You Thought Rocky Balboa Was Old

You may not be aware of this, but the 49-year-old three-time world-champion fighter Azumah “The Professor” Nelson is coming out of retirement this summer to face his old nemesis, the 44-year-old Aussie Jeff Fenech (aka “The Marrickville Mauler”). And that’s not the whole of it either. There’s a rumor going around that if Nelson beats Fenech, the 46-year-old Julio Cesar Chavez will come out of retirement to face Nelson sometime this fall.

It’s all kind of insane, this senior tour of boxing, although to quote that wise loquacious senior boxing citizen Roy Jones, “if it makes dollars, it makes sense.” And Jeff Fenech fighting Azumah Nelson again is sure to fill the coffers down under. A former titlist in three weight classes, Fenech isn’t quite the fighting icon for Australians that Chavez is for Mexicans, but he’s in the ballpark, and the loss that he suffered in Melbourne to Nelson back in 1992 remains a shocking moment for Aussie sports fans, a devastating eighth-round TKO that was named Ring Magazine Upset of the Year (check it out below – the stupefaction takes place around 1:10). So these old battleaxes are returning to Melbourne on June 24th to settle the score and complete a most bizarre trilogy seventeen years after they first faced off in the ring. Even more bizarrely, J.C. Sr. waits in the wings saying he’s got next. In other words, they’re all gonna party like it’s 1993.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.