In your very good opinions Most impressive ko. Tyson smashing unbeaten Spinks in 1 or Nunn taking out the normally solid Sumbu in a round, And not being known as a ko artist at all?
If you think about it, first-round KO's at the world-class level are kind of an anomaly. Unless you're a Tyson or Liston or McClellan or something. Nunn-Kalambay was the flukiest of flukes. A relative non-puncher starching a renowned champion with a single shot in the first round. If you had that fight to do again it wouldn't play out that way I'm sure. The Tyson fight was far more predictable, both for the fact that Tyson was a true KO artist and Spinks was never really a heavyweight anyway. This was a horrible mismatch even on paper. Because no one could have fairly expected it, Nunn Kalambay has to be the more remarkable feat.
It absolutely has to be Tyson vs Spinks. He destroyed a genuine ATG talent who'd never even been down before. A genuine ATG talent who had dethroned Holmes and completely dominated Gerry Cooney. Spinks is one of the slowest starters ever because of his cagey openings and Tyson just cut through him like a knife through butter. And here's the kicker, for my money, Spinks is better than Kalambay.
Both Tyson and Nunn were favored to win. However, Tyson KOing Spinks is the better win given Michael Spinks ATG status and was never beaten prior. Nunn KOing Kalambay was more shocking and unexpected but still a solid win.
Im still wondering 30 years later how a nunn vs kalambay fight might play out. Its so hard to take...a master like kalambay who in 27 rounds with mccallum...15 with barkley...24 with graham...wasnt iced like that......all credit to michael nunn...he saw the weak spot and capitalised thats why he was rated so highly
I know, it's crazy. Even know I can remember reading about the result in the next days paper and thinking WHAT!?? You could never have gotten odds on that result in a thousand years.
Tough question. I went with Tyson's. I think classic fans really undervalue that win. Nunn's is certainly more shocking but it also feels a lot more flukish.
