Sankofa Series: I’m too bad baby – The story behind Azumah Nelson’s famous post-fight interview

This is the story behind what has become the most famous and easily-referenced post-bout statement by Africa’s greatest boxer, Professor Azumah Nelson.

The interview happened after Azumah knocked out Pat Cowdell in the first round of their fight and he decided to unleash a trash talk to call out Barry McGuigan who had been making noise and touting himself as the best in the featherweight division.

The two were rival 126-pound champions in the mid-1980s. Azumah Nelson who was 27 years old then was the WBC world champion while McGuigan was the WBA champion.

Azumah had not fought a year before 1985 and many started thinking that the Ghanaian had fallen down the radar, so he decided to use his fight against Pat Cowdell to send a strong message to the boxing world.

Cowdell who was 32 years then had never been knocked out in over 18 fights. This made the fight on the night of October 12, 1985, a big one to watch but Azumah Nelson had a different plan.

The Ghanaian boxer was pumped for the fight and started brightly by landing swift punches. Within two minutes, Azumah landed Cowdell on the canvas by delivering a powerful left uppercut that smacked his jaw.

Speaking with a funny accent after the fight in the popular post-fight interview, Azumah Nelson said, “I came him to knock him out in the first round because the people here didn’t treat us good. They made all kinds of ways to take the title from us but I came here to prove that I am the best in the world.

Describing how he managed to knock out Cowdell in Round 1, Azumah said, “As soon as the bell went, he came straight at me and I said to myself I am going to knock him out in the first round.

“So I took my time and he started jabbing me and I took him with a left uppercut. You men I am too bad baby,” Azumah Nelson said in his famous post-fight interview.

Calling out McGuigan who was his next target in a title unification fight, Azumah described the boxer as a girl who was scared of facing him in the ring.

He said, “McGuigan is a good fighter but there is no way he is going to go four rounds past me because I got my power, I got the experience. I got everything too much than McGuigan and I call him girl because he is scared of me…”



Although Azumah Nelson wanted the fight against McGuigan badly, the fight, unfortunately never happened.

Nelson went on to retain his WBC title four more times, before moving up to become champion at super-featherweight. In total, Azumah Nelson recorded 28 knockout victories during his Hall of Fame career.