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Cellini’s Top Ten Best Fighters Ever to Come Out of Africa

MAPAFRICABy Jeffrey “Italian Medallion” Cellini
Boxing fans have, through the past century, enjoyed witnessing the best fighters from all over the world including Africa. Here is a list of the top ten all-time best fighters from that part of the globe, including some of the sport’s all-time greatest warriors.

10) Frans “The White Buffalo” Botha, 48-13-3, 29 KO’s won the IBF World Heavyweight Title in Germany by defeating Axel Schulz in 1995. The South African was stripped of this title after testing positive for steroids which was reportedly prescribed by a doctor for an arm injury. Botha, better known for being a martial-arts expert, had good punching power.

9) Cornelius Johannes “Corrie” Sanders,42-4, 31 KO’s became the WBO heavyweight champion by winning against Wladimir Klitschko by second-round knockout in 2003. The South African southpaw, also known as the Sniper, was able to send Klitschko to the canvas three times in the first round before finishing him off just twenty-seven seconds into the next and final round. Sanders was a strong puncher who relied on his hard left to crush his opponents.

8) Welcome “The Hawk” Ncita, 40-3-1,21 KO’s was a South African who won the IBF Super Bantamweight championship in 1990 and defended it successfully six times. The southpaw defeated Fabrice Benichou on March 10, 1990 to claim the world title, and then went on to beat Ramon Cruz, Sugar Baby Rojas (2), and Jesus Salud during his reign as champion.

7) Cornelius Boza-Edwards, 45-7-1, 34 KO’s won the WBC World Junior Lightweight Title in 1981. The southpaw fighter from Uganda faced some of the best champions of his era, including Bobby Chacon, Alexis Arguello and Hector “Macho” Camacho. He defeated Rafael Limon by unanimous decision to win the title on March 8, 1981 and successfully defended his belt once (Chacon), which took place on May 30th of the same year.

6) John “The Beast” Mugabi 42-7-1, 39 KO’s won the WBC World Super Welterweight Title by stopping Rene Jacquot (KO 1) on July 8, 1989. The Ugandan was brutal puncher who faced the some of the best junior middleweights and middleweights of his era, including Marvelous Marvin Hagler. In 1986, Mugabi fought and gave the defending, undisputed middleweight champion Hagler trouble for eleven rounds before succumbing to a late TKO loss in one of the best fights of the year. “The Beast” was one of the most feared punchers of his era.

5) Victor “Vic” Anthony Toweel, 28-3-1, 14 KO’s was a former undisputed world bantamweight champion. Known as “The White-Henry Armstrong” because of his aggressive fighting-style, Toweel three successful title defenses and 10 successful non-title fights against world rated contenders during his reign as champion.

4) Isufu “Ike” Quartey, 37-4-1, 31 KO’s won he WBA welterweight title by knocking out Crisanto Espana of Venezuela (KO 11) on June 4, 1994 and successfully made seven title defenses. Also known as the “Bazooka”, the Ghanaian fighter relied on a strong jab and a “peek-a-boo” defense. On February 13, 1999, Ike lost a controversial split-decision to Oscar De La Hoya for the lineal/WBC Welterweight championship.

3) Brian Mitchell, 45-1-3, 21 KO’s won the WBA Junior Lightweight Title in 1986 by defeating Alfredo Layne (KO 10) and successfully defended the title a division-record twelve times. Recognized as the best South African fighter of all-time, Mitchell also captured the IBF Junior Lightweight Title with a decision win over Tony Lopez (who he’d previously fought to a draw) in 1991. Mitchell was relentless pressure fighter who relied great conditioning to defeat his foes.

2) Dick Tiger, 60-19-3, 27 KO’s was a two-time world middleweight title-holder as well as the world light heavyweight champion. On October 23, 1962, Tiger defeated Gene Fullmer by unanimous decision to win vacant WBA World Middleweight title and then won the vacant WBC World Middleweight title on August 10, 1963 against Fullmer by seventh-round stoppage. After losing both belts to Joey Giardello in 1963, the Nigerian fighter reclaimed his belts by unanimous decision over Giardello on December 7, 1963. After losing his middleweight belts to Emile Griffith in 1966, Tiger won the WBA/WBC World Light Heavyweight titles from Jose Torres on December 16,1966 by unanimous decision over fifteen rounds. Dick’s aggressive, fighting style, where he would stalk down his opponents, made him a big attraction with American fans.

1) Azumah “The Professor” Nelson, 39-6-2, 28 KO’s WBC featherweight title once and the WBC super featherweight title twice. After falling to the great Salvador Sanchez in his first attempt for the featherweight title, Nelson defeated Wilfredo Gomez by eleventh- round knockout to win WBC World Featherweight title on December 8, 1984. After six successful title defenses of his belts, the Ghanaian fighter moved up in weight to defeat Mario Martinez for the vacant WBC Super Featherweight title. After ten successful title defenses, “The Professor” lost his belt to Jesse James Leija on May 7, 1994, but recaptured the same belt in his next bout against Gabriel Ruelas by fifth-round technical knockout on December 1, 1995.

Nelson also fought and defeated other world champions such as Jeff Fenech, Juan Laporte, and Calvin Grove. He has notable losses against world champions such as Pernell Whitaker and Genaro Hernandez. “The Professor” was a strong puncher who utilized tremendous counter-punching skills to overpower his opponents. Despite losing the last three fights of his career (all by decision), Nelson is unarguably considered the greatest African fighter of all-time.

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