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15.04.2008 Boxing

Azumah Confirms Comeback Bid

15.04.2008 LISTEN
By Andrew Nortey - newtimesonline.com

The ‘Boxing Professor’, Azumah Nelson over the weekend ended what was becoming a debate among boxing lovers over his decision to stage a comeback against his old foe Australian, Jeff Fenech.

On GTV’s Saturday afternoon sports show, Spots Beat, the Boxing Professor did not only disabuse the minds of what many fans thought was an 'April Fool’ but expressed his eagerness for the new challenge he has set for himself.

According to Azumah, plans are far advanced for what has already earned a place in the headlines as the 'Azumah-Jeff Trilogy'. The 'Professor' intends using the funds to sustain a new foundation known as the Azumah Nelson Foundation which will soon be inaugurated.

The Foundation takes charge of deprived children in the community who will be camped in a games village to be built on a 50-acre land acquired at Akuse in the Eastern region.

At the village, the kids will be offered training in boxing, football, athletics and other sporting disciplines that might be of interest to the kids and the nation at large.

What is left now are the purses of the two boxers, venue to stage the fight and the weight category to fight in since they all weigh heavier than featherweight, where they fought in the first and second fights.

On the number of rounds to go, Azumah said they agreed on 10 although Jeff had initially asked for eight.

And to demonstrate the seriousness he attaches to this fight, the former World Boxing Council (WBC) feather champion has started training in his gym. He trains two times a day and intends intensifying it in subsequent weeks by extending it to three times daily.

At 50 years, Azumah believes with determination and his rich experience, he could perform the unimaginable adding, ‘ this is exactly what I intend doing since a lot of boxing fans think I’m old and cannot perform like I did in the past'.

Currently training boxers from Burkina Faso, Azumah, also known as Barimah stated that he is in a terrific shape and will soon hit close to his past, assuring to hand Jeff another resounding defeat.

Interestingly, Times Sport investigation points to another historic fight after the date with Jeff Fenech. Next on the Professor’s list will be Julio Ceasar Chavez to make up for what they failed to do in their active days.

Information emerging from the Ghanaian Hall of Fame indicate that the former Mexican champion has shown great interest in staging a comeback to fight Azumah and was even the first to make overtures in that regard until Jeff came from nowhere to 'overthrow' him.

According to our sources, but for the fact that both Azumah and Chavez were under one trainer-Buffalo- the two could have realized their dreams of fighting one another and that coupled with the Professor’s dreams of putting wheels on his Foundation, it is all too clear that an Azumah-Chavez clash is not far from becoming a reality.

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