How good was Michael Nunn ? Should he have been an ATG ?

[Quixall]

How good was Michael Nunn ? Should he have been an all time great ?

I was looking at some fights of Michael Nunn last night and he looked like a very good fighter who had a lot of star quality about him. I was sad to hear that he got sent to prison in 2004 and will not be released untill 2024. He was described by one writer as a cross between Pernell Whitaker and Floyd Mayweather and it seemed that his career was going through the roof untill he lost to James Toney in that 11th knock-out. He beat some good fighters along the way, Tate, Kalumbay, Curry, Starling, Barkley and looked set to dominate the middleweight division for years to come. He also won a super-middleweight title against Cordoba, but failed to win a light-heavyweight title and dissapeared from trace towards the end of the 1990's

How good do you think Michael Nunn was ? Was he up there with the very best of his generation ?

[Tomasino]

How good was Michael Nunn ? Should he have been an all time great ?

I was looking at some fights of Michael Nunn last night and he looked like a very good fighter who had a lot of star quality about him. I was sad to hear that he got sent to prison in 2004 and will not be released untill 2024. He was described by one writer as a cross between Pernell Whitaker and Floyd Mayweather and it seemed that his career was going through the roof untill he lost to James Toney in that 11th knock-out. He beat some good fighters along the way, Liles, Kalumbay, Curry, Starling, Barkley and looked set to dominate the middleweight division for years to come. He also won a super-middleweight title against Cordoba, but failed to win a light-heavyweight title and dissapeared from trace towards the end of the 1990's

How good do you think Michael Nunn was ? Was he up there with the very best of his generation ?

Yes, he was superb when he was at his best. Like Don Curry, who knows how much his lifestyle affected his career. Although he was past his best himself, Ray Leonard avoided Nunn.

[Captain Hook]

Stand-out performances for me were v Kalambay (what a punch), Barkley and Curry... also remember watching videos of him when I was younger and remember him v Curtis ??? (uppercut finished it?)

Great fighter, an ATG for me. Only four losses as well, to guys would have beaten at his peak, except possibly Toney. Wasn't he way ahead in that fight before getting stopped?? Not seen it for many years so excuse my patchy memories of it!

Lost to Little, Rochigianni and Liles too.....and ended career on a few wins after coming back.

[Old bones Ian]

I remember the beatdown that Nunn gave Frank Tate to win the middleweight title, I think that Tate started a favourite at the time, but he was never in it and got stopped in the 9th.

He had the talent to reign for a longer time, but maybe his partying outside of the ring didn't help against Toney, but he was leading by quite away against Toney when stopped.

[Old bones Ian]

And also he lost his Supermiddle title to Steve Little in one of the biggest upsets ever on these shores.

[Ezzard]

Toney was never in such great shape again. That was a truly great win.

Nunn had the ability to be a legend.

[Quixall]

Toney was well behind when he delivered that knock out punch to Nunn. The punch thrown by Toney was similar in it's effect to the punch that Nunn threw to knock out Kalambay !!

[ERIC GUY]

a really great fighter, I filmed him training at the all stars,

[jamesmcdonnell]

I do wonder how much his lifestyle issues curtailed his brilliance, he was one hell of a fighter, who looked like he was going to dominate the middleweight division and super middleweights for as long as he chose.

The loss to Toney is no great knock, he was absolutely dominating the fight until Toney caught up with him, but Toney is an ATG and future hall of famer.

I too remember him absolutely mauling Frank Tate, what a performance that was!

Shame the way things panned out, he seemingly had everything in front of him, and now he has a long spell in jail laid out for him. They sure nail the hell out of you for drugs offences in the states, seems a rather savage punishment considering he didn't actually kill anyone.

[loaded_gloves]

A very effective boxer, not a fighter, but a very good, very boring pure boxer.

He was criticised in the press at the time quite a bit because of his mainly passive performances, particularly vs Barkley. I think a lot of people were happy when Toney whacked him and got rid of him. He went to the Don King stable and picked another belt but boxed on undercards and never featured in any major fights again.

No one seemed to give a shit about him once he lost to Toney, mainly due to his dull style when there were so many exciting fighters in the late 80s/90s.

[Quixall]

A very effective boxer, not a fighter, but a very good, very boring pure boxer.

He was criticised in the press at the time quite a bit because of his mainly passive performances, particularly vs Barkley. I think a lot of people were happy when Toney whacked him and got rid of him. He went to the Don King stable and picked another belt but boxed on undercards and never featured in any major fights again.

No one seemed to give a shit about him once he lost to Toney, mainly due to his dull style when there were so many exciting fighters in the late 80s/90s.

Yeah, from what i can gather, he just dropped from the major scene after the Toney loss. Maybe people put up with the supposed boring style whilst ever they thought he was some boxing genius and future hall of famer, but it seems that the Toney loss did a lot of damage, rightly or wrongly, to his fighting career.

[He's Gone Jim!]

