Olajide, Tate and Nunn- the young guns that were suppose to take over from Hagler.

Almost polar opposite reasons for that not winning big fights though

Graham was often overconfident and tended to lapse into showboating\taking needless risks ie not giving McCallum enough respect, while fighting whole rounds with his hands by his waist, and charging in looking for a needless stoppage against Jackson when he knew Julian was only being given another round before the ref stopped it anyway.His ring-generalship was dodgy, Hubris filled and inconsistent.

Bruno on the other hand was a nervous wreck, so tense his stamina would fade by the 9th or 10th even in fights he was controlling comfortably, or against pretty mediocre fighters.

I tend to think Graham would have been much more likely of the two to have a decent run if he'd just had to contend with ever so slightly lesser fighters, whereas Bruno always seemed to be vulnerable, even against ordinary fighters.

 

I never saw much in Olajide, he just seemed average at everything. Tate looked talented, but seemed to be missing something, which Nunn proved. Tate was simply ruined by Tate.

 

I think I read that article, the view of Nunn seemed to be that all his fans could show up in a taxi!!! No-one said the Kalambay fight was a bore though.....

 

Well the big big problem back then was the Hagler passing the torch concept. Leonard was never going to go ahead and face all three guys so there would actually be a passing of the torch for the title he won from Hagler.

And there was some talk about Marvin continuing to fight, but I sure did not want to see those old reflexes in there with a guy like Nunn. So Marvin was out.

But a guy filling Marvin's shoes for another 5 or 6 years didn't really look realistic. Wishful thinking. Early Nunn was the best for a while, but he changed that style of his and nobody back then was going to pay big money for Michael Nunn fights anyway.

 

Nunn was easily the best of the three. Just became boring after the Kalambay fight!

 

Very, very talented trio.

 

Wasn't part of Nunn's problem that he tried to be more flatfooted & set down on his punches? This put him in range of shots he'd never be touched by earlier in his career. He was awesome against Tate. I absolutely thought he'd be champ for years. I hated him moving up in weight. A guy with no punch should really avoid moving up as long as possible. He just never looked as sharp as he did against Tate.

I lost track of him & was sad to see the mistakes he made later on. He seemed too sharp for that mess.

 

I think I read Nunn isn't due to be released until 2024. He deserves serious jail time but ....man that's a long time. I see people who commit violent crimes get less. He brought this on himself though.

 

Michael Nunn had a good enough career. No he never filled the shoes of Marvin Hagler, but he had plenty of success. Tate wasn't all that bad either. Olajide was the only one of the three who fell really short of people's expectations.

 

:deal this....at the time of the 3 i liked Olajadaie the most.....he had the most power and the charisma....

 

Actually, Michael Olajide is ethnically Nigerian, was born in England, moved to Canada when he was a child, and later was based in NY.

I'm not sure i can think of another fighter who was simultaneously over-hyped and underrated. And it all comes down to his looks. Looking like that, he drew way more attention than he would have if he looked like an everyday sort of guy, but it also made it hard to take him seriously. In retrospect, probably both were wrong. He didn't really live up to some of the hype, but turned out to be way tougher and a far more serious fighter than he was initially perceived as by a lot of people.

 

:rasta,KO

It was era of Micheal Jackson and Prince, Olajide was like a rockstar with his looks and pazazz.....but he definitely didnt live up to the hype....when Tate killed him i was in shock, i think his next loss was to James Kichen.....so by the time the Barkley fight rolled around he had lost his luster.....