text: who is azumah nelson?   azumah nelson (born september 19, 1958) is a former boxer who was a three time world champion. a native of ghana, nelson is not a prince: he is not related to the ashanti royal family. he is from a different tribe. he is from the ga tribe. he used to wear a crown into the ring before his boxing fights.  nelson also has endured personal loss: his wife of many years died during the 1990s of cancer.  nelson's professional boxing debut, in 1979, did not cause much furor, except in ghana, where he was known because of his family ties. internationally, nelson lacked the recognition for such an event to be given its due importance. with the years, however, all of that changed because he garnered world wide fame as a boxer.  he beat billy kwame in accra by a decision in eight to mark his professional debut. in his third fight, he fought on march 3 of 1980, he knocked out henry sadler in the ninth round to win ghana's regional 126 pound title. on december 13 of that year, he knocked out joe skipper in round 10 to add the african continent's belt to his ghanian regional championship.  1981 was a productive year for the young fighter. he beat bozzou aziza in his first fight abroad; held in togo, and then he beat miguel ruiz in his first united states fight, held in california. he added the british commonwealth's featherweight title with a five round knockout of brian roberts.  despite all his early achievements and being undefeated in 13 fights, nelson was virtually unknown outside ghana. because of this, he was a decisive underdog when he challenged wbc world featherweight champion salvador sanchez on june 21 of 1982 at the madison square garden in new york. despite losing that fight by a knockout in round 15, nelson's stock as a boxer rose after that fight, and he established himself as a deserving leading contender in the eyes of many fans. sanchez sadly passed away almost two months after this fight, suffering a car accident in mexico city. sanchez-nelson was salvador sanchez's last fight.  in his next fight, nelson knocked out fringe contender irving mitchell in eight rounds.  nelson won all four of his fights in 1983, and he began 1984 by beating hector cortez by decision on march 9 in las vegas. then, on december 8 of that year, he became boxing royalty by knocking out wilfredo gomez in round 11 to win the wbc world featherweight championship. behind on the three judges' scorecards, nelson rallied in that last round to become champion in puerto rico.  nelson held on to that title for three years. he could not fight for 9 months after the gomez bout, but when he returned, he retained the title in miami with a fifth round knockout of juvenal ordenes in september 1985, and then in october of that year, he retained it again with a first round knockout of pat cowdell in birmingham, england. the cowdell knockout in particular became a highlight film material: cowdell was left frozen on the canvas by nelson's knockout punch.  in 1986, he retained the title two times, beating future world champion marcos villasana and former barry mcguigan challenger danilo cabrera (once again, in puerto rico).  in 1987, nelson retained the title against mauro guitierrez, by a knockout in round six, and in a rematch with villasana, once again, by decision. after the second fight with villasana, nelson abandoned the wbc's world featherweight title.  nelson began 1988 by fighting former julio cesar chavez rival mario martinez for the vacant wbc's world jr. lightweight title. he beat martinez by decision in 12 rounds on february 29 at los angeles to become world jr. lightweight champion, and then he defended the title with a knockout in round nine against former world champ lupe suarez and with a knockout in three over sydney del rovere.  he proceeded in 1989 by beating martinez in a rematch, by knockout in round 12, and then fighting jim mcdonnell, with exactly the same result. the fight with m