Nelson Dieppa
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Nelson Dieppa (born February 25, 1971 in Vieques, Puerto Rico) is a professional boxer.
An awarded amateur he won the bronze medal at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba. A year later he went on to represent Puerto Rico at the 1992 Olympic Games, held in Barcelona, Spain. As a professional, his career has been somewhat hampered, mainly due to contractual problems. Dieppa started professional boxing at about the same time as Alex Sanchez, a future rival of his, did. However, whereas it took Sanchez only one year to become world champion, Dieppa almost had to await for a decade to have a world title opportunity.
Dieppa began his career on February 13, 1993, at the Roberto Clemente coliseum, knocking out Carlos Figueroa in the first round. His first professional fight to take place in his hometown came on his second professional fight, March 7, when he knocked out David Almodouvar in the second round.
It took Dieppa almost eight months to return to a boxing ring in an official fight. This was his first major lay-off from boxing. When he returned, on January 29, 1994, he outpointed Jose Hernandez over six roinds in San Juan. After one more win, he had his first fight abroad. On April 13, 1995, he fought another boxer who would also fight for a world title in the future, Hipolito Saucedo, in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The two boxers drew (tied) after six rounds. He came back with four wins in a row, the first two in Ponce and El Condado, respectively.
On June 1, 1996, Dieppa won his first belt, by conquering the regional, WBC Fecarbox Flyweight title with a sixth round knockout over Pablo Tiznado, in Miami. By that fight, Dieppa had become a member of Felix Trinidad's boxing team, as Felix Trinidad Sr. trained him. By becoming part of Trinidad's team, Dieppa also joined Don King's stable of boxers.
Dieppa won three, non-title bouts in a row, including a unanimous decision in eight rounds against experienced Kenny Berrios (who had lost a controversial decision to Sanchez and was clamoring all over the Puerto Rican press for a rematch with him), on June 7, 1997, also in Miami. But on his next fight, he lost for the first time, faced against Carlos Murillo, a former champion. The fight was held on February 13, 1998, at the University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque, and Murillo ended Dieppa's condition as an undefeated boxer with a ten round split decision win.
Dieppa began a streak of four wins after his first defeat, including one over Orlando Malone (who had been knocked out by Sanchez in the first round for the vacant WBO world Strawweight title five years before) by an eight round unanimous decision, on his first fight after the loss to Murillo, on October 3.
On July 3, 2000, as part of the undercard where Trinidad successfully defended his world Jr. Middleweight championship by knocking out Mamadou Thiam in three rounds, Dieppa had his first world title opportunity. Dieppa fought world champion Wiill Grigsby, a two time world champion who had lost his previous title to Ricardo Lopez, for the WBO's world Jr. Flyweight title. Dieppa was declared winner by unanimous decision at first, but, unfortunately for him, Grigsby tested positive for cocaine after the fight, and thus the WBO, on their thinking that Grigsby was unable to fight under the influence of an intoxicator, declared the fight a no contest, and Dieppa was stripped, for the time being, of the world championship.
As all of this was going on in his career, the Vieques cause movement was taking place back in his hometown. David Sanes had been killed by a military bomb in 1999, and many Puerto Ricans, as well as people of other nationalities, Trinidad included, became backers of the Vieques cause, which was a movement that called for all military activities to stop in Vieques. While always backing up the cause, Dieppa stayed focused on his boxing related activities and never publicly expressed his opinion about the matter, except when dedicating his fights to the people of Vieques.
After one more win, Dieppa got a second chance at becoming a world champion. This time, he would face Andy Tabanas, a veteran who had also lost by decision to Lopez in a world championship fight, on April 14, 2001, the night that Trinidad became WBA world Middleweight champion by knocking out William Joppy in five rounds. The fight with Tabanas was for the vacant WBO world Jr. Flyweight title that had remained vacant since Grigsby had tested positive for drugs after his fight with Dieppa. That night, on New York City's Madison Square Garden, Dieppa became a world champion, knocking Tabanas out in the eleventh round.
