Johnny Nelson receives MBE for services to sport
Born 4 January 1967, Ivanson Ranny "Johnny" Nelson is now a British boxing analyst, but once held the WBO World cruiserweight title from 1999 to 2006, which remains the longest reign at cruiserweight of all time.
Now 56, "The Entertainer" defended the title against 13 different opponents, more than any other cruiserweight in history, and holds a joint-record of most consecutive cruiserweight title defences (along with Marco Huck). He also never lost the title in the ring.
At regional level, he held the British title twice between 1989 and 1997, and the European title twice between 1990 and 1998.
Because of these astonishing achievements in the sport, he was awarded with an MBE for his services to boxing.
The Sheffield star beamed, "I'm extremely honoured to have received my MBE, not just for me but on behalf of Brendan Ingle, my coach, mentor, and friend.
"I didn't expect to receive this honour and didn't believe it, not even when it was announced in the papers on New Years Eve.
"It meant a lot to have my three daughters, Jorden, India and Bailey alongside me today, and I hope that it will help to escalate awareness of my foundation and the legacy i want to create."
Johnny Nelson the boxing analyst
Speaking to Gambling.com Johnny Nelson gave his opinion on young promoter Ben Shalom, Eddie Hearn, Buatsi vs Azeez and Wilder-Joshua.
How do you think Ben Shalom is performing so far as a promoter on Sky?
JN: Listen, Ben's the new kid on the block and like it or not, sometimes when you go to school, you get some school bullies that try and put your head down the toilet and give you a hard time. They'll gang up against you and make it hard for you, and that's what Ben's had to come up against other promoters. He's been resilient. He's been consistent. Yes, mistakes might have been made but, each time he's getting better and is bringing something new to the game and a new outlook to the game.
What's happened with Ben now has happened with Frank Warren when he first came on the scene, and it also happened when Eddie Hearn came on the scene. As long as you can take the criticism, can take the heat and stick it out, it doesn’t matter. Ben's learning and getting his wisdom off experience whether it is good or bad and has now picked up this TV deal with NBC in America which is huge. It is now an opportunity to make great fights and get fighters in the mix. He’s learning on the job and learning rapidly.
Eddie Hearn said Buatsi-Azeez wouldn’t happen, and it didn’t. What was your thoughts on his comments?
JN: Eddie came out with a remark, and it happened to fit the future. There was no indication that I knew Eddie would get this right and if you look at a lot of his previous interviews, he’s said a lot of things and at one point he’s going to get it right. There was nothing malicious about it, and Eddie is a great promoter, but it makes him look like Nostradamus. I don’t think he was directly disrespecting Dan Azeez (after he pulled out of the fight with an injury) because I know Eddie loves fighters, he was just saying something he had heard. The rumour mill starts in boxing and people come out with their own mathematics.
Anyone who knows Dan Azeez knows he is not that type of guy, and I felt sorry for him more than the set up. Ben, Boxxer and Sky, stuck to their guns and put the show on which was hard because they had to scramble to find a new venue, motivate the fighters to say you are still fighting. It was a great platform for Dan Azeez and Joshua Buatsi to perform on because NBC have done a deal with Sky and to be seen on their platform, you would be a fool to throw that opportunity away.
Peacock, who would have live streamed the event, still streamed the reschedule show and there is 25 million subscribers for their streaming channel in America for Peacock connected to NBC. The eyes are on the prize so why would any fighter not be seen on it? The fight between Azeez and Buatsi will be rescheduled and will happen soon.
Eddie Hearn has criticised Ben Shalom – why is that?
JN: Eddie Hearn has proven himself to be the best promoter in the world. I have no need to say that because I don’t work for Eddie. I’ve seen promoters come and go, and I know how they operate. Eddie is very good at what he does because he’s willing to do everything to keep his business and promotion above everyone else, so this is part of the game and part of what he does (criticising rival promoters). It happened to him so now he’s thinking ‘well, let’s see how you lot deal with it’. Eddie is a cool guy, but he wants his business to stay on top so dirty tricks will be played and little things will be said. He’s just doing his job – everybody does it.
What we should concern ourselves is, what fights are being made? My concern is about the fighters. As long as they put a show on, I don’t care about the noise. What I care about is the fights and what the fans are getting because I’m an ex-fighter and a fan so we shouldn’t worry about what they have said, we should only worry about the promoters giving us the fights we want.
Will Joshua v Wilder ever happen?
JN: If it does happen then I think that would potentially be Anthony Joshua’s swansong. I think AJ will fight another opponent to get himself in a mentally good place because after looking at his last performance, he needs to fix a few things before going in against a heavy puncher like Deontay Wilder.
That fight will have two outcomes. It will have the outcome of Anthony Joshua beating Deontay Wilder and then standing tall to saying let’s do this Tyson Fury fight, and the potential of that fight happening becomes very real. The other outcome is Joshua losing to Wilder. When you run out of reasons why you don’t return to the top, you can say the reasons why it happened but it’s very hard to continue (after more defeats) and I don’t think AJ is that kind of fighter – it’s not disrespectful, it’s coming from a good place.
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