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

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 bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

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

Personal history

Nelson was born Oscar Mathæus Nielsen in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ...

, Denmark, on June 5, 1882. He emigrated to the United States the following year and was raised in

Hegewisch Hegewisch (pronounced "heg-wish" by the locals) is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's far south side. It is bordered by the neighborhoods of Riverdale and South Deering to the west, the East Side to th ...

, a neighborhood on the Southeast side of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. 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

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, 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 (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

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 Abraham Washington Attell (February 22, 1883 – February 7, 1970), often referred to by newspapers as "The Little Hebrew", was an American boxer who became known for his record-setting, six year consecutive reign as World Featherweight Champion ...

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 was given the opportunity to challenge the reigning world lightweight champion

Joe Gans Joe Gans (born Joseph Gant; 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 ''Ring Magazine'' founder, Nat Fleischer. Known as the "Old ...

on September 3, 1906, in

Goldfield, Nevada Goldfield is an unincorporated small desert city 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. Goldfield is located ...

. 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 Freddie Welsh (born Frederick Hall Thomas; 5 March 1886 – 29 July 1927) was a Welsh World lightweight boxing champion. Born in Pontypridd, Wales, he was nicknamed the "Welsh Wizard". Brought up in a tough mining community, Welsh left a working- ...

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 modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America. The I ...

in 1992. In 2016, award-winning biographer Mark Allen Baker published the first comprehensive biography on 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 encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every prof ...

, unless otherwise stated.

Official record

All

newspaper decision A newspaper decision was a type of decision in professional boxing. It was rendered by a consensus of sportswriters attending a bout after it had ended inconclusively with a "no decision", as many regions had not adopted the National Sporting Club o ...

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

Unofficial record

Record with the inclusion of

s 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 Sportspeople from Copenhagen Danish emigrants to the United States