You are here: HomeSportsSoccer2004 06 14Article 59675

Sports News of Monday, 14 June 2004

Source: --

Azumah Joins Int'l Boxing Hall of Fame

The International Boxing Hall of Fame's rolls swelled to 285 members Sunday with the induction of the 15-member Class of 2004.

Former world featherweight and super featherweight champ, Azumah Nelson, was enshrined in the Hall of Fame, as more than 2,000 boxing fans looked on.

A six-member presidential delegation from Ghana attended the ceremony to watch Nelson's induction, which he called "the greatest moment in the history in the saga of African boxing."

The soft-spoken Nelson thanked the people and the government of Ghana for helping him go from an unknown who stepped into the ring with Hall of Famer Salvador Sanchez as a late replacement on the card and battled valiantly before losing in the 15th round, to a champion at the world welterweight and super featherweight levels.

"To all who helped me from the beginning of my career ... there are too many to list. At the appropriate time, I will write them all in the history of my life."

"The Professor", as he's know to his boxing fans, was the WBC featherweight champion (1984-87) and WBC super featherweight champion (1988-94, 1995-97), Palomino was welterweight champion from 1976-1979, Qawi was the light heavyweight king (1981-83) and cruiserweight champion (1985-86) and Mexico?s Daniel Zaragoza is a 3-time super bantamweight king (1988-90, 1991-92, 1995-97).

Short Bio

AZUMAH NELSON _ Born July 19, 1958 in Accra, Ghana. Known as "The Professor" because of his technical boxing skills, Nelson captured the WBC featherweight championship on Dec. 8, 1984, with an 11th round TKO over Hall of Famer Wilfredo Gomez. Successfully defended crown six times before winning the WBC super featherweight title from Mario Martinez in 1988. Lost the title to "Jesse" James Leija in 1994. Briefly regained the crown in December 1995, before losing it again the following year to Genaro Hernandez. Finished career with a record of 39-5-2 with 28 KOs.

The 2004 induction class included light heavyweight Dwight Muhammad Qawi of the United States, Former welterweight champion Carlos Palomino and bantamweight Daniel Zaragoza of Mexico. Also enshrined were promoter J. Russell Peltz and South African referee Stanley Christodoulou.