Azumah Nelson’s style and boxing skills

I'd call him a puncher/boxer. Azumah was physically very strong for his weight class. One of the things he did exceptionally well was adjust his tactics midfight.
He could box well enough behind his jab, be patient, set traps. His quickness was underrated. Nelson could also throw punches from uncommon angles.

All in all got to say this is a complete fighter were looking at. That's why he was tough to beat.

 

Top notch post. I couldn't say it any better. The Professor was one of my favorites and a guy that I think is somewhat underrated.

 

He had one of the prettiest right hands I've ever seen. I think he was an excellent technician who, like you said, was very adaptable as a fighter. He could fight in a multitude of styles.

 

A complete fighter . Nothing else needs to be said

 

Exactly right, Flo. Nelson has a lot of strings to his bow. He could change style depending on the type of fighter he was facing and make those adjustments seemingly mid-fight. I love that he could do a bit of everything.

 

Yup. He was a great, great fighter ... I remember when the rage was a super fight with McGuigan ... he would have destroyed Barry ...

 

One of his bouts a little later in his career at 130 was with Calvin Grove. They thought Grove was finished but he rededicated himself to the gym.

Calvin was giving Azumah problems from the outside with his quickness. After getting off the canvas in round 1 CG won 5 of the next 6 rounds. Azumah changes his style to what he called his jungle mode.
It worked, Calvin was a little shook up. He couldn't get the time or room he needed. He almost started to panic. It was enough to stop the momentum of Grove win some rounds late.

Nelson could see the big picture of the fight and he the guts to try something new.

 

He could be a chameleon. If he didn’t respect your strength and power, he’d simply walk you down and chop you to pieces. If he thought you were dangerous, he’d box but not in a stylish, slick way. He’d set little traps, baiting you into leading and countering with violent flourishes to offset any offensive plans you may have.

His style was all about presence. On offense or defense, he insisted on having everyone in the house focus on him and what he was hatching. Constant moving, rolling of the shoulders, shaking out his arms, exaggerated posturing, sudden jumps in and out to gauge an opponent’s reactions…….he was constantly doing SOMETHING. It messes with your head, and makes it exceedingly difficult to build your own head of steam and develop your own plan. You’re too busy reacting to him.

 

Well put. He was also an incrementalist, a guy who could turn up the heat in a consistent, suffocating manner, little by little, blocking all escape, all avenues to a change in engagement. And as someone noted above, he just seemed a lot stronger than other fighters in his weight class.

 

Nelson didn't have a single physical or technical extraordinary attribute, but neither did he have a noticeable weakness.

He hit hard, but wasn't a concussive 1 punch knockout artist. Quick without being blindingly so. Good stamina, but no Henry Armstrong. Technically excellent without being on a Sanchez-type level, etc.

At elite level, his opponent usually excelled in a single attribute to a more notable extreme than Azumah did. They usually had a more pronounced flaw(s) than Nelson, too.

Where Nelson was sufficiently adept to separate himself from your typical world class boxer, and into an ATG fighter, was his ring IQ. He almost always knew there was a type of fight, fought at a certain range and pace, which would nulify his opponents biggest strength(s) and expose their biggest flaw(s). He'd usually figure that out quicker than his opponent and/or implement his game plan more effectively than they did.

 

I often see terms thrown around, even bandied, like, for instance, boxer, puncher, boxer-puncher, puncher-boxer. But I have always preferred to refer to Azumah Nelson as a pure technical boxer-punchist.

 

Where did Nelson learn his chops? As I recall he gave a good account of himself against Salvador Sanchez, with only 13 fights to his credit. He certainly looked like a more experienced fighter.

 

Sometimes boxing is technical.

Sometime it’s about athleticism and physical gifts.

And sometimes it’s just caveman stuff — who’s willing to wade through hell and just make it a match of willpower and determination.

Azumah could fight on all three of these levels and shift gears as necessary.