Blockbuster tale of unlikely champion

Johnny Nelson mastered the one-liner long before the demons that plagued his early ring career.

Always smarter than the average bruiser, Nelson's triumph ultimately was to eclipse both Sheffield gym-mates Naseem Hamed and Herol Graham.

He gained the world title which eluded Graham and held on to it longer than Hamed ever managed.

No surprise then that master trainer Brendan Ingle, who handled and hyped all three, contends to this day that Nelson is the biggest success to pass through the doors of his Wincobank fight academy.

Nelson's is one blockbuster of a story which nips smartly in and outside the ropes and one the former fighter retells with relish to freelance writer Richard Coomber in a new hardback: Hard Road to Glory, How I became Champion of the World (John Blake 17.99).

Nelson entered Ingle's gym a would-be hard man and left it as one of Sheffield's genuine sporting giants.

He spent years in the boxing's wilderness until the grisly ghosts of two world title fight failures were finally exorcised when Nelson hammered Carl Thompson to a stoppage defeat to win the WBO cruiserweight belt which he held for seven years until retirement following injury.

Before then, in an almost stranger- than-fiction chapter, Nelson retells the nightmare scenario of living with his young family under police protection following a kidnap threat.

Chillingly, Nelson recalls: "I racked my brains trying to think who might want to kidnap me. It was unreal. I'd met a few gangsters but never been caught up in their lifestyle, never been involved in drugs and I didn't owe anyone money. Then I had a thought, 'hold on a minute,' I said and gave the police a name.

"The officer said, 'we are not in a position to confirm or deny if that is right.' I took that as a yes."

He concludes: "Eventually the police told us they had arrested most of gang on another charge so the immediate danger had passed. They didn't have enough evidence to arrest the person they thought was behind it but assured us the file was still open, which is why I can't tell you who I think the lowlife is. Fortunately, our paths haven't crossed since because I'm not sure I would be able to control myself if they did."

Boxing bouts were a relief after that terrifying episode but by then his fighting days were numbered and when his knee collapsed with his 40th birthday just months away the end to boxing was painfully beckoning.

Nelson is now a TV/radio presenter, pundit and motivational speaker.