Category: Fight Videos

July 21, 2021
Madison Square Garden, New York, New York 
WBC Featherweight Title 
Weights: Sanchez 126, Nelson 124 
Don King Productions

Salvador Sanchez was coming off of a 15 round unanimous decision win against Rocky Garcia only nine weeks before in Dallas, Texas, and Azumah Nelson had fought only three weeks before in Ghana, winning by 6th round TKO.

Sanchez, who was defending his WBC World Featherweight Title, brought a (43-1-1, with 32 KO’s) record into the bout.

Nelson was (13-0, with 10 KO’s) and was the Ghanan, African Boxing Union, and British Commonwealth Featherweight Champion.

A tough bout for both men that went back and forth for most of the almost 15 rounds of action.

Nelson started off fast and appeared to have had the edge through most of the early rounds, coming in behind a high guard, punching in combination, and scoring well to the body of Sanchez.

Sanchez, a patient fighter that broke down his opponents with surgical precision, seemed to have had a tough time getting his rhythm and timing going, but did land heavy punches and was savvy enough to keep going back to boxing and jabbing through those tough early rounds.

In the seventh round Sanchez dropped Nelson with a left hook that hurt Nelson and turned the tide of the bout, with Sanchez now having the edge, in what were still very competitive rounds.

In the 13th and 14th rounds Nelson was still trying hard and fighting relatively well, but it was apparent he no longer had his legs under him and he was wobbled several times.

In the 15th Sanchez dropped Nelson again, and after Nelson got up and the action resumed, Sanchez began landing monster shots until the referee stepped in and stopped the bout, giving him the win by TKO in 15.

Sanchez, in the prime of his life and career, would leave the earth three weeks later, after crashing his vehicle and dying while in training camp for a rematch with Juan Laporte.

“The Professor” Nelson would go on to establish himself as a featherweight and super-featherweight world champion, terrorizing the divisions until finally losing by decision to Hall of Famer Pernell Whitaker in 1990.

After the loss to Whitaker, Nelson would still go on to fight at the world championship level until 1998, beating Juan Laporte, Jeff Fenech, Calvin Grove, and Gabriel Ruelas in the process.