Know for his legendary toughness and stamina. Dont see him mentioned too much. Thoughts. Opinions. Placement at LW all time.
I love reading his fight writeups. I believe nothing describes Nelson more perfectly than one of the descriptions on Boxrec of his fight against Martin Canole "Canole was ahead by such a large margin in the first three rounds that over 100 people left the stadium" Nelson went on to win this fight by 18th round KO. Truly an underrated champion here. A beast under a 20-45 rounder. He has wins over Joe Gans, Terry McGovern, Young Corbett ll, Aurelio Herrera (who's an underrated contender), and a draw against Abe Attell. Dude had unlimited stamina and good power on top of a diamond chin. Sadly some people judge him by his slightly less than shiny record because of the 6/8 rounders he fought in which weren't his specialty plus his post Nelson-Wolgast 2 career. Nelson developed brain damage and was half the fighter he once was, being stopped by Owen Moran and completely brutalized by Freddie Welsh, along with losing to fighters he was completely superior to in his prime. Back in the day they just didn't care though, and fighters could just keep fighting even with that kind of damage sadly. And Nelson loved the fight game. He went 31-9-9 from 1902-1909, averaging 7 fights a year and notching wins over top guys. Do note he got revenge on most of those losses. His biography "The Durable Dane" by Mark Allen Baker is a good read On another note Battling Nelson vs Floyd Mayweather at 135, 45 rounds, 1900s ruleset. 4oz untabbed gloves, no rehydration, Floyd doesn't get to ***** over minor details, 16ft ring with no post coverings is a wet dream of a fight for me. To see Floyd, who would be winning up until around round 20, slowly dawn upon him what a nightmare of a fighter he's in with. Then you see the fear, the worry, the anxiety begin. Floyd realizes he's tired. And Nelson isn't stopping. His eyes are thumbed, his head is shaken, it's blazing hot out, he's taken a few headbutts in the clinch, the ref isn't listening to his complaints. His back is scratched up from being slammed on the uncovered metal ringpost. And Nelson. Keeps. Coming. Nelson KO32. Idk something sits right with me about a raised to win, protected and always in control of every minor detail of the fight Floyd being broken mentally and physically by a man born with little talent but a hellish mindset and stamina. Not to mention that shiny record would be gone Did I just come off as a Floyd hater? Whoops Anyways Nelson is a badass and a p4p top 100er and a great lightweight, probably might just miss out on the top 10 because Lightweight is so stacked but probably top 15
I don't rate him as high as Lach, but he was very good. Sort of Holyfield type, who fought everyone in a stacked era though sometimes with mixed results Very hard to beat in a long fight, though I think you have to count some of his losses, especially against poor oppositions against him. Annoyingly I can't find any papers in tge Hot Springs area at the right time to learn more about some of his fights.
