Azumah Nelson

Azumah Nelson
Data
Birth Name	Samuel Azumah Nelson
Weight class	Half light weight
nationality	Ghanaian
birthday	July 19, 1958
place of birth	Accra
style	Left delivery
size	1.65 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	46
Victories	39
Knockout victories	28
Defeats	5
draw	2

Azumah Nelson (born July 19, 1958 in Accra , Ghana ) is a former Ghanaian boxer.

amateur

As an amateur, Nelson won the featherweight 1978 Africa Games in Algiers , the Military World Championship in Lagos and the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton , and at the 1979 World Cup in New York he was third. His record was 50-2.

professional

He turned professional featherweight in 1979. With one exception, his first thirteen fights took place in Africa. As an almost completely unknown, he got a title fight against the Mexican WBC world champion Salvador Sánchez as a substitute opponent on July 21, 1982 .

The fight was surprisingly evenly balanced until Sánchez, famous for his fitness , was able to prevail with a technical knockout in the fifteenth and final round . Sánchez died shortly afterwards in a car accident. For Nelson it was the only knockout defeat of his career.

Despite the defeat, Nelson was now a serious opponent. So he got after six more victories on December 8, 1984 another title fight, this time against the new world champion of the WBC, Wilfredo Gómez , who came from the lower weight classes and had previously also been knocked out by Sánchez in a featherweight fight . Nelson managed the surprise and won by knockout.

He made six title defenses, including against Marcos Villasana, before he rose to half-lightweight and in 1988 won the WBC title of the class with a wafer-thin win over Mario Martinez. He won the later rematch much more clearly through a technical knockout. During his time as the light weight world champion he went on May 19, 1990 against the light weight world champion Pernell Whitaker , but lost clearly on points.

In 1991 he defended his lightweight title against the Australian Jeff Fenech . Fenech dominated the fight but got only one controversial draw. Nelson clearly dominated the direct rematch in Australia and won by knockout.

He then beat the highly rated Mexican Gabriel Ruelas in the IBF light welterweight fight in Mexico City on points in February 1993 , but his age was slowly becoming noticeable. Against Jesse Leija he only managed a draw in 1993, but lost the rematch and with it his title. However, Leija had to surrender the title to Ruelas in his first title defense, from which Nelson was able to regain his title in December 1995.

The third encounter with Leija he won afterwards by knockout, but had to give up his title in March 1996 after a point defeat to Genaro Hernandez. In 1998 he lost to Leija in the fourth edition of their lightweight duel and finally ended his career at the age of almost 40.

In 2004 Nelson was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame . He is an athlete ambassador for the development aid organization Right to Play .

Web links

• Azumah Nelson in the BoxRec database

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Results without national leagues", Sport-Bild from February 24, 1993, p. 60