Michael Nunn vs Donald Curry

A former welterweight champion brought speed into the ring at Bercy, but he could not take a middleweight champion’s strength away from him. Donald Curry landed often enough to test Michael Nunn on October 18, 1990. Nunn absorbed the blows, put Curry down in the seventh round and knocked him out at 1 minute 59 seconds of the tenth to retain his International Boxing Federation title.

The contest at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy drew a crowd reported at 13,800. Nunn, unbeaten in 35 professional fights, was making his fifth defence of the title he had won from Frank Tate in 1988. Curry had once held the undisputed welterweight championship and had subsequently won a light-middleweight title. Now, at 29, he was challenging a natural middleweight. Both men came in close to the division’s limit—Nunn at 160 pounds, Curry at 159—but Nunn was two inches taller and had five inches more reach. Angelo Dundee had joined Nunn’s corner after the champion’s recent performances had drawn criticism.

Curry began by working from a low position and trying to pass beneath Nunn’s long right jab. He reached the champion with punches and, at times, got close enough to throw fast rights. Nunn moved away from the challenger’s attacks and used his reach to make him come forward again. In the second round, Nunn cut Curry high on the forehead. The wound did not appear to hinder the challenger. Curry also slipped to the canvas during the round; it was not ruled a knockdown, and Nunn reached down to help him up.

Curry continued to pursue the southpaw and found openings through his defence. On occasions Nunn stayed against the ropes long enough for Curry to hit him, including with two quick right hands. Nunn smiled in response. The challenger’s hand speed remained evident, but his punches did not make the champion retreat from an exchange. Nunn could box out of range behind the jab, then stand and answer when Curry got near him. Curry’s success in reaching him made the contest more competitive than a simple account of the stoppage suggests, although the effort required to get inside fell chiefly on the challenger.

Nunn made that advantage count in the seventh. He followed Curry into a corner and landed a cluster of punches that sent him to his knees. Curry rose at the count of three and kept coming forward. By the ninth, however, he was tiring. Nunn advanced more frequently, landing the right jab and following it with left hands to the face. The official cards after nine rounds had the champion well ahead: Henry Eugene Grant scored it 88–82, while Shiela Harmon Martin and Al Rothenberg each had it 89–81.

In the tenth, Nunn drove Curry into a corner and kept him there. He threw fifteen unanswered punches as the challenger tried to remain upright. Curry finally sank to his knees, and referee Dennis Nelson stopped the fight. There had been no point deductions or other knockdowns. Nunn’s record rose to 36–0, while Curry fell to 33–4. Curry had shown he could still land fast punches against a leading champion, but Nunn’s greater reach, his ability to work at either distance, and the heavier blows he delivered as Curry tired decided the fight.

I remember why Curry was such a draw: at welterweight his timing and hand speed made good fighters look ordinary. He still landed on Nunn in Paris, but those fast rights did not discourage a natural middleweight with five inches more reach.

Nunn could jab from outside, then stand and trade when Curry finally got close. The seventh-round knockdown showed which man’s punches were taking effect. By the tenth Curry was tiring, and Nunn trapped him in a corner and finished it. Curry was brave and still skilful; he had moved up against a bigger man who could take his best work.