This, I think, would be a case of a great big man beating a great little man. Chavez could take Nelson´s bombs and outwork him in-close. Chavez UD.
And it would also be Azumahs best opponent by far at that weight...The way i see it...If Azumah had problems getting Fenech off of him, Chavez is gonna be ALL OVER him...Outowrking him to a UD like the poster above have said.
Chavez was a little stringy and towards the end weight drained at 130 aswell. Whereas Azumah was a little African tank, perfectly proportioned physique for the weight IMO. Made the weight limit when he was pushing 40 and rarely outmuscled there.
Chavez was comfortable at 140 later on. Do you think Nelson would ever be? I don´t. At 130 they were about the same size, yes but naturally Chavez was bigger and I think this would play a role here. It´s not why he would win, see the second part of my post for that. :good I don´t think Chavez would necessarily outmuscle him either, he would beat him in the trenches though.
Chavez was a little bitter technically in some areas he could exploit. Specifically, he was tighter with his punches. Also Nelson had a tendency to square himself up. But he was an awesome fighter and very few of his opponents had the abillity to make him pay for this shortcoming (Sanchez did and Chavez would). Chavez was also pretty good backing up at this weight (see the Lockridge fight). I'll take Chavez by a close decision. Two great fighters, little to choose between them.
Judging from how Nelson looked physically at 135, i think he would have been able to go to 140, especially if his best opponents were small-ish men, closer to light than Welter like Chavez faced. Not a huge fan of the Prof, but he was certainly a physical marvel.
