Michael Nunn: Why isn't he in the hall of fame ?

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.

 

how many guys, in any sport, were elected to the HoF while in prison?

 

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.

 

Because he bought bricks of cocaine.

 

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.)

 

Finally in. Well deserved!

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On the other hand, the induction of Vinny Paz makes me want to puke.

 

Pretty shocking. At this point they might as well have Adrien Broner in as well.

 

Nunn being widely seen by those that followed him when he was active as someone who wasted a lot of their talent would probably have kept him out indefinitely in a strict HOF. He was a great talent that looked to be developing perfectly from Curtis Parker to the kalambay unification, but after that... things went to his head, he checked out and quickly went downhill. By the time he fought Toney in what was supposed to be a grand homecoming showcase against an overmatched foe, he had already damaged his reputation with his coasting, fighting about half of every round, sloppier performances. Criticism quickly piled up after the Barkley, Starling and Curry fights that he was a safety first, boring fighter who didn't want to engage and that the manner of the kalambay win had been a freak result/false dawn. I saw it slightly differently...sure he was becoming involved in ugly fights, but he wasn't safety-first or scared to engage imo, rather he looked increasingly out of shape and had developed an arrogant habit of laying on the ropes/inside or standing right in front of his opponent and letting them open up on him while he'd play defence, take breathers while grinning and taunting, and just generally seem to believe in his own invincibility. Issue was, he wasn't THAT hard to hit, with a defensive style that needed more focus than he was giving it to be entirely effective. He was also actually a really good infighter that threw brutal uppercuts to the body/head in there, so I can see why he felt comfortable there, but that part of his style only works so well if he's focused. So he started taking unneccessary punches, but the guy was actually tough, game and durable so he could get away with it to a point, especially against smaller fighters like Starling and Curry.

He actually looked a lot better again in the early-mid rounds against Toney, where he tried to put on a more active, spectacular performance in his hometown, but he ran out of gas by the 7th round and then paid for the flaws that had been creeping into his game. This might not have mattered too much had he then got his act together and come back strong again, seeking a rematch with Toney at 160 or 168, but he didn't even try. He only gave one or two reasonably sharp performances for the rest of his career.

Right or wrong, the man was not a particularly well respected fighter throughout the '90s. It was only when the earlier part of his career started to be revisited during the online forum era that his reputation slowly grew and more appropriately balanced out again. But, if younger guys are only watching highlights and one or two fights, there's a good chance you're going to get a misleading impression of the man.


Of course, with the standards of IBHOF, he could have been in long ago, same as loads of other fighters who aren't.

 

Yeah, Nunn could've entered IBHOF way much earlier if Gatti and Corrales could enter it.

 

Don't tempt them