Although Azumah Nelson was a great fighter, a fight against the legendary Alexis Arguello would have been a great fight. The taller Arguello would keep the shorter Azumah at bay with his long left jab, setting up crisp accurate combinations. Salvador Sanchez stopped Nelson in round 15, on July 21 1982. Sanchez, a great fighter, and a quicker fighter, with all due respect, did not hit as hard as Alexis did. Arguello would stop Azumah in round 13, by a TKO. Alexis ends it with a punishing right to the jaw of an on coming exhausted Nelson. This fight would be similar to the Arguello vs Mancini title bout on Oct 3 1981. Azumah would need the movement of a Salvador Sanchez to defeat Alexis.
Terrific fight. Nelson has early success with his aggression and zeal, and it takes everything Arguello has to gradually wear down and eventually stop Azumah around the 13th. The fight is about dead-even at the time of the stoppage.
2 great fighters. Arguello the better of the 2 for me though at either weight. I have Alexis @ both weights in highly competitive fights. Not sure what type of ending though. I have an incredibly high opinion of Arguello, probably my favorite fighter for a while now.
Arguello by decision. Nelson had the abiliy to move and box but would probably get dragged into a war .
I lean to Arguello in this one. Though Sanchez had better foot work than Arguello, he didn't possess the power. Nelson is a ATG, but Arguello is also. I see Nelson doing well early against Arguello, probably leading by the 8th rd. If the fight is 12 rds, Nelson wins. But if its 15 rds Arguello stops Nelson between the 12-15 rd. It's a matter of how much Nelson could take. I don't believe he could take Arguello's firepower over 15rds. Especially when considering what happened to him against Sanchez, who wasn't close to the puncher Arguello was.
Nelson fought at Featherweight for a further 5 years after being beaten by Arguello in his 14th pro fight. He was not defeated in this time and tho it wasn't against a barrage of ATG's he put paid to guys like Gomez and Villasana x 2. He wasn't beaten in fact for 8 years post Sanchez and when he was it was in an effort to win Pernell Whitakers crown at 135. Whitaker was an incredibly good fighter by this point. Also notable was his ko of Pat Cowdell in 1 round. Cowdell had not been beaten since giving Sanchez a fine fight over some 4 years earlier. Cowdell's only previous stoppage was from a cut eye in his 6th pro bout. I think Nelson is quite underrated and i think he would give a great account of himself here. His featherweight best would have been just before he jumped to 130, five years after the Sanchez defeat. I'd make Arguello a very narrow favorite.
Tough call. I'm gonna lean toward Nelson. He could switch up tactics mid fight. Azumah could bang with ETM at times and box him just enough. Keep him off balance. I wouldnt wager though.
