[Crimson]

Saturday, December 12th, 1992
Coliseo de Puerto Rico; San Juan, Puerto Rico
2# John John Molina 28-4-1 (17) Puerto Rico IBF WBO
vs.
1# Azumah Nelson 35-2-1 (27) Ghana WBC WBA
15 Rounds for the Jr. Light Weight World Championship
- Nelson was established as a 2-1 favorite.
- The best venue in all of Puerto Rico, San Juan’s “Coliseo de Puerto Rico”, had sold all 18,500 available tickets. The fight was televised live on NBC with Ferdie Pacheco and Bob Trumpy calling it from ringside.
- The third man in the ring was Guillermo Perez Pineda of Panama. The 3 judges were from South Korea, Hungary, and Pennsylvania.
- Promoters attempted to put together an “Eliminator” between the 3# and 4# contenders, Jeff Fenech and Brian Mitchell, to determine the new 1# contender and mandatory to challenge for the World Championship in 1993. However, Fenech was not sufficiently recovered from his knockout loss in September and had to decline. Those two have agreed to battle in early 1993, once Fenech has had time to recover from his devastating KO defeat.
- “The Professor” and Molina both entered the ring in perfect condition.

ROUND 1: Nelson stunned Molina early and effectively took the crowd out of the fight. (Nelson 36-6)

ROUND 2: “The Professor” out worked Molina behind a heavy jab and sneaky body assault. (Nelson 42-6)

ROUND 3: Following the instruction of his trainer Lou Duva of, “Box him on the outside. Keep out of his range.” Molina gave his fans a few moments to cheer about during the round. (Molina 24-18)

ROUND 4: Nelson stepped up his attack and rocked back the head of Molina with several straight right hands on the inside. The faces of both fighters showed no signs of damage. The scorecard of Ringside Expert Andreas Raht favored Nelson 39-37. Punches landed numbers were also in Nelson’s favor 138-60. (Nelson 42-24)

ROUND 5: Molina seemed to catch Nelson by surprise with his willingness to fight on the inside. A beautiful right hand from Molina brought a cascade of cheers raining down on the ring and put Nelson’s aggressive assault on standby. (Molina 42-12)

ROUND 6: Nelson adjusted to Molina’s willingness to engage on the inside and resumed control of the fight. Nelson was the fresher of the two in the stamina department when the round ended. (Nelson 36-12)

ROUND 7: Nelson continued to wage war on the mid-section of Molina and the tiring Puerto Rican lacked the energy to fend off the invasion. (Nelson 36-18)

ROUND 8: Molina caught his second wind and upped his attack, landing several hard punches that sent the perspiration flying from the face of Nelson. The scorecard of television analyst Ferdie Pacheco had Nelson ahead by 2 points, 77-75. On the scorecard of Ringside Expert Andreas Raht the fight was even, 76-76. (Molina 24-12)

ROUND 9: Nelson’s chin was shown to be made of granite, as he walked right through a brutal combination from Molina without any sign of being the least bit bothered by it. The hero of Ghana then blasted Molina with his own guns and the Puerto Rican was soon on the retreat with little in reply. (Nelson 30-12)

ROUND 10: Nelson wasn’t spectacular, but he was steady. He continued to apply pressure to Molina as he had in every previous round, giving the crowd favorite no time to rest. (Nelson 24-12)

ROUND 11: In one of the best rounds of the fight, fierce exchanges took place that brought the crowd to their feet. To their disappointment Molina came out on the short end of those encounters. The right eye of Molina had some slight puffiness (2), Nelson’s face remained unmarked. (Nelson 36-18)

ROUND 12: Nelson’s forward march to the Jr. Light Weight World Championship continued, as ripped left hooks into the sides of Molina. In reply the punches of Molina either missed or bounced harmlessly off Nelson’s arms or gloves. (Nelson 30-12)

ROUND 13: Entering the World Championship rounds it appeared obvious to all that Molina would need a knockout to win. On the scorecard of Ringside Expert Andreas Raht, Nelson led by 4 points, 116-112. On Dr. Ferdie Pacheco’s scorecard, which Bob Trumpy concurred with, Nelson led by 6 points, 117-111. Molina fought to his best ability, but it was proving to be no match for the awesome skills and talent of Azumah Nelson. (Nelson 24-16)

ROUND 14: The swelling around Molina’s left eye (11) continued to worsen and was now ½ closed. Nelson was relentless and methodical. Nothing that Molina tried was able to stop the Nelson attack. (Nelson 47-11)

ROUND 15: “John John, you need a knockout to win! Come on you can do it! You hurt him last round!!” were the instructions of a wishful thinking and optimistic Lou Duva to Molina, going into round 15. To Molina’s credit, he had withstood Nelson’s punches without being knocked down and had never stopped trying to win the fight. With the crowd behind him Molina threw punches in round 15 with every ounce of strength and technique he had left. Molina made it exciting, but he was not effective in his attempts to knockout Nelson. With 14 seconds remaining in the fight, Nelson put an exclamation point on who had been the superior fighter during this World Championship contest, when a combination felled Molina in his own corner until the count reached “3”. (Nelson 48-5)

POST FIGHT: The punches landed were overwhelmingly in Nelson’s favor by an almost 2 to 1 margin, 473 to 242. The left eye of Molina was in bad shape (15). Ferdie Pacheco scored the fight for Nelson 146-138. Ringside Expet Andreas Raht also had it for Nelson, 146-139.
- Details on the financial value of the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP belt being won, in this division and all others, were shared with the public. The belt is made of gold, and worth $10,000. Every time a fighter defends against a 1# contender a diamond worth $3,000 is added to the belt. For every Championship defense against a contender ranked in the top 20# a ruby worth $1,000 is added.

DECISION: The official judges cards were: Hungary 146-139, South Korea 145-140, and Pennsylvania 146-138. All were for the winner by unanimous decision and undisputed Jr. Light Weight World Champion….AZUMAH NELSON!
Azumah Nelson Wu15 John John Molina (declared the Jr. Light World Champion)

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