Azumah Nelson (born 19 July 1958) is a Ghanaian former professional boxer who competed from 1979 to 2008. He was a two-weight world champion, having held the WBC featherweight title from 1984 to 1987 and the 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 twice between 1988 and 1997. He also challenged once for the unified WBC and

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

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

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

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

featherweight titles between 1980 and 1982. Widely considered one of the greatest African boxers of all time, he is currently ranked as the 31st greatest

pound for pound Pound for pound is a ranking used in combat sports, such as boxing, wrestling, or mixed martial arts, of who the better fighters are irrespective of their weight, i.e. adjusted to compensate for weight class. As these fighters do not compete direc ...

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 encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profes ...

Amateur career

Nelson competed at the

1978 All-Africa Games The 3rd All-Africa Games – Algiers 1978 was a multi-sport event played from July 13, 1978, to July 28, 1978, in Algiers, Algeria. 45 countries from 49 independent African countries participated in twelve sports. At the closing ceremonies the ...

and

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

, 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.

Professional career

Despite all his early achievements and being undefeated in 13 fights, 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 Salvador "Sal" Sánchez Narváez (January 26, 1959 – August 12, 1982) was a Mexican professional boxer born in the town of Santiago Tianguistenco, Estado de México. Sanchez was the WBC and ''The Ring featherweight champion from 1980 to 19 ...

on 21 July 1982 at the Madison Square Garden in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * ...

. Nelson lost the fight by fifteenth-round 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 Wilfredo Gómez RiveraPuerto Rico.

Super-featherweight

Nelson began 1988 by defeating Mario Martinez by a split decision over 12 rounds in 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 Gabriel Ruelas, (born on July 23, 1970 in Yerbabuena, Jalisco, Mexico), is a Mexican former professional boxer. Professional career Ruelas turned pro in 1988 and in 1993 challenged WBC Super Featherweight Title holder Azumah Nelson, losing a cl ...

in the fifth round to claim the title. His first defense took place almost a year later, when he and Leija had their third bout. Nelson retained the title with a six-round knockout. As had become his common practice, that was the only time Nelson fought in 1996. In 1997, Nelson lost the Lineal & WBC titles to Genaro Hernandez when beaten on points in twelve rounds.

Legacy

The

Azumah Nelson Sports Complex Azumah Nelson Sports Complex, also known as Kaneshie Sports Complex, is a multi-use stadium in Accra, Ghana. The stadium was originally built during the era of the Supreme Military Council under General Acheampong in the 1970s. It was used most ...

Kaneshie Kaneshie is a suburb in the Accra Metropolitan district, a district of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The name was derived from a word in the Ga-Adangbe , that is "Kane Shie Shie", meaning "under the lamp" referring to its beginnings as a nig ...

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') 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, , ...

was named after him.

Biography

In 2014 the biography of Azumah Nelson was published. Written by Ashley Morrison it was titled "The Professor - The Life Story of Azumah Nelson" () was published by Strategic Book Publishing.

Personal life

Nelson has a son, Azumah Nelson Junior, whom Nelson is training as a boxer. 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
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Azumah 1958 births Boxers at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Featherweight boxers Super-featherweight boxers Lightweight boxers Living people International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees World boxing champions World Boxing Council champions African Boxing Union champions Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Ghana Boxers from Accra Ga-Adangbe people Ghanaian male boxers Commonwealth Games medallists in boxing African Games gold medalists for Ghana African Games medalists in boxing Competitors at the 1978 All-Africa Games