Ivanson Ranny "Johnny" Nelson (born 4 January 1967) is a British former

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 competed from 1986 to 2005, and has since worked as a boxing analyst. He is currently the longest reigning world cruiserweight champion of all time, having held the WBO title from 1999 to 2005. Nelson defended the title against thirteen different fighters, more than any other cruiserweight in history, and holds a joint-record of most consecutive cruiserweight title defences (along with

Marco Huck Muamer Hukić (born 11 November 1984), best known as Marco Huck, is a German professional boxer.. Retrieved 2015-12-01. He held the WBO cruiserweight title from 2009 to 2015, and is the joint-longest reigning cruiserweight world champion of al ...

). Nelson also held the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

cruiserweight title twice between 1989 and 1997, and the

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

cruiserweight title twice between 1990 and 1998.

Professional career

Nelson began training at Wincobank gym in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

under trainer Brendan Ingle who also went on to train

Naseem Hamed Naseem Hamed (born 12 February 1974), nicknamed Prince Naseem and Naz, is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2002.. Retrieved 25 February 2016. He held multiple featherweight world championships, including the WBO ti ...

and

Kell Brook Ezekiel "Kell" Brook (born 3 May 1986) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2022. He held the IBF welterweight title from 2014 to 2017, and challenged once for a unified middleweight world title in 2016. At regiona ...

. He began his career losing ten of his thirteen bouts contested as an amateur. Nelson's 15th defence of his WBO cruiserweight title was scheduled to be against Welshman

Enzo Maccarinelli Enzo Maccarinelli (born 20 August 1980) is a Welsh former professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2016. He held the WBO cruiserweight title from 2006 to 2008. At regional level, he held the European and British cruiserweight titles betwe ...

on the undercard for the

Joe Calzaghe Joseph William Calzaghe ( ; born 23 March 1972) is a Welsh former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2008. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Undisputed), WBC, IBF, WBO, ''Ring'' magazine ...

versus

Jeff Lacy Jeffrey Scott Lacy (born May 12, 1977) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2015. He held the IBF super middleweight title from 2004 to 2006, and the IBO super middleweight title from 2005 to 2006. Lacy rose to pro ...

WBO/

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 ...

unification bout on 6 March 2006, but a knee injury picked up by Nelson during sparring forced the fight to be cancelled and Nelson announced his decision to retire from professional boxing a few months later on 22 September 2006.

Life after boxing

Nelson currently works as an analyst for

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

. Since retirement he has spent some time working with the prison service helping inmates with life management skills. He has also done some charity work, agreeing to fight a charity match against Jos Battle.

Personal life

Nelson's mother was

Cuban Cuban may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban citizen, a perso ...

- Jamaican, his father was Dominican. Nelson's parents split up when he was a young child and he did not reunite with his biological father until he was in his thirties. In 2010, Nelson published his autobiography, ''Hard Road to Glory''.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Johnny 1967 births Living people Sportspeople from Sheffield World Boxing Organization champions Black British sportspeople English male boxers English people of Cuban descent English people of Jamaican descent English people of Dominica descent European Boxing Union champions Heavyweight boxers World cruiserweight boxing champions British Boxing Board of Control champions