Good match up... Pedroza is a criminally underrated fighter these days, largely because of being co-champs with Sanchez... but if you look at their respective reigns, they fought several of the same fighters with comparable results... Pedroza was smart, savvy, had a great jab and was one of the very best late rounds fighters I've ever seen... he was also unspeakably dirty... Nelson gave Sanchez a tough time but I always felt that it has been blown out of proportaion somewhat... I dont think the fight was all that close, Sanchez was a clear winnder at the time of the stoppage... but that was a young, on the way up Nelson, he was still learning, still improving... and either way, prime or not, Nelson had the kind of aggressive style that Salvador liked, the kind that allowed him to do what he did best, counter with those beautifully sharp right hands... It would have been closer if Nelson had been, say the fighter of just a few years later, but I still think Sal would win... But this match-up is different, while I like Pedroza's jab and I like his ability to fight on the inside and shorten up his long punches, I also think that fighting like that is more Nelson's game... Lesser (though still excellent) fighters like Rocky Lockridge and Juan LaPorte were able to have quite a bit of success in exchanges with Pedroza but failed to win because of (in LaPorte's case) sadly typical mental lapses and lack of consistent belief in the gameplan (i.e. trying to land perfect single KO shots, LaPorte's most common cardinal sin) and (in Lockridge's case) a tendency to forget defense and to loop too many punches... those things allowed the ever-calculating Pedroza to (in LaPorte's case) let his hands go and badly outwork his foe and (in Lockridge's case) punch inside those looping shots with his straighter ones... Nelson offers neither of those siezable flaws to Pedroza... he doesnt throw wild punches and forget to sit down on them... he doesnt doubt himself and stop working in an effort to find perfection... no, Nelson applies steady, intelligent pressure, he works his way in behind a jab that can counteract Eusebio's own jab, he has a snaking, hard right hand behind it, he punches well to the body... I see Nelson putting the pressure on early and shading the first quarter of the fight, then Pedroza begins his inevitable rally and starts to jab with conviction and punch to the body, only this time Nelson can negate some of that and fire back... the third quarter of the fight would feature some cracking exchanges and intense infighting but Azumah is the stronger hitter and the toll would be taken from Pedroza... down the stretch, the great Panamanian champ fights fiercely and dirtily in an effort to save the fight but Nelson, no shrinking violet to such tactics, matches him elbow-for-elbow and low punch for low punch to take a well deserved close but clear unanimous decision in a terrific action fight styles make fights, you could make the argument that Pedroza was the greater overall featherweight, but I think Azumah beats him (that said, I always have said that though Sanchez was better, Pedroza could have beaten him and frustrated him with his tactics, got him off his game)
