Azumah Nelson - What's The Highest...

Nelson is an acquired taste. Nelson does not appear to be fundamentally sound when you watch him. You have to study Azumah as an individual to fully appreciate him. Then you will see that Nelson knew how to make an opponent miss, and make him pay. You'll see how he could impose his strength when needing to make up for a lack of technique.

 

One of the greats, I dont see how anyone could think otherwise...He was a very good defensive fighter but he also was made of rock both to the head and body..this allowed him to stick to his gamepla, even under heavy fire.

I think he could have mugged Sanchez if he was a little more seasoned and maybe just edged him in a split..But knowing how intelligent a fighter Sanchez was if he even allowed this to happen, he certainly wouldnt in a rematch I imagine. Plus he would still need that element of suprise..he literally came out of nowhere when he fought Sanchez..if he was to have a few more fights before facing him, he may well have alerted Sanchez to his promise.

He only lost to Sweet Pea and technically Fenech in what you would probably call his prime..And even then lightweight wasnt his best weight, he was supposedly very sick against Fenech and to be honest he probably was already on a steady decline when he faced Jeff anyway ...I dont think he faced Sanchez when was at his best but he was certainly approaching it...Thats pretty damn impressive.
He had a fight there at 130 where he was dropped and it was fairly close but I havent seen it and I cant recall who against.

 

Nelson's not borderline ATG by any stretch IMO. Jeez, he's got a fantastic record. P4P i have no trouble whatsoever with people putting him well above a Sanchez.

 

Borderline, my ass.

Azumah epitomizes so much of what is great in this sport. Fierce, powerful and decisive. The Leija fights were great stuff. Once he cleared the malaria he beat the crap out of Fenech. Beat Ruelas, McDonnell and Martinez twice. He gave Whitaker a very good scrape; close scores reflected the tussle.

 

:happy

 

Settle down.

He arguably lost to Martinez the first time round and the close scores in the Whitaker fight reflected nothing more than that Nelson was a Don King fighter. He got whitewashed.

 

The scores were fair. Nelson did enough to win 3-4 rounds when he opened up late in the fight, and Whitaker also lost a point at some point. 8 rounds to 4, with a point deduction, would equal a 3-point margin.

 

Care to point out which 4 rounds he arguably won? Nelson didn't clearly win a single round in the fight. There were simply a few rounds that he didn't get utterly owned and could have gone his way 'for effort'.

 

The one mark against Nelson's legacy IMO is that he didn't take more of the big fights that were available to him back when he was in his prime. 126-130 was pretty damn deep then, with fighters like Tony Lopez, John Molina, Brian Mitchell, Jorge Paez, etc., etc. It always seemed like Nelson fought guys who were just a notch below the top ones, like Martinez, McDonnell, etc. IMO, Nelson spent too much of his career chasing after fights with McGuigan, Chavez, and Fenech and not making fights that were much more readily available to him. Personally, I would've loved to have seen a unification fight between him and Lopez.

Having said that, his late career wins against Fenech and Ruelas do certify him as an ATG and rightfil HOFer. It's just a question of where exactly you rank him among the greats, but IMO he's an all time top tenner at both 126 and 130.

 

I clearly remember giving Nelson some rounds but that fight was not close...I had assumed it was because I knew the result before I watched it and thought the scores reflected the closeness of the bout...Not the case IMO.

 

My scorecard by the way: 117-110 for Whitaker

Nelson winning the 12th by a 2 point margin (didn't clearly win the round actually, but let's give him a 2 point round) and the 7th round. Whitaker winning the rest.

The two judges that put in cards for Whitaker by 2 points were clearly looking to give Nelson rounds no matter what. This was a Don King job, much like the Whitaker-Chavez fight was. Only difference is Chavez legitimately won about 3 rounds and that made all the difference.

 

No, there was also a few rounds in which he got in on Whitaker and landed the bigger punches and forced him to hold. Those would be rounds 7, 11, and 12. Round 8 could've gone to Nelson as well.

 

Havent seen the fight in a while but I really only remember Azumah landing the odd body shot that made a loud thud and that got the crowd ooo-ing and ahhing, often they actually werent that clean Sweet Pea turning the punch away a bit.

Some may say Azumah was pressing the fight..I saw it as him chasing Sweet Pea who seem to throw a lot more punches and most definitely landed tons more.
There was nothing effective about Nelson's aggression for pretty much the whole fight.

What I mean is not thinking round for round because I truly cant remember...thinking the fight overall...Sweet Pea was a very comfortable winner.

 

I'll upload rounds 8 and 11 to refresh the memories of people here. I don't think Nelson won either. Round 8 he put some good pressure on for about a minute then walked onto jabs for 2 minutes straight. Round 11 Nelson was pressing and missing just about every haymaker he threw. No one that knows the scoring criteria should score this round to Nelson.