Quick hands, athletic, skilful. His fight with James Warring was an absolute barnburner. I'm lying, Nelson fought scared and it was dreadful. He seemed to get over this later in his career though. Dig out his fight with Carl Thompson if you want a quick glimpse, and some excitement
Decent. Good but not great. Seemed to struggle with the mental side of fighting, he comes across as a very gentle and laid back kind of guy who lacks the aggression to have the killer instinct in a fight, but he was a good fast technical boxer. It was possibly his religious beliefs that took the edge off him as far as aggression was concerned. IMHO he's the best analyst on sky and I think that points to how good his technical understanding of boxing is.
Johnny was a late bloomer. He did lack confidence and belief in the early days (and yes, there were some dismal fights he was involved in), but by the mid '90s he really seemed to find himself and came into his own. The transformation in his level of confidence was remarkable and one of the most dramatic I have ever seen. Don't think he would have ever been a true world beater (despite being WBO champ for several years), but a very good European level fighter who would have posed problems and difficulties for anyone when performing at his absolute best (both mentally and physically). He had good quality skills and I enjoyed watching him. There was big talk of a fight with Maccarinelli (think it was even signed at one point), but Johnny pulled out with a knee injury which subsequently led to his retirement from the sport. Personally I felt he would have beaten Maccarinelli, particularly at that stage of Enzo's career.
Johnny was a terrible to watch at times but he was slippery and skilled customer, He was crafty and skilful and tbh looking back a pretty good fighter. I used to wanna see him get ko'd until the last couple fights when i actually fought he's a good fighter and effective at what he does. Ezra Sellers had his number that night though till he got caught. Would of loved to of seen Haye vs Him...as Gaz says above him vs Enzo was banded about a lot!! Enzo was a wrecking machine at that point and Johnny was winding down at end of career.
his title reign was a joke when u look back at it. didn't rematch thompson (although i blame warren). or any of the other champions (see above). guillermo jones was about the best guy he fought and he should have lost. admittedly jones then failed a drugs test.
easily his best fight and performance. thompson deserved a rematch though. disgrace he never got one. :bart
He was signed to fight Enzo on the Calzaghe v Lacy undercard but injury forced him out. Hobson stepped in and ran Enzo close that night (Enzo v Hobson one was a good fight), no doubt in my mind Nelson would have beat him had he not been forced to pull out.
He was good. Big, strong, durable and awkward fighter. Could look devastating, then really crap in his next fight. Would have beaten Enzo Macc.
Oh **** you're right, I forgot about the Deleon fight and kind of morphed it into the Warring fight. Wow, how did he keep getting those chances?? He fought a lot as a heavyweight B side too didn't he, just before his WBO cruiser renaissance?
Johnny Nelson was a good fighter. As with all practitioners of this style he was inconsistent but on his day he was a very good fighter. There seems to be nothing of him on YouTube...
Johnny nelson was as good a fighter as he was a commentator .look at his title reign ,thought average fighters except thomson .
I can never forgive him for that "fight" with Carlos de Leon. It's amazing that such a dreadfully boring fight can remain burned into one's memory for such a long time.....
