Educate me on Azumah Nelson.

Here's a thread I made many moons ago:

My favourite Nelson fights are (in chronological order):

Sanchez
Gomez
Martinez
Fenech II (obviously)
Ruelas II
Leija III
(I haven't seen the Cabrera fight)


For me, Nelson is perhaps the greatest "past-prime" fighter ever. Whereas a guy like B-Hop modified his style to cope with the physical decline of age, Nelson seemed to be able to summon superhuman efforts even in his mid 30s, and simply blast out younger, fresher opponents.


And I am so sorry to do this to you at Christmas my friend, but I also rank him higher than MAB! I just think a green as hell Nelson's utterly titanic performance against a reigning ATG in Sanchez set the tone for a brilliant career. Fenech II was special, there can be no doubt about that. What a fighter.

 

I'm trying to find out more about Nelson too and have only seen his fights with Fenech(1 & 2), Whitaker, and Cowdell. I recommend watching his fights from Gomez-before the Whitaker fight. Try to start with the Nelson-Ordenes fight. Nelson was a good techincal fighter that had dynamite in both hands. Even in his 30's he still had quite a bit in his tank. He also was very young in his career and gave Salvador Sanchez a great fight from what I've heard.

 

I love The Professor. So much brawn and brain combined....usually you get one or the other with a fighter, but he had both in abundance.

I loved his performances against Gomez (readily available on youtube), Martinez II, Fenech II (absolute masterclass of HARD counterpunching...he was only too glad to let the bull back him into the ropes).......Leija III was good too.

 

His fight with Sanchez is well worth watching, if nothing else from a pure "****, this is an awesome fight" perspective.

Nelson comes forward relentlessly, but as often as not, forces Sanchez to punch first, which isn't to the champion's liking, and then Nelson just explodes with haymakers. Sanchez, never one to back down from an exchange, responds in kind, and it made for a really special fight, one of the best of the decade.

 

Anytime amigo. Happy Christmas to you too :good

 

Thanks, I will check it out soon. I heard he was down on the cards in the Gomez fight but was that a hometown robbery in the making? If so, it was good of Nelson to finish the fight so it didn't have to go to the cards.

 

Watch Nelson Vs Gomez, its probably his best performance, I got Nelson rated at 7 all time at featherweight, brilliant fighter.

 

Gomez rallied pretty well around rounds 4-5, something like that, but Nelson was just putting it to him. Had the decision gone to him it would have been a disgusting robbery, yes. But to fight a Puerto Rican hero in his backyard......you better take him out, the judges will do you no favors.

 

Haha that's true. I'll check out the Gomez-Sanchez fight too. I've always respected Nelson but haven't seen a lot from him but I will make it my priority to see more of him.

 

Seeing as your question has been well answered, I'll provide counterpoint and list some of his worst

Mario Martinez 1
Lupe Suarez
Juan Laporte
Jeff Fenech 1
Calvin Grove
Gabe Ruelas 1

I could put down Villasana and McDonell, but i think those were more just competitive fights against worthy contenders rather than the prof looking lacklustre per se.

Suffice to say, Nelson was better at feather than he was at 130, where he was something of an overrated Eubank-esque figure for me, who could not be relied on to give a good effort(even though he was schooled, he actually fought with more vigour in his loss to Whitaker than he did in most of his defences), even before he was obvously slipping.Was still good and highly dangerous, but his featherweight fights are what you want to see if you feel like starting with his best stuff.You can't really go wrong there.

 

Glad my text got through to you.

Right, I have just finished watching a Nelson career set and here is some musings.

What salsanchezfan commented on about him having 'brawn and brains' is entirely correct. He was a physical specimen at Featherweight, immensely strong; endless stamina; power in each hand; and a rock solid chin.

And he used these attributes to his benefit, mostly. At his best, I feel, he was applying pressure behind a tight guard, exerting immense mental pressure, and then bursting into combinations and flurries with two fisted attacks. That was his optimal fighting state IMO.

If you watch the Whittaker fight, although not a great showing of Nelson's arsenal, there is an early round where he explodes forward with his feet and closes down Whittaker superbly fast, but can't quite capitalise on it. I feel, he was not the best at cutting off the ring, he tended to follow guys around, but these explosive steps, or bursts forward helped make up for that, in a sort of elaborate or unorthodox way of cutting off the ring quickly, but it was equally as effective IMO.

He also could let his hands go pretty well from these bursts, generally he would go behind the jab and launch bombs after it, again it was unorthodox but it worked for him because of the way he did it. These bursts would be two handed power-blasts and he was dangerous with these from the first round to the last. One thing I will detract from his punching is, he often neglected the body and people tend to forget this, I think if he did work the body consistently he would increase his effectiveness ten-fold.

He had other aspects of his game, like he could work behind the jab and be a more 'traditional boxer' and showcased some good lateral movement and a snappy jab, his jab was a very good and versatile weapon IMO, he could also get inside and be a bit of a cutey, working off the ropes, countering etc... but I still feel he was at his best pressuring, or in a counter pressure role.

Technically, I think he had it all there, the fundamentals I mean. He did tend to stray from them though, when he could but he did often return to them if his plan did not work, so he had time to think of a new one. But generally he forgave technical perfection so that he could better use his physical assets IMO.

Another thing is, he was often inconsistent and unfocussed in fights that led to poor performances or coasting or even the wrong selection of tactics, but this flaw only really caught up to him late in his career with Leija. Earlier on he was able to scrape by using his guile. I think you could say he often fought down to his opponents.

I think the Villasana fight's showcase this, in the first fight he tends to rely too much on his 'boxing' and 'cutester' skills in the first fight and has a very close call. In the rematch he adapts and puts pressure on Villasana early then settles into his counter-punching/counter-pressure role really nicely to take quite a wide decision.

Generally in rematches he was much better as we saw in the Leija rubber match and the Fenech rematch, where incidentally again he shows off his best style. And used the uppercut really well in both. But the struggling in the first (or second) fight could have been cbecause of a shitty Nelson performance, which I tend to feel it was.

Ok, thats just some general musings. Hope you find it helpful.

Anyway best performances.

Wilfredo Gomez
Jeff Fenech II
Jesse James Leija III
Marcos Villasana II (not as 'neon' as the other two but a nice solid performance IMO)
Juvenal Ordenes (superb display of his pure pressure fighting)
Daniel Carberea (Cabrara is pretty decent and he sorts him out with relative ease really, in his pressuring role)

 

He was in better fights than Eubank's routine defences and fought at a higher level IMO.

With Suarez, Martinez, Grove and to an extent Ruelas. I think the guys showed him some good movement and angles and he did not really want to chase them, instead opting to get into a shoot out with them. I think the Leija rematch also went this way.


Also the 'African hunter walk' that Nelson sometimes exhibited in his CBA moments was better than anything Eubank mustered.

 

:goodThanks Gpater. I just watched the Ordenes fight today a few hours ago and noticed he toke his time and picked off shots beautifully. Once the opportunity came for the ko he toke it. I watched some rounds of the Sanchez fight and even that early in his career he still showed good defense and I thought he was outhustling Sanchez a bit early on. Smart pressure fighter well at least from all I've seen from him lol. I can't thank all of you enough fro contributing and thanks for making this thread Addie.