Boxing: Nelson keeps title but loses fans' respect

Johnny Nelson left here yesterday morning with his World Boxing Organisation cruiserweight championship intact, but the deafening sound of boos in his ears after a fight that was truly a dismal spectacle on Saturday night.

Nelson retained his WBO title when he finally moved close enough to connect cleanly and drop the veteran American Ezra Sellers in the eighth round for a dubious full count that, thankfully, brought to an end a fight that was at times ludicrous to watch.

In rounds one, two and three neither boxer connected with a single worthwhile punch and it is possible that the fight's first meaningful punch was the left that dropped Nelson in the fourth round, but even that was a glancing blow and the Sheffield boxer immediately jumped up and smiled. Rounds five and six were equally passive, but in round seven the American finally realised that he had a chance to win and he had Nelson in trouble briefly.

However, it was clear that throwing more than 10 punches in one round had exhausted Sellers and from the start of round eight until his timid collapse he was clearly looking for a way out and Nelson, who is, when he wants to be, a serious puncher, duly obliged.

"I heard the boos and I ignored them,'' claimed Nelson. "The fans are entitled to their opinion, but that doesn't mean that every boxer has to be involved in a slam, bang, wallop war. Boxing is about not getting hit and I am very good at that.''

Nelson is right, to a degree, because Sellers has knocked senseless 22 of the 24 men he has beaten. Yet on Saturday night he was far too cautious against a man who deserved his respect but at the same time looked open to all types of punches from the opening bell.

"He is the heaviest puncher I have ever faced and that is why I gave him so much space,'' insisted Nelson. And that is obviously true.