Did the Toney's late K.O ruined Michael Nunn? In late 80's Michael Nunn was on a roll and beat several "name" fighters handily in his winning & defending the IBF MW title. But then James Toney, who was behind in the fight, k.o.ed Nunn late in the bout. Even though Nunn soldiered on, winning a SMW title, it appears looking at the fighters he fought, his opponents were "set-up" fights, with Nunn eventually taking losses at the end of his career.
His lifestyle issues would've caught up with him. He had been having some unimpressive performances after looking so brilliant against Tate and Kalambay (and also looked very good IMO against Roldan also). I thought the fight was closer than the hometown judges had it, and how it's remembered. Toney had come on strong from about the 8th round on.
Toney was coming on..but the fight was in Nunn's "hometown". I didn't trust the scoring as an outsider.
Its a historical fact, that when most fighters who have built up an aura of invincibility as undefeated fighters at championship level, that following that first loss they are A. Not the same as they were before and B. End up going into a decline and losing fights they would not have lost prior to their first loss. However, this theory does not apply to Nunn with the exception of the defeat against Little that is.
I looked up a Nunn thread because I just saw a clip of him boxing an mma fighter at 57 yrs old. I lost track of him after his loss to Toney. In my mind, he’s frozen with that flattop haircut, smirk on his face, silky white jacket, & Goosen behind him. To see him in the ring at 57 kind of disturbed me. I always had a soft spot for him because I saw one of his early fights when I was in high school and was so impressed. I had him down as THE fighter to watch. He had some blah fights with Starling & Barkley after looking so sharp previously. When I saw him again, he was on espn and looking pretty blubbery at light heavyweight. The crazy speed and reflexes I remembered were gone. He just looked like a solid fighter. Nothing special at all. Of course back then, I didn’t know anything about his drug use. Just wasted talent.
