Former World Boxing Council featherweight and super-featherweight champion Azumah Nelson will be a keynote speaker at RootsTech 2022, FamilySearch announced in a blog post Wednesday, Jan. 26.
Among his accolades are gold medals at the All-Africa Games and Commonwealth Games, three World Boxing Champion titles in two weight classes, and being crowned by the World Boxing Council as the greatest super-featherweight boxer of all time. During his career, Nelson fought a total of 47 fights and won 39.
The boxing legend will share his rise to fame, humble beginnings and family roots on the RootsTech main stage March 3-5. The three-day global family history celebration is being held entirely online for the second consecutive year and is free to the public.
Nelson is the fourth speaker RootsTech has announced from its diverse lineup, following the announcements of Argentine singer Diego Torres, actor Matthew Modine and French baker Apollonia Poilâne.
Born July 19, 1958, in Accra, Ghana, as the first of six children, Samuel Azumah Nelson spent his childhood at Timber Market, which he described as an “overcrowded market made up of people of different tribes, low-cost, self-constructed huts, and wood and metal.” His father, Emmanuel Teilo Nelson, was a tailor, and his mother, Madam Comfort Atswei Quarcoo, was a trader in Timber Market.
Nelson began working at an early age to help support his family. While working at Timber Market, he came across a boy who practiced boxing and decided to learn the sport.
Today Nelson is married and has six children. He is the founder of Azumah Nelson Foundation, which supports under-privileged youth through sports and education, and Azumah Nelson Boxing Promotions, which organizes the boxing event Azumah Nelson Fight Night, bringing together the best boxers from Ghana and other countries.
Nelson said in FamilySearch’s blog post: “It is very important for us to know that even with our different genealogy, we are part of the same global family. If only we can remind ourselves that regardless of political affiliation, race, tribe, gender, country and faith, we all belong to one big family of God, I believe the world will be a beautiful place to live in.”
RootsTech 2022 will follow the same virtual model as the 2021 event, with internationally diverse keynote speakers and a mix of on-demand, livestream and interactive sessions where participants can connect with each other, ask questions and learn from experts.
Register for RootsTech 2022 at rootstech.org.
