Former IBF World welterweight champion, Joshua Clottey has described Ghana and African boxing great, Azumah Nelson, as a Living Legend who deserves all the praise and adulation that has been heaped on him during his 60th birthday celebrations.
According to Clottey, Azumah is as the greatest thing to have happened to the sport and thus deserves to be celebrated.
“Azumah did more than great in his career. He beat all the tough Mexican boxers in his generation and for me his is the best, the greatest. He is a living legend so we have to celebrate him.
Azumah was a great fighter and has done really well for the nation. I am happy at what he was able to achieve and so we are all happy for him. The greatest lesson from Azamah that all boxers must take is the fact that he was disciplined and never stopped training. The young up and coming boxers must always train head, avoid night outings and avoid alcohol abuse if they want to become great like Azumah.”
Clottey spoke these kind words about Azumah during the climax of the legend’s birthday which fell on July 19.
The highlight of the birthday was the organization of the Azumah Nelson Fight Night at the Bukom Boxing Arena last Saturday.
During the Fight Night, Azumah was honoured by the World Boxing League (WBL) and the World Boxing Council.
The boxing Professor was decorated with ‘special belts’, a vase and specially designed jacket as he marked his 60th birthday which fell on Thursday July 19.
The presentation of the belts and other items were done at the special edition of the Azumah Nelson Fight Night held at the Bukom Boxing Arena to climax a week-long of activities marking the icon’s birthday anniversary over the weekend.
The belt by the WBC is engraved with flags representing the countries of all the boxers Azumah Nelson faced during his illustrious 19-year career.
There were also goodwill messages from the current president of the WBC and some of Azumah’s fiercest rivals including retired Australian boxer Jeff Fennec who described his one-time foe as a ‘good friend’.
Azumah also received a plaque from U.K-based boxing group, Boxing Fans UK which was presented to him by Ghana’s first world champion D.K Poison.
The 3-time Super Featherweight champion turned 60 last Thursday and tributes have been pouring from across the world to celebrate his greatness as a boxer and outstanding personality.
Azumah Nelson fought 47 times in his, winning 39, losing 6 and drawing two of those bouts.
On February 8th 2004, Azumah was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame becoming the first and so far the only African to achieve that feat.
He is currently the 17th greatest pound for pound boxer of all time according to the Boxrec's ranking.
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