Azumah Nelson rated No.41 in a list of the best fighters in the last 50 years

(1996) info:
World Titles: Featherweight, Junior Lightweight
Quality of competition: 10
Bouts vs. Top 50 fighters: 3
Why He`s Here: If his KO over Jeff Fenech didn`t guarantee him a spot in Canastota then his of Gabe Ruelas sure did
What He Could Have Done To Better His Ranking: He can still do it by winning the lightweight title. (1996) Do you feel Nelson could have beaten some of the lightweight champs down the years? Do you feel he could have beaten De La Hoya when he was the WBO lightweight champ?

 

This is one guy who never had to be told " just let your hands go "

 

He lost that first fight to Fenech. It has been many years but I don't remember it as even being much close.

 

I had it 9-3 for Fenech, that first fight. Still, Nelson is underplayed a bit here I think. He was a beast at 126, and became more patient and cagier by the time he'd aged into 130. Not entirely sure though, that he merits THIS high a ranking.

 

He was still super feather champ in 1996 after another remarkable comeback victory beating Ruelas the previous year. He hadn't lost to Genaro Hernandez yet. His stock was high.

 

He was a heck of a fighter, and I think he would have been better at 135 had he been a little younger and not lost to Pernell. He was a good puncher.

 

But a more uneven performer at the weight. Not the fault of the 4 pounds , more an age thing. To his credit , he kind of reinvented himself there, conserving energy , setting traps..........before , he'd just walk through you.

 

Nelson is awesome and underrated on the whole imo.

 

He was a great fighter and could probably beat Sanchez in a rematch at 130.

 

No Sanchez was more skilled and was improving when tragedy struck.

 

AZUMAH who? (Pat cowdell) LOL one of the funniest things I ever heard.

 

How do you determine that he was improving?

 

Age ?? Surely he was only gonna get better

 

He getting better at defending against counter rights which was a weakness he had.

 

Boxing doesn't work like that. He turned pro at 15. That makes 23 not quite 23. We saw the best Sanchez we were going to see.