Was Johnny Nelson THAT bad?

Most of his fights were very uneventful, as his style and approach were safety-first, He was also effective spoiler and let's be honest, Brendan Ingle was just trolling when He gave him "The Entertainer" nickname... but to answer the question in the topic - No, He wasn't bad at all. He was a good cruiserweight title holder.
Techniques He was using were a bit different, but in his peak He was a lot like Lawrence Okolie. Tall, very big and strong at weight and big puncher - what allows him to effectively slow the pace down and keep opponent at bay. They had to respect his power and think about coming in... and once They got close - They were usually tied up. He was very effective.

I might be odd one here, but I actually enjoyed watching his title run. "Cat" Thompson and Marcelo Dominguez were good wins over top 10 fighters. Not all his fights were snooze-fests either. His fight with Ezra Sellers was fun. Around 2002 He began to show signs of aging, Guillermo Jones outworked him and got robbed, but then failed a test.. and those late fights on the road also might've gone against him.

I think He should be getting more credit for turning his career around. Brendan Ingle called Johnny his biggest success story as a trainer. He went from journeymen and sparring-partner to legimate title holder, made decent money and retired a chamption (Was suppose to fight Enzo Maccarinelli, but injured his back).

 

The most inappropriate nickname in boxing history.
On NO account ever accept a box set of his greatest performances, even if there was one!

 

His early form was disappointing but you have to give him credit for turning it around.All in all he was a good fighter who had a decent career

 

Johnny was to boxing what Muzak is to music — you’re not going to tap your toes or get up and dance, but it achieves its purpose (as background noise in shopping malls and doctors offices and elevators).

He was what the Brits call a negative fighter. His goal was to negate the opponent, not to generate his own offense. It was sometimes painstaking (but not painful) to watch but he was about as effective at being negative as anyone I recall ever seeing.

His career arc is about as baffling as any you’ll find: lost his first three fights, then went on a pretty decent run as a cruiser including two failed world title tries (one a draw vs. Carlos DeLeon, who wasn’t exactly Mr. Excitement himself) then hopped up to heavy for a miserable run where he got beat a lot (but probably made some decent money) … then resent after piling up like a dozen total losses (including those first three) and didn’t lose again the last nine years of his career before retiring, finally claiming cruiserweight gold (WBO, I believe). He found a niche.

Not a lot of Hall of Famers (really not any) on that list of successful conquests on that final stretch run but he kept collecting wins and holding onto his belt.

So I say good for Johnny. He was the king of winning ugly, but winning is better than losing as the old coach used to say.

(As an aside, on my visit to England in the early 1990s I wanted to see some live boxing and during my stay there was only one card I could make — and few in general — so I hopped a train to Hull. It was a ‘black jacket and tie’ affair at a swanky hotel ballroom, so I went and bought a white dress shirt and tie and let my black leather jacket suffice. I tracked down the promoter by phone and even though it was sold out when I told him I was from America and really wanted to see a boxing card he said he’d let me in. Brendan Ingle, as it turned out, had a guy on the card … I think it was Tony Booth … and lo and behold the promoter has the announcer introduce me before the main event, saying I had come all the way from America just to see this fight, haha. And after, Ingle and this tall fellow who came along with him made their way over to welcome me to England and chat me up. The tall fellow, of course, was none other than Johnny Nelson. They couldn’t have been nicer. We talked boxing for a while and I got my picture made with them — long since lost — and it was pretty cool. After the fight, I got on a bus with a bunch of well-dressed lads who it turned out were basically rowdy soccer hooligan types and they ‘adopted’ me as their new American friend and we all went out to a pub for a while and had a good time.)

 

Good point s.

 

Im still looking for the Corrie Sanders / Johnny Nelson fight

 

Great story

 

Johnny was a pretty good boxer but unfortunately whenever he's discussed,that snoozefest between him and Carlos De Leon comes to mind.

 

He wasn’t bad. He was just boring as all hell and made me forget I was watching a combat sport whenever he was in the ring. I liked him though, he did his very best and turned around what looked like on the surface a Journeyman career path. One of the best cruisers probably.

 

Gee Thanks now I remember that fight.

 

He thinks he’d of beat Usyk at his best. So he does at least have a sense of humour.

 

Good win against Thompson

 

Anyone think he'd have had a chance against John Ruiz?