Come on give it a rest. Nunn was 6'3 with faster hands and movement then Lara. He wins a wide decision easily
Nunn is the prototype fighter that beats Canelo and that Canelo has shown the most vulnerability with.............Nunn is arguably better at MW than everyone Canelo had issues with at MW or JMW. Disclaimer: I am extremely biased as Nunn is in my top 10 favorite fighters
Good fight. Nunn was very tough and skilled. I think he tests Canelo and wins rounds but I think Canelo knicks him out like Toney did. He was never the same fighter after that loss, in his hometown I believe. Canelo is just so disciplined and tough. Also, Nunn’s size advantage didn’t help him beat Toney. He was 6”1’ not 6”3’ and Toney is barely 5”10’. Canelo would be giving up size but it didn’t seem to slow him down against Kov who is probably around the same height as Nunn and bigger. I want to pick the old school guy because I’m old but have to be honest. If these guys fought, prime for prime, I’d have to pick Canelo. He’s just too smart and getting better with each fight.
He's lost most of his meaningful actual fights, so it makes sense he loses most of the fantasy ones as well.
Nunn would have to stop him or at least get 4-5 knockdowns for the dec win so I gotta go with Canelo.
It would have been a very interesting fight. The weight would have made it very interesting. That would have been a big factor. Mike was prime at MW. At SMW and LHW his private life caused him issues. Canelo is now fully matured and in the prime of his life. At MW, it would have been a great fight. Which versions are fighting though? The version of Nunn who fought Toney? The version of Canelo who fought GG? Canelo would have needed to have gotten close to break him down like Toney did. But Nunn’s size did bother Toney. And Toney had faster hands and a bigger reach than Canelo. I also think that Toney was more powerful than Canelo at MW. Kovalev was obviously significantly bigger than Canelo, but he didn’t have a huge reach and he wasn’t particularly fast. Also, he’d slowed down and was faded. Obviously Nunn was a southpaw, which is extremely relevant. It would have been very problematic to Canelo. And he possessed a 77” reach. Which means that he’d have had a huge reach over Canelo from a southpaw stance. And he had much faster hands and feet. He was an athlete. So saying that Kovalev was comparable to Nunn in size isn’t really relevant here. Because it would have been a completely different fight stylistically. I think I’d have to have favoured Nunn on a decision at MW. I don’t think that Canelo could have gotten as close as what Toney did to start breaking him down to the body. But the faded versions of Nunn at SMW and LHW against today’s Canelo would have made things a lot more interesting. I wish that we could have seen it.
These what-if matchups are difficult and they seem to follow a pattern. If the retired guy was a well known top level guy (Hagler, SRL, Duran, Chavez, etc) most people favor the old guy against modern fighters. If he’s a great but not particularly well known fighter, the modern day fighter usually gets the nod. I had not seen any Nunn fights in a long time and reviewed a few of his fights. He was so long and used his height really well in some fights. Against Iran Barkley he was on his toes the whole fight. The To ey fight was awesome and for most of it, he gave Toney all he could handle. He took some big shots in the 11th including one behind the head. Toney was a monster and in prime condition at that time. This would be a hard fight for Canelo but I could see him beating Nunn but a Nunn victory would not surprise me. Canelo’s left hook and inside fighting would give him the edge. Honestly, I forgot how good Nunn was until I watched his old fights. I saw them when they occurred but in those days you really didn’t have the advantage of YouTube so you couldn’t watch them on demand. Nunn destroyed Donald Curry and dominated Barkley. That version of Nunn would have given any MW serious problems. Talented and athletic dude.
