Johnny Nelson

Johnny Nelson
Data
Birth Name	Ivanson Ranny Nelson
Fight name	entertainer
Weight class	Cruiser weight
nationality	British
birthday	4th January 1967
place of birth	Sheffield
style	Southpaw
size	1.89 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	59
Victories	45
Knockout victories	29
Defeats	12
draw	2

Ivanson Ranny Nelson (* 4. January 1967 in Sheffield ), better known as Johnny Nelson , is a former British professional boxer in the cruiserweight division . He was British Champion ( BBBofC ) and European Champion ( EBU ), and from March 1999 to September 2006 World Champion of the WBO . He was also a World Cup challenger for the WBC and IBF , as well as the title holder of the WBF and WBU .

Career

His career began completely unspectacular. He won only 3 of his 13 amateur fights and in 1986 also lost his first three professional fights in a row. But then he was able to improve visibly. With 13 wins and 5 defeats he got a title chance for the British Cruiserweight Championship in May 1989 and defeated Andy Straughn (then record: 17-4) by tKo in the eighth round. In October he defended the title by knockout in the second round against Ian Bulloch (10-2).

On January 27, 1990, he boxed as a challenger for the WBC World Championship against Carlos De León (45-5). Acted as a blatant outsider, Nelson was able to assert himself over the twelve rounds and fight for a draw. In March 1990 he again won the British Championship by knocking out Lou Gent (16-5) in the fourth round.

In December 1990 he defeated the German Markus Bott (10-0) by tKo in the twelfth round and thus won the vacant European Championship. He defended this in March 1991 against Yves Monsieur (20-18). In his following twelve fights he only achieved a mixed record of 5 wins and 7 losses. So he lost among other things in the fight for the IBF title in May 1992 against James Warring (13-1), as well as in further fights against Corrie Sanders (16-0) and Henry Akinwande (22-0). In August 1992 he suffered the only premature defeat of his career when he was defeated by tKo in the third round to the Frenchman Norbert Ekassi (14-4), who was born in Cameroon (referee dropped out after precipitation). He won the WBF title against Australian Dave Russell (23-7) in April 1993 and defended it against Tom Collins (26-21) before losing it to Franco Wanyama (12-3) by disqualification in October 1993. However, he won the WBF title twice in the heavyweight division against Jimmy Thunder (17-4) and Nikolai Kulpin (10-0). In 1995 he lost twice to Adílson Rodrigues (63-5).

In December 1996 he was again British champion by an early win against ex-WBC world champion Dennis Andries (49-13). He also secured the EBU title again in February 1997 by knocking out Patrice Aouissi (17-2) and defending his title in the first round against the Belgian Dirk Wallyn (27-2).

With a record of 31 wins, 12 defeats and one draw, he received a World Cup chance for the WBO title against Carl Thompson (24-4) in Derby on March 27, 1999 and won the fight by tKo in the fifth round. Thompson was taken out of the fight by the referee suffering from the impact without counting. He won his first title defense in May 1999 in his hometown unanimously on points against the native Jamaican Bruce Scott (21-3). In August 1999 he defeated the undefeated Canadian Willard Lewis (16-0) by giving up at the end of the fourth round. In September 1999 he won unanimously against Sione Asipeli (15-1) from Tonga and in November of the same year by knockout against Christophe Girard (37-5), a former two-time World Cup challenger to Dariusz Michalczewski .

In 2000 he defended the title early against Pietro Aurino (17-0) and Adam Watt (14-2). In January 2001 he won on points against the Brazilian and South American champion George Arias (29-3), and in July 2001 on points against the Argentine ex-WBC world champion Marcelo Domínguez (32-3). In November 2001 he played another fight in the heavyweight division and won the WBU title by winning points against Alexander Wasiliew (15-8).

In April 2002 he went down against the dangerous American Ezra Sellers (24-4), but won the fight in the eighth round by knockout. In November 2002 he managed to defend his title by drawing against Guillermo Jones (29-2). He also only just won his title defense against the Bosnian Alexander Petkovic (28-0) by majority decision.

In 2004 he defeated the German Rüdiger May (39-2) by tKo in the seventh round. In 2005 he defended his title for the 13th time and beat the Italian Vincenzo Cantatore (30-3) just on points. Before another title defense against Enzo Maccarinelli , he announced his retirement from boxing and justified this with chronic knee and back problems.

After his active career, he wrote his book Hard Road to Glory and worked as a commentator for Sky Sports .

predecessor	Office	successor
Carl Thompson	Cruiserweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) March 27, 1999 - September 22, 2006	Enzo Maccarinelli

Web links

• BoxRec profile
• BBC news