Ivanson Ranny "Johnny" Nelson (born 4 January 1967) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1986 to 2005. He held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) cruiserweight title from 1999 to 2006, and remains the longest reigning cruiserweight world champion of all time. Nelson defended the title against thirteen 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 cruiserweight title twice between 1989 and 1997, and the European cruiserweight title twice between 1990 and 1998.

Professional career Nelson began training at Wincobank gym in Sheffield under trainer Brendan Ingle who also went on to train Naseem Hamed and Kell Brook. He began his career losing ten of his thirteen bouts contested as an amateur.

Nelson's 15th defence of his WBO cruiserweight title was scheduled to be against Welshman Enzo Maccarinelli on the undercard for the Joe Calzaghe versus Jeff Lacy WBO/IBF unification bout on 6 March 2006, but a knee injury picked up by Nelson during sparring forced the fight to be cancelled and Nelson announced his decision to retire from professional boxing a few months later on 22 September 2006.

Life after boxing Nelson currently works as an analyst for Sky Sports. Since retirement he has spent some time working with the prison service helping inmates with life management skills. He has also done some charity work, agreeing to fight a charity match against Jos Battle.

Nelson was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to boxing and to young people in South Yorkshire.

His likeness as well as commentary is featured in the 2024 video game Undisputed as a cruiserweight boxer. His voice was also featured in the 2024 documentary, Four Kings.

Personal life Nelson's mother was Cuban-Jamaican, his father was Dominican. Nelson's parents split up when he was a young child and he did not reunite with his biological father until he was in his thirties. In 2010, Nelson published his autobiography, Hard Road to Glory.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes59Win Vincenzo CantatoreSD1226 Nov 2005 58Win44–12–2 Rüdiger MayTKO7 (12), 4 Sep 2004 57Win43–12–2 Alexander Petkovic1215 Nov 2003 56Draw42–12–2 Guillermo JonesSD1223 Nov 2002 55Win42–12–1 Ezra SellersKO8 (12), 6 Apr 2002 54Win41–12–1 Alexander VasilievUD1224 Nov 2001 53Win40–12–1 Marcelo DomínguezUD1221 Jul 2001 52Win39–12–1 George AriasUD1227 Jan 2001 51Win38–12–1 Adam WattKO5 (12), 7 Oct 2000 50Win37–12–1 Pietro AurinoTKO7 (12), 8 Apr 2000 49Win36–12–1 Christophe GirardKO4 (12), 6 Nov 1999 48Win35–12–1 Sione AsipeliUD1218 Sep 1999 47Win34–12–1 Willard LewisTKO4 (12), 7 Aug 1999 46Win33–12–1 Bruce ScottUD1215 May 1999 45Win32–12–1 Carl ThompsonTKO5 (12), 27 Mar 1999 44Win31–12–1 Peter Oboh6 (8), 18 Jul 1998 43Win30–12–1 Dirk WallynTKO1 (12), 10 Nov 1997 42Win29–12–1 Michael MurrayPTS419 Jul 1997 41Win28–12–1 Patrice AouissiKO7 (12)22 Feb 1997 40Win27–12–1 Dennis AndriesTKO7 (12), 14 Dec 1996 39Win26–12–1 Tony BoothKO2 (6), 20 Jan 1996 38Loss25–12–1 Adílson RodriguesUD123 Dec 1995 37Loss25–11–1 Adílson RodriguesPTS1222 Aug 1995 36Win25–10–1 Nikolay Kulpin125 Nov 1994 35Loss24–10–1 Henry AkinwandePTS104 May 1994 34Win24–9–1 Jimmy ThunderUD1219 Nov 1993 33Loss23–9–1 Franco Wanyama10 (12)10 Jan 1993 32Win23–8–1 Tom CollinsTKO1 (12)4 Nov 1993 31Win22–8–1 Dave RussellTKO11 (12)30 Apr 1993 30Loss21–8–1 Corrie SandersUD1024 Oct 1992 29Loss21–7–1 Norbert EkassiTKO3 (8)14 Aug 1992 28Loss21–6–1 James Warring1216 May 1992 27Win21–5–1 Yves MonsieurTKO8 (12), 3 Dec 1991 26Win20–5–1 Markus BottTKO12 (12)14 Dec 1990 25Win19–5–1 Andre SmithPTS89 May 1990 24Win18–5–1 Arthur WeathersTKO2 (8), 27 Jun 1990 23Win17–5–1 Lou GentKO4 (12), 28 Mar 1990 22Win16–5–1 Dino HomseyTKO7 (8)14 Feb 1990 21Draw15–5–1 Carlos de León1227 Jan 1990 20Win15–5 Ian BullochKO2 (12)10 Feb 1989 19Win14–5 Andy StraughnTKO8 (12)21 May 1989 18Win13–5 Steve MorminoTKO2 (8), 4 Apr 1989 17Win12–5 Danny LawfordTKO2 (10), 26 Oct 1988 16Win11–5 Andrew GerrardPTS831 Aug 1988 15Win10–5 Lennie HowardKO2 (8)6 Jun 1988 14Win9–5 Crawford AshleyPTS85 Apr 1988 13Win8–5 Kenny JonesKO1 (8), 25 Apr 1988 12Win7–5 Cordwell Hylton1 (8)24 Feb 1988 11Loss6–5 Dennis BaileyPTS82 Jan 1988 10Win6–4 Jon McBeanTKO6 (8)14 Dec 1987 9Win5–4 Byron PullenTKO3 (8)6 Mar 1987 8Loss4–4 Brian SchumacherPTS828 Apr 1987 7Win4–3 Sean Daly1 (8), 4 Oct 1987 6Win3–3 Doug YoungPTS63 Feb 1987 5Win2–3 George CarmenPTS619 Jan 1987 4Win1–3 Chris LittlePTS620 Nov 1986 3Loss0–3 Magne HavnaaPTS43 Oct 1986 2Loss0–2 Tommy TaylorPTS615 May 1986 1Loss0–1 Peter Brown618 Mar 1986

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