1993 prime MW Roy Jones vs. 1988 Michael Nunn

[uncle pauly]

This is the Roy Jones that fought Thomas Tate and Percy Harris on HBO at middleweight vs. the Michael Nunn who knocked out Sumbu Kalambay and Donald Curry in 1988.

I give Nunn a fair chance in this one. He had a laserlike, fast straigh left. He could set this up very well. The downside was that he was susceptible to a good left hook.

RJJ was a monster at MW. His speed was at its peak at MW. His KO percentage was like 80% at MW.

I would have to go with RJJ on this one. His left hook gets there first. He was actually a step faster than Nunn.

RJJ KO Nunn in the 5th round by a counter left hook. Nunn doesn't know what hit him. Counted out.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Nunn would be a tough fight for roy

Nunn's jab and skill would neutralize roy's speed and athletic ability

I think roy pulls it out but in a very close fight ala roy-tarver 1


Interesting side note: Nunn was roy jones' mandatory in late 96 early 97 at super middle, and roy refused the fight and went up to fight an ancient mccallum at lightheavy

Roy knew that nunn was a high risk opponent

[uncle pauly]

The Roy vs. Tarver I fight analogy was exactly why I started this thread. The Nunn of 1987-88 would have been an interesting fantasy matchup.
The 1996-1997 version of Nunn wouldn't have been competitive. He was past it by then. I don't think Roy ducked him.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

The Roy vs. Tarver I fight analogy was exactly why I started this thread. The Nunn of 1987-88 would have been an interesting fantasy matchup.
The 1996-1997 version of Nunn wouldn't have been competitive. He was past it by then. I don't think Roy ducked him.

your right about the 96-97 version of nunn being over the hill,, but i do think roy ducked out,,, jones-nunn would have been a huge fight in 97, just because roy was involved and nunn had a name and was on a winning streak.. Roy should have fought him, got paid, and added a name to his resume,, but honestly roy was very selective on opponent selection, he makes mayweather look like oscar when comparing resumes,,
Roy only took 1 big fight vs toney, and that was to establish himself atop, hopkins fight looks good now, but at the time hopkins was a espn type fighter and was an unknown,
then jones went a decade without taking another risky fight, 94 toney til 03 with ruiz,, and once ruiz fight happened roy was a ppv type fighter so he had to fight ppv level opponents like tarver,,
roy in the mid 90s had benn, eubanks, collins, michlewski, nunn, liles, G-man to have big fights with, and roy never fought any of them,,
IMO roy was a great fighter, but i can never rank him very high since he never really took any big fights,,, he took the toney fight to establish himself as a star, and after he didnt want to lose his stardom by taking on challenges when people were more than happy to hype him up to GOAT status because he looked awesome fighting fringe contenders and faded names like hill

[uncle pauly]

It is true. I watched Jones career closely and was a big fan. I couldn't agree more with your opinion on his opponent selection.

Look at the Pazienza fight for example. That is a prime example of careful selection. Pazienza HAD ZERO CHANCE,....ZERO. Yet Jones picked him. There were at least half dozen fighters who would have been a far greater challenge. McClellan and Benn would have far more deserving opponents.


Nunn,...had No chance or Nunn chance by 96 or 97. However his younger version may have been able to pull off a Tarver type of challenge.

[Holywarrior]

rjj would stop nunn. if slow fat toney's lead rights landed all night jones would've pancaked him

[Sugar Adam Ali]

It is true. I watched Jones career closely and was a big fan. I couldn't agree more with your opinion on his opponent selection.

Look at the Pazienza fight for example. That is a prime example of careful selection. Pazienza HAD ZERO CHANCE,....ZERO. Yet Jones picked him. There were at least half dozen fighters who would have been a far greater challenge. McClellan and Benn would have far more deserving opponents.


Nunn,...had No chance or Nunn chance by 96 or 97. However his younger version may have been able to pull off a Tarver type of challenge.

spot on post,,

[Sugar Adam Ali]

rjj would stop nunn. if slow fat toney's lead rights landed all night jones would've pancaked him

ummm,, did you even watch nunn-toney

nunn dominated that fight, and it was fat slow toney,, it was a young hungry toney, that got outboxed till about the 9th round,,,,

Nunn's jab would bother roy, much like montel griffin's double jab bothered roy in the first fight

[Holywarrior]

ummm,, did you even watch nunn-toney

nunn dominated that fight, and it was fat slow toney,, it was a young hungry toney, that got outboxed till about the 9th round,,,,

Nunn's jab would bother roy, much like montel griffin's double jab bothered roy in the first fight

Griffen and Nunn are completely different fighters at completely different weights.


Toney was getting outboxed early on. He was landing the right hand a ton in spots though, don't act like Toney wasn't landing.

The difference is Jones has the footspeed and movement to create openings because Nunn was a stalking boxer puncher and Toney pretty much took rounds 8 9 and 10 before the 11th round K0.

[nachorjj]

In my opinion Roy knock Nunn out in 8 or 10 rounds. I see a close fight in the first 3 rounds but the foot speed of Roy would neutralize the jab of Nunn, and with Roy speed combinations and ****erpunchs I see Roy knocking him out