Where do you rank The Professor all-time? WBC Featherweight champion with 6 defenses, made a total of 10 defenses during two reigns as Jr. Lightweight champion, In a 12 year span his only loss was to Whitaker at 135. Wins over Wilfredo Gomez, Jeff Fenech, Gabriel Reulas, Jesse James Leija, Calvin Grove, Juan LaPorte, Marcos Villasana, Mario Martinez, etc. What range do you put him in? Does he make your top 100?
He does for me. One of the greatest champions in history, and arguably Africa's greatest boxer. Top 60 for me.
I don't know exactly where I'd place him. However, he's a superb fighter. Perhaps one of the most underrated ATG's of the last 30 years. He certainly doesn't get talked about as much as he should on this forum. He could box, punch, and his defense was good as well. His knockout of Pat Cowdell was spectacular as well as sickening. He did become inconsistent when he fought into deep into the 90's, although thats understandable as he was ageing significantly. I liked Nelson's 'looping' right hand. He wasn't a 'straight down the pipe' type of fighter with that particular punch.
I haven't made a list recently that goes as far as 50, but I don't think Nelson would quite make top 50. I am almost positive that I wouldn't rank 100 fighters over him...strike that, I am positive that I wouldn't. I've been meaning to do a top 100, for me personally I think he'll fall anywhere from 60-80, but I'll have to actually make the list to be sure where I place him. Nelson is quickly becoming one of my favorite fighters, I've recently became very interested in him, and I agree with Robbi that he is one of the most underrated greats of the past 30 years.
My one big problem with Nelson is that he fought in and around a very deep jr. lightweight division and didn't make any of the big unification fights that were very much available at the time. Tony Lopez, John Molina, Brian Mitchell, and Genero Hernandez (while he was still undefeated) were all very good and distinguished champions, but Nelson spent his reign fighting mostly second tier contenders instead (ie: Martinez, LaPorte, McDonnell). Imagine how big a Nelson-Lopez match in Sacramento would've been. IMO, Nelson wasted too much of his prime years chasing fights like McGuigan, Chavez, and Fenech that kept falling through, and not making what fights were actually available to him at the time.
The Terrible Warrior was and is in my top 20.. no doubt ATG.. I met him once at the Forum Shoppes at Caesars palace in a store called Kirkorians.. he was buying silk shirts.. he spoke clearly but a bit broken english but was such a humble cat... I have amazing respect for him.
Good thread, the Professor isn't talked about enough on here. Tremendous little fighter. I think he is a lock for any sensible top 100, but probably nearer the big 100 than the 50 mark. I'd estimate around 70-90.
That first Fenech fight was too close for comfort...... last few seconds were crazy , close to being stopped, the rematch in Australia was a different case though........
Nelson was without question one of the best finishers of the last 30 years. His finish against Martinez during 2nd fight was rather impressive, as was his dismantling of Fenech in the rematch.
Is it true that Fenech was scarred mentally for years after the first fight with The Professor, and that all of that came to an end in their third and final fight?
I've never been a big fan of Nelson really, especially once he moved up to 130. he was no doubt an excellent fighter, but had a sloppy jack of all trades master of none feel to his style that i've never really liked.I think he came to rely too much on his strength and power, at the expense of polishing his skills.As his career went on he seemed to completely lose the ability to shorten his punches up for instance. he often tended to need a rematch to figure out and really get on top of fighters that were beyond B level and had a decent number of bad performances at 130.Grove, Fenech, Martinez 1,most of the McDonnell bout, Brutally fouling Lupe suarez out of the fight... His longevity actually is more impressive to me than his peak ability. I don't like the whole under\overrated phrasing of things in general, but i wouldn't say Nelson was underrated at all.He's generally rated a great fighter(far more favourably than Brian Mitchell for instance), though i tend to see him as being towards the bottom of the eighties crop that would be considered a consensus great.A guy like McCallum who i think occasionally gets overestimated in comparison to other greats like hearns, hagler, etc.. was a good notch or two above the Prof imo.
Well from what I understood, he always felt like he had won that first one, no matter the outcome, and when he lost to Nelson in the second fight, it scarred him, he couldn't sleep at night for years knowing (well, at least in his mind) that he had beaten Nelson for the title in the first fight and that he couldn't deal with losing to him in the second fight. The only reason he wanted to fight him a third time was to beat him, at least from what I understood.
It wasn't close at all for Pete's sakes, Fenech flogged the **** out of him. Jesus, it was likely the robbery of the decade. None the less Nelson redeemed himself in the rematch. Nelson would surely be in me top 50 if i had one. HUGE fan here.
