I like Nunn as a fighter and I think at his peak hes on par with Calzaghe definitely. But Nunn wasn't consistently good at Super Middleweight, he lost to Steve Little, Frankie Liles, etc. Overall you have to pick Calzaghe who was much more consistent and better suited at Super Middleweight. Calzaghe by UD in a competitive fight.
Calzaghe on points. Too busy, too effective in uprooting an opponent's style because of it. Nunn was uneven at 168 as mentioned, and his punch output wasn't enough to offset the harder-working Calzaghe.
I think that given Nunn's iffy conditioning, he has a good go early until he blows his gaskets and then Calzaghe clobbers him late.
Joe all the way. Fast as lightening, fitter than a butchers dog, tough as old boots. Take some beating Joe would.
You said that like Little and Liles weren't solid (especially Liles), and better than nearly everyone on Calzaghe's resume until the tail end. I do agree however that Nunn wasn't quite as consistent at SMW as MW. I would favor Calzaghe vs. stage 2 of Nunn. If Nunn were in the midst of his MW reign pre Toney and decided to move up to "take the fight", I'd pick him over Calzaghe. Disclaimer: Michael Nunn is one of my 10 favorite fighters of all time........
Little had 24 wins and 17 losses he wasn't a top fighter by any means, I would say hes definitely better than his record suggests. But you would've expected Nunn to beat him and to be of a higher class, so it was definitely surprising to see Nunn lose. Liles I agree is underrated and pretty good, but again my point being is that Nunn was certainly alot more beatable at above Middleweight. And I think Calzaghe should be favoured based on that, but I still think Nunn gives him a good fight at Super Middleweight.
Little was a huge underdog when he beat Nunn, he wasn`t rated high in the ring ratings at all. The Ring Magazine's Annual Ratings: 1993 James Toney Michael Nunn Chris Eubank Nigel Benn Tim Littles Darrin Van Horn Frankie Liles Tony Thornton Antoine Byrd Vincenzo Nardiello
Personally to give Nunn his best chance i'd envision pitting the Nunn from around Kalambay with 168 to make instead of 160. He never really regained the spark post Toney and plenty think it was dimming even before Toney knocked him off his perch. He'd carry an extra handful of pounds ok i think. I still think the Calze style would overcome Nunn as others have said. Too many punches and he'd make Nunn work hard which would be a solid part of the difference between them. Nunn was seriously fast and he didn't mind trading punches and he traded them well but Calze is a bit of a different proposition to those Nunn faced and he'd wear him down to a unanimous decision in a fight that might even be entertaining.