His first defense, against Fahran Sakkreehrin, would have taken place on September 15, also in New York City. Dieppa and the rest of the Trinidad boxing group were in New York already when the September 11, 2001 attacks occurred. As told by Trinidad himself to a newspaper from Puerto Rico, the tragedies that happened in and around the World Trade Center were visible from the team's hotel rooms. The fight, as well as Trinidad's fight with Bernard Hopkins, was delayed until September 29, and, because of the airplane flights stoppage that went on for days after the attacks, Dieppa and Trinidad had to stay in the New York area. Dieppa, Trinidad and the rest of their boxing team decided to spend some of their time by visiting victims, providing food to shelters and training for their respective fights.
Trinidad went on to lose the title to Hopkins by a twelfth round knockout, but Dieppa retained his title with a twelve round unanimous decision over Sakkreehrin on the new date, also at Madison Square Garden.
The end of the fight with Sakkreehin marked the beginning of Dieppa's managerial problems. He had to wait almost one more year to fight, and many rumors were spread over the newspapers. This was in part due to the fact that after Trinidad lost to Hopkins, he won one more fight, then retired, and Felix Trinidad Sr. also retired for the time being. Of course, the Trinidads returned to boxing two years later when Felix Jr. beat Ricardo Mayorga by an eighth round knockout, but after the Trinidads' first retirement, Dieppa was left without a manager, which can be perjudicial to a boxer. It was rumored that Don King was not interested in Dieppa that much either, which could have been one of the reasons that Dieppa began to have problems to be able to fight. At one time, Dieppa declared in a newspaper interview that he "had to look for money" in order to provide for his family.
His next fight finally took place on August 24, 2002, against Jhon Molina. Defending his WBO world Jr. Flyweight title for the second time, Dieppa suffered a headbutt in the second round of their bout, and the fight was called a technical draw after two rounds. In what can be considered an irony, the other world title fight in that undercard also ended in a second round technical draw, when WBA world Featherweight champion Freddie Norwood and challenger Alex Trujillo had a clash of heads in that round, leading the referee to stop that fight as well.
For the next year and a half, Dieppa had a series of problems, including some injuries and his ongoing managerial disputes. The WBO almost stripped him of the crown, but, understanding that Dieppa was not at guilt for not defending his title for such a long time, they decided not to take that action. On March 20, 2004, Dieppa was finally able to defend his title again, against Colombia's Kermin Guardia. In what marked Joe Cortez's first fight as referee in Puerto Rico, Dieppa knocked out his challenger after only one minute and fifty nine seconds of round one had gone by. The fight was held at Mario Morales coliseum, in Guaynabo. Guardia announced his retirement immediately after the bout.
Next for Dieppa was a defense in Muhammad Ali's hometown, Louisville, Kentucky, against Ulises Solis. Dieppa retained the title by a majority decision on July 30, with the unconventional scores of 114-114 and two scorecards of 120-108 in favor of Dieppa.
On January 29, 2005, he and Sanchez met in a bout that was longly awaited for by Puerto Rican boxing fans. Many promotional activities went on on the days leading to the fight, including a visit by Sanchez to his old projects residing area. Dieppa retained his title with an eleventh round knockout of Sanchez, in a fight that took place at the Ruben Rodriguez coliseum, in Bayamon.This fight was named the fight of the year in Puerto Rico by the local boxing commission.
Talks about a fight with Ivan Calderon began almost immediately after Dieppa beat Sanchez. This would have completed a boxing round robin, since Calderon had outpointed Sanchez before Dieppa beat Sanchez. Plans for a fight between Dieppa and Calderon were temporarily stopped, however, when Dieppa suffered his second professional defeat, losing his world title to Mexican Hugo Cázares by a twelve round decision, on April 30 of the same year.
On December 17 of the same year, Dieppa returned to action by outpointing Mexican Juan Alfonso Keb Baas in twelve rounds at Fajardo, to earn the vacant WBC Continental Americas Jr. Flyweight title.
Dieppa currently holds a record of 23 wins, 2 losses and 2 draws, with thirteen wins by knockout. There is a possibility of a rematch against Cazeres in the near future, but a possiblility of a match against Calderon also lingers, since Calderon is world champion only one weight below Dieppa's division.
