweight title against Jimmy Britt on December 20, 1904, but lost a twenty-round decision. He lost to Abe Attell in 1905, but his win over Jack O'Neill secured him another shot at the world championship. On September 9, 1905, Nelson finally beat Britt in a knockout in the 18th round of a 45-round bout. He defeated Terry McGovern in a no-decision Newspaper decision, but then faced a greater challenge when he faced off against the reigning world lightweight champion

Joe Gans Joe Gans (born Joseph Saifus Butts; November 25, 1874 – August 10, 1910) was an American professional boxer. Gans was rated the greatest lightweight boxer of all time by boxing historian and The Ring (magazine), Ring Magazine founder Nat Fleisc ...

on September 3, 1906, in

Goldfield, Nevada Goldfield is an unincorporated town and census-designated place and the county seat of Esmeralda County, Nevada. It is the locus of the Goldfield CDP which had a resident population of 268 at the 2010 census, down from 440 in 2000. Gold ...

. Gans dropped Nelson repeatedly during the bout, but could not knock him out. Finally, in the forty-second round, Nelson hit Gans below the belt causing him to lose the fight by disqualification. In 1907 and 1908, Nelson split a pair of bouts with Britt and fought Attell to a draw. He then challenged Gans again for the world lightweight title on July 4, 1908. This time he knocked Gans out in the seventeenth round. Two months later, Nelson knocked out Gans in the twenty-first round. In 1909, Nelson fought Ad Wolgast in a fight held over the lightweight limit. Wolgast beat him, and Nelson gave Wolgast a chance at his title on February 22, 1910. Eventually unable to see due to the accumulation of punches, Nelson lost the title when the referee stopped the fight in either the fortieth or the forty-second round. Nelson continued to fight, and in 1917, he challenged Freddie Welsh for the lightweight title. He lost a twelve-round decision and retired from fighting in 1920. He was elected to the

International Boxing Hall of Fame The International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, right next to exit 34 of the New York State Thruway, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected on ballots cre ...

in 1992. In 2016, award-winning biographer Mark Allen Baker published the first comprehensive biography of Nelson with McFarland, a leading independent publisher of academic and nonfiction books.

Motion pictures of Nelson's fights

The second Gans-Nelson battle in Colma was the subject of a four-reel motion picture that played in major cities around the country.

Professional boxing record

All information in this section is derived from

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 ...

, unless otherwise stated.

Official record

All newspaper decisions are officially regarded as “no decision” bouts and are not counted in the win/loss/draw column.

Unofficial record

Record with the inclusion of newspaper decisions in the win/loss/draw column.

References

External links

*
International Boxing Hall of Fame Site

findagrave.com
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Battling 1882 births 1954 deaths Lightweight boxers World lightweight boxing champions Boxers from Chicago Danish male boxers American male boxers Boxers from Copenhagen Danish emigrants to the United States