He grew up in Bukom, a suburb of the capital city, Accra which has been tagged the birth place of the country's boxers. From the tattered rings of Bukom he trained and became the WBC Super Featherweight Champion in the ultra modern rings of Las Vegas.
Although he had no formal education, he was conferred with the title "professor" by boxing gurus and his supporters. He promoted the name of the country through the boxing circles and today his name is a household one. Zoom Zoom as he is affectionately called is the only Ghanaian boxer whose name appears in the American Hall of Fame.
As he kept defeating international boxers who came his way his name kept changing but he never bothered. From Azumah Zoom Zoom Nelson to 'Professor' Barimah Azumah Zoom Zoom Nelson international boxers like Lopez, Sharvez, Gomez and Whitaker were among those who suffered from his "Bukom" blows.
Since 'Prof'. Azumah Nelson retired from boxing nothing significant has come from his end in terms of news. Last weekend however a group of curious residents from Kwashiebu, a suburb of Accra near the Kwashieman Over pass spotted him in his flashy white Limousine.
The presence of the "strange" car with four doors alone disturbed the evening's activities as many trooped to have a look at the limousine which has the inscription "Mac Nima" on its back screen. It veered off the Abeka-Lapaz motorway at the Hong Kong Junction to make a turning back to the Lapaz direction.
Soon after the vehicle slowly did a turning on the untarred portion of the street and because of its length people from all walks of life including night traders abandoned their wares to catch a glimpse of the vehicle. As the adults stood akimbo and in a state of shock, children from all directions suddenly paraded round the car with the aim of knowing who was in it.
As the window of the back door automatically slided downwards there was a thunderous noise and Azumah who was apparently amazed at the turn of events dished out money in ?2,000 denomination to the teeming crowd. As children rushed to pick what they could from the ground the vehicle sped off leaving the curious onlookers in groups of three or four to discuss it.