Unbeaten Nunn Still Has Title but Not Much Style : Middleweight Gains Decision Over Barkley

RENO — A little bit of the luster--well, maybe a lot of the luster--came off Michael Nunn on Monday night.

Nunn, who looked so good in previous knockout victories over Sumbu Kalambay and Juan Domingo Roldan, seemed so ordinary, so unexceptional against Iran Barkley at the University of Nevada Reno Lawlor Events Center, barely pulling out a majority decision victory.

Nunn, who remained unbeaten at 34-0 in preserving his International Boxing Federation championship, heard boos, not cheers, this time. It was his most difficult fight as a pro and his most unimpressive victory. Nunn retreated for most of the fight, rattling the ever-advancing Barkley repeatedly with a long right jab, but without much else.

Barkley (25-6), as expected, came out charging from the opening bell, throwing off-balance punches that landed often enough to make it close in the judges’ eyes.

Most ringsiders, in a fight that was difficult to score, had Nunn a lopsided winner on points. But the judges, as they are wont to do in Nevada, nearly called it a draw. Judge Glenn Hamada had it 115-113 for Nunn, Art Lurie scored it 116-113 for Nunn and Keith MacDonald had it even, 114-114. Nine rounds were scored identically by the judges.

Had Hamada scored the 12th and final round, 10-9, for Barkley instead of the other way around, he would have had it 113-113, and the result would have been a draw.

One Times card had Nunn the winner, 116-112; another had it 114-114.

Nunn lost not only some glitter, but perhaps a promoter as well. Bob Arum, Nunn’s promoter, was unhappy with Nunn’s performance and said that after he fulfills a contractual obligation for one more Nunn fight, he would drop him.

For Team Nunn, it’s not exactly back to square one, but this was not a rousing victory, either. Those labels of “slapper” and “runner” were being thrown around again.

Nunn’s manager, Dan Goossen, who has often proclaimed his fighter ready for the likes of Leonard, Duran and Hearns, was appropriately quiet after Monday’s fight.

First, he must have noticed that Nunn didn’t come close to selling out a small (11,000 seats) arena. Only 5,100 tickets had been sold in the prefight sale and the announced paid attendance was 5,900. If Goossen didn’t count the house, Arum did.

“When Nunn got hit, he looked like an ESPN fighter,” Arum said.

The one element that the crowd found lacking in Nunn’s repertoire Monday was contact . . . or, avoidance of contact. Nunn fought mainly a battle of retreat. When he did choose to engage in heavy exchanges at center ring and on the ropes, he was often effective, yet backed off more often than not.

Some wondered over the final rounds if the left-handed Nunn’s almost exclusive reliance on his right jab meant he had hurt his left hand early in the fight. Afterward, he said he had not.

Nunn said later he had heard the boos, and no doubt the “BARK-LEY!” chants as well.

“Hey, they (boos) meant nothing to me,” he said. “I’m 34-0, I’m still a champion. If they (those who booed) don’t buy tickets, someone else will. I’ve never run from anyone.”

At that, some snickered. Iran Barkley, for one.

When Nunn was asked why he received a warning in the 12th round by referee Carlos Padilla, Barkley answered for him.

“He said, ‘keep runnin’, Mike, keep runnin,’ ” Barkley quipped.

If Nunn won the decision, Barkley won the interview-room faceoff.

“I thought I won hands down,” Nunn said. “Iran is very strong, very awkward, it was a tough fight. Obviously, the judges thought it was a lot closer than I did.”

Asked his appraisal of the decision, Barkley said: “You know who won that fight . . . if you were sittin’ out there you shouldn’t even ask me that.”

On a night when a tough Reno crowd wanted to see punches land, Nunn seemed to be avoiding contact from the opening bell. Barkley charged from his corner to start an intense first round, one given to Nunn by all three judges. Barkley caught Nunn on the ropes twice in the round, but Nunn tagged him sharply with short blows inside.

Barkley was warned several times for holding Nunn around the neck with his right forearm, and he was doing so when he caught Nunn with a wild left hook. Late in the first round, when Barkley was at arm’s length, Nunn hit him as if it were target practice.

In the third, Nunn’s corner was upset that their fighter was engaging in Barkley’s kind of fight, at close quarters in center ring. Nunn, however, handled himself well inside . . . but then backed off.

By the fourth round, Nunn was fighting with his feet, avoiding Barkley’s charges. He consistently landed his snapping right jab, but chose not to follow up, which sparked the boos.

Barkley held Nunn twice while hitting him in the fifth round, but he wasn’t warned by Padilla. Nunn landed a thumping right hand on Barkley’s head but paid a fearful price--a hard, countering shot to the ribs.

Barkley secured his grip on the crowd when he suddenly stopped chasing Nunn in the sixth round, and, from center ring, gestured with his gloves for Nunn to stand and fight.

But of course, no one ever graduated to multimillion-dollar fights by standing and trading punches with Barkley, so Nunn stuck to his game, which at that point seemed to have him leading by a few points.

Nunn’s best round was the eighth, when his right-hand shots drew blood from Barkley’s mouth. By the end of the round, he was measuring Barkley with his right hand and hitting him solidly with the left. At the bell, with a nod of the head, Barkley seemed to acknowledge that it had been Nunn’s round, and maybe a breakaway round at that.

The 10th seemed to show everyone that Barkley was not only going to finish on his feet, but that he wasn’t going down, either. Nunn hit him with solid right uppercuts and a couple of straight lefts, on the chin, but the blows didn’t seem to faze Barkley.

To Emanuel Steward, manager of Thomas Hearns, who Nunn wants to fight next, there were no surprises Monday night. Steward watched from ringside.

“First of all, Nunn has never been a puncher,” Steward said. “Nunn is a slapper. He’s always been a slapper. That punch he knocked Kalambay out with was a one-in-a-million shot. The crowd didn’t like him tonight, but I liked him. It was a tough fight, a survival fight, and he won it.”