This guy easily had one of the most aesthetic styles I have ever watched in boxing. Beautiful footwork, right jab, head movement and defense, but overall his movements impressed me the most. Almost cat like... His resume is also really underrated. With wins over underrated fighters like Kalambay who was going on an winning streak and already had names like Herol Graham and McCallum in his resume, Nunn savagely KO'd him and that's the only time Kalambay was knocked out in his whole career. He also had wins over an undefeated Olympic gold medalist Frank Tate, Donald Curry who still had it and Barkley who just brutally beat up Thomas Hearns. Let's not forget other solid fighters like Juan Roldan, Victor Cordoba, Marlon Starling, etc. He also freaking became the lineal middleweight champion, plus he's also a two time middleweight champ. Now I am left with one question, if fighters who have resumes and achievements far inferior than him are in the HOF, then why in the bloody hell is someone like him isn't ???
1. He isn't as well remembered. As time passes by more and more people get put on the nominee list. If you don't get admitted soon-ish your odds of getting in become lower with each passing year. 2. He spent time behind bars for involvement with drugs (not PEDs).
Pretty much every fan thinks that Nunn has done more than enough to be in the IBHOF. At his best he was magnificent and looked like a very hard fighter to beat with his Ali-like athleticism and southpaw stance, but seemed to have gotten much lazier in more fights after his KO win over Kalambay. Perhaps the fame got the better of him. It's disappointing how overlooked and almost forgotten he is nowadays but he really was seen as arguably the best fighter for a time before he fell off the rails post-Toney. The loss to Toney seemed to have taken out that aura from him, similar to Donald Curry. It took Curry a long time to finally get in. And now that Nunn is out of prison I'm sure at some point he'll finally get his dues in time as well.
I’ve struck up a friendship with him since he’s moved back to California. He moved back about four months back. I told him I believe it’s political that he isn’t even on the ballot. As greynotsoold asked above, it could be because they probably knew he’d get the votes while he was locked up thus didn’t put him on the ballot. They’ve kept him off the ballot for some bizarre reason even though he’s been out a couple years. There’s many inferior fighters with inferior resumes inducted already and there’s a TON on the ballot that couldn’t even come close to his quality or his resume. He’s trying to get his name back out there. Trying to get into commentary, potential WBC role as ambassador, since Suilaman gave him an honors belt. He just got inducted into West Coast Boxing HOF, so these things may push in the direction of getting him on the ballot, where he’d get in immediately after this all-star year is out the way. It will mean a lot to him, as he is an astute historian of the game, constantly trying to learn more about boxing history. His peak was great, he was dominant and even his losses, a fight he was far ahead against Toney, and some very close decisions aren’t terrible. It’s true he was never the same fighter after Toney but before then he beat some very good fighters and fights like Tate and Kalambay show a very high peak as those were great victories. Dealt with different styles too. While I think it’s fair to say, for whatever reason, he fell short of what his talent should have gotten him, he really should have been in Canastota long ago.
Nicely balanced post, Chris. Agree with every word. Recently watched our guy on youtube talking about life in prison. What a positive upbeat attitude he has. He still looks good too! Damned shame that he received such an outlandishly harsh sentence. He and the 1960s Ali are the two most fluid boxers I've ever watched on tape. What a talent he was. I hope he realises how fondly he is remembered, and how highly he is rated, by many boxing fans. Hope he gets that commentating gig, as well. He would make a good one.
If you are alive and American, generally that means your name needs to sell a ton of tickets for the weekend. Maybe that is where Nunn struggles?!
Nunn's loss to Steve Little has to be one of the worst losses on record for a fighter of his ability. It wasn't like Little had a Buster Douglas performance that night, and it wasn't like Nunn was anything close to shot at that point. (I know this is a six-month-old post I'm responding to, but Nunn vs. Little was a genuinely terrible loss.)