His performance against Tate was something else.

[Quixall]

Michael Nunn was too good.

How do you mean "too good" mate ?

[Old bones Ian]

A very effective boxer, not a fighter, but a very good, very boring pure boxer.

He was criticised in the press at the time quite a bit because of his mainly passive performances, particularly vs Barkley. I think a lot of people were happy when Toney whacked him and got rid of him. He went to the Don King stable and picked another belt but boxed on undercards and never featured in any major fights again.

No one seemed to give a shit about him once he lost to Toney, mainly due to his dull style when there were so many exciting fighters in the late 80s/90s.

Yeah, from what i can gather, he just dropped from the major scene after the Toney loss. Maybe people put up with the supposed boring style whilst ever they thought he was some boxing genius and future hall of famer, but it seems that the Toney loss did a lot of damage, rightly or wrongly, to his fighting career.

I think Nunn gets the boring tag a bit too much, watch the first round of the Barkley fight, plenty of excitement there, and the rest of the fight wasn't too bad either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT_hOjL6v6I

[pyenest77]

I remember him well extremely rangy & awkward. A bit of a who needs him club member.

[Jon Saxon]

Toney was well behind when he delivered that knock out punch to Nunn. The punch thrown by Toney was similar in it's effect to the punch that Nunn threw to knock out Kalambay !!

That isn't strictly true, he was traiing but he had been shipping away all night and had missed with that punch by a whisker numerous times.

I saw it coming pity Nunn didnt.

[Counter-puncher]

Toney was well behind when he delivered that knock out punch to Nunn. The punch thrown by Toney was similar in it's effect to the punch that Nunn threw to knock out Kalambay !!

That isn't strictly true, he was traiing but he had been shipping away all night and had missed with that punch by a whisker numerous times.

I saw it coming pity Nunn didnt.

agreed John, too much gets made of the 'come from behind' nature of that win. I know Terry D agrees with us here. Toney was pressuring, working the body well, and looking to time Nunn with big shots all night. eventually he got him, but this was (11th round) after in both 9th and 10th rounds Toney had got to Nunn and wobbled his legs.

i also agree with macho, Nunn had ridiculous physical gifts. men that big and fast and fluid are very few and far between in boxing history.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Toney was well behind when he delivered that knock out punch to Nunn. The punch thrown by Toney was similar in it's effect to the punch that Nunn threw to knock out Kalambay !!

That isn't strictly true, he was traiing but he had been shipping away all night and had missed with that punch by a whisker numerous times.

I saw it coming pity Nunn didnt.

agreed John, too much gets made of the 'come from behind' nature of that win. I know Terry D agrees with us here. Toney was pressuring, working the body well, and looking to time Nunn with big shots all night. eventually he got him, but this was (11th round) after in both 9th and 10th rounds Toney had got to Nunn and wobbled his legs.

i also agree with macho, Nunn had ridiculous physical gifts. men that big and fast and fluid are very few and far between in boxing history.

Agreed, Toney was landing well to the body - but until the 9th, it was looking like Nunn was going to pull out the win, he had built up a near unassailable lead.

[Counter-puncher]

sometimes one guy winning 3 big rounds in a row is much more significant than his oppo winning the previous 6 rounds unemphatically.

in long fights momentum can often be more important than rounds won, this fight being a great example.

[jamesmcdonnell]

sometimes one guy winning 3 big rounds in a row is much more significant than his oppo winning the previous 6 rounds unemphatically.

in long fights momentum can often be more important than rounds won, this fight being a great example.

My point is that Nunn was outboxing Toney for long stretches of the fight, that's not something many other fighters can claim to have done to a prime JT......

[Counter-puncher]

sometimes one guy winning 3 big rounds in a row is much more significant than his oppo winning the previous 6 rounds unemphatically.

in long fights momentum can often be more important than rounds won, this fight being a great example.

My point is that Nunn was outboxing Toney for long stretches of the fight, that's not something many other fighters can claim to have done to a prime JT......

oh indeed, an index of his talent being he was nearly doing to a fit JT what RJJ did to a fat one

[Coco]

Shudda, wudda, cudda, what a waste

[matko]

Top fighter in a top division who beat many a good fighter!!
Yea his KO of curtis parker think in 2nd? was on a load of KO videos in 90's peach of a shot so was the kalambay 1 aswell.
Against Toney he was tiring due to Toneys pressure and his style was non stop movement himself off the jab,which will slow u down in the later rounds. Then toney from southpaw stance steps forward with his left leg and gets his weight forward into his left hook which would of dropped most fighters but Nunn was starting to look tired even thou he did beat the count he was finished

[Jeff Thomas]

Brilliant; like a southpaw Ali - I was a big fan

[nobby_nobbins]

A great talent and possibly the fastest talking boxer in history. He was constantly stuck on fast forward. Also notable for one of the most ridiculous post fight moments when he and Steve Little bounced up and down like maniacs before the decision.