As a middleweight? Some points to consider. 1 - His final career record is a impressive 58-4. 2 - He had only two losses during the first decade of his career, against Toney, and a SD loss. 3 - Has one of the most impressive blowouts of all time on his resume, a knockout win over Sumbu Kalamby. He was the only man to ever stop Sumbu, a man who himself was 1-1 against the great Mike McCallum and 2-0 against the much avoided Herol Graham. If Graham, McCallum and even Sumbu are beginning to be given so much credit years on, why not Nunn? 4 - A absolute masterclass against the 23-0 olympic gold medallist Frank Tate. 5 - Even on the downslide of the first portion of his career, Nunn convincingly beat the Iran Barkley who's previous two fights were a win over Hearn's and a SD loss to Duran. 6 - Slightly underrated wins against the likes of power punching Crawford Ashley, who was a lightheavyweight, a massive one. Crawford has wins on his resume against the likes of Carl Thompson and a SD loss to Graciano Rocchigiana which he very most likely deserved to win. 7 - Over the course of a nearly 20 year career, he never sharply declined as a fighter, all the way up to the cruiserweight division. So, where do you rank Nunn, all time, as a middleweight?
He was too inconsistent and lazy for my personal taste and liking. He held wins over top notch fighters, but rarely impressively aside from the Kalambay KO, which IMO was a fluke of the highest order. He seems to get overrated while Kalambay gets drastically underrated nowadays because of it. After that fight he looked lackluster against the likes of Barkley and Starling, even with Starling being the smaller fighter. Very good technically at his best, but his personal problems probably contributed to his lack of consistent good performances and laziness in the ring. At his best, he was more impressive on the inside than as an out-fighter technically. I though he went to the body very well at times and showed great skills, but often just looked lazy on the outside. He could've been something special IMO with the right dedication. As to where I rank him. I haven't given it much thought. One of the best of his era, but he never really had a consistent prime. I like Kalambay better personally despite their fight.
I know he was boring at times but I will never forget his showdown with kalambay. I had a lot of respect for Kalambay with all his impressive wins but Nunn was incredibly slick that night. a boxing fan's dream. Every one who adores fighters like Ray Leonard, Pernell, Camacho, Ali, Page, and Benitez should watch this. In fact, I have studied it many times over. Nunn fluid and agile and so was kalambay but Nunn a split second faster. Upon seeing the first opening, Mike immediately capitalized on it. THe perfect performance. #12 for me
I know he was boring at times but I will never forget his showdown with kalambay. I had a lot of respect for Kalambay with all his impressive wins but Nunn was incredibly slick that night. a boxing fan's dream. Every one who adores fighters like Ray Leonard, Pernell, Camacho, Ali, Page, and Benitez should watch this. In fact, I have studied it many times over. Nunn fluid and agile and so was kalambay but Nunn a split second faster. Upon seeing the first opening, Mike immediately capitalized on it. THe perfect performance. #12 for me
Yeah, that's true. Nunn knocked the iron chinned Roldan on his ass with a single arm punch shot... going backwards.
I see no justification whatsoever for placing him in the top 15 he may not even get into the top 20. If we're talking 'best night' he gets in there as he looked very smooth in a few of his fights (Tate, in particular and the Kalambay win was impressive of course). Good fighter, but there's too much competition at middleweight for him to be rated too highly and he stunk the place out half the time (Barkley, Starling in particular).
:shock: Nunn was never the same post Kalambay.... I am guessing you were not around when Nunn was a Middleweight, because you would then know he was a bitter disappointment. He had seemingly proved that he was more than a powder puff punching, boring, all be it talented fighter, to become a future superstar with brilliant performances against Tate, Roldan and Kalambay; but then Iran came along..... Nunn was unwatchable from then on, and never lived up to the hype thrown at him, it was all down hill after that.
nunn was a great boxer everybody loses but he was a good fighter maybe not the best ever mwt but one of the best of his time
Even if you don't rank him too highly you have to give him a very good shot of beating top 10 middleweights. I'm sure he'd beat Lamotta and Cerdan for instance. He'd be on equal footing against Monzon. SRR never fought anyone like Nunn. Hagler would get outboxed for a time and would need a come from behind KO. Even a prime Roy Jones wasnt keen on the match up