Victor Cordoba vs Michael Nunn

Michael Nunn became a champion in a second weight division when he took the World Boxing Association super-middleweight title from Victor Cordoba by a disputed split decision at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The contest formed part of the programme headed by Julio Cesar Chavez and Hector Camacho and was fought before a crowd largely awaiting the principal attraction. Nunn, a former middleweight champion, was a strong favourite, but Cordoba proved a more difficult and forceful opponent than had been expected.

Cordoba had won the championship from Christophe Tiozzo in France the previous year and had since stopped the unbeaten Vincenzo Nardiello. At 168 pounds, he appeared the naturally stronger man. Nunn had rebuilt after losing his middleweight championship to James Toney in May 1991, when he had been leading before being stopped in the eleventh round. He moved into the higher division and earned his challenge by halting Randall Yonker in ten rounds. Both men weighed the super-middleweight limit of 168 pounds.

Cordoba started confidently and carried the fight to the challenger. He repeatedly caught Nunn during the opening rounds and almost put him down with a right-left combination in the second. Nunn was shaken but kept his balance and tried to regain control by boxing at longer range. Cordoba nevertheless continued to land the heavier punches, moving behind deliberate attacks and preventing the quicker challenger from establishing a settled rhythm.

Nunn gradually improved as the contest moved through its middle stages. He used his reach more effectively, placed his punches with greater accuracy and made Cordoba work harder to close the distance. The champion’s early pace began to diminish after the sixth round, allowing Nunn more room in which to operate. Nunn was not dominating the exchanges, but he was collecting rounds with the cleaner and more regular work while Cordoba’s attacks became less frequent.

Referee Mills Lane deducted a point from Cordoba for a low blow during the later rounds, a penalty which became important when the scorecards were added. Cordoba then restored his position by flooring Nunn with a straight left hand near a corner in the ninth. Nunn beat the count and, although momentarily shaken, recovered sufficiently to avoid the champion’s follow-up attack. The knockdown provided Cordoba with the most decisive moment of the contest and appeared to give him the advantage entering the closing rounds.

Nunn responded well under pressure. He returned to his boxing, kept Cordoba turning and finished the contest with sufficient purpose to persuade two of the three judges. Cordoba continued advancing and remained dangerous with the left hand, but he could not reproduce the sustained pressure of the opening rounds. There were no further knockdowns, and both men completed the twelfth round in good condition after a match in which neither had established clear command for long.

Patricia Morse Jarman scored the contest 114–112 for Cordoba. Ove Ovesen returned a score of 114–112 for Nunn, while Fernando Viso made Nunn the winner by 114–113. Boos greeted the announcement of Nunn’s split-decision victory, many spectators believing that Cordoba’s harder punching and knockdown had earned him the verdict. The deducted point mattered to the result, although the widely differing allocation of individual rounds showed how difficult the contest was to judge.

Nunn left with the championship, but the closeness of the verdict prevented the matter from being regarded as settled. Cordoba’s protest was strengthened by the narrow scores and the crowd’s reaction, and the WBA ordered a return contest. They met again four months later, when Nunn produced a more decisive performance and won unanimously over 12 rounds. That result removed much of the uncertainty surrounding his claim to the title, but it did not alter the disputed character of their first meeting.

I had Victor Cordoba winning this fight. Michael Nunn was the famous name, the former middleweight champion who had looked nearly unbeatable before James Toney caught him in the 11th round. Cordoba arrived without that reputation, but he was the defending champion and the naturally stronger super-middleweight.

Cordoba unsettled Nunn early because he would not give him the space to glide about and dictate matters. He stepped across Nunn’s escape route, made the exchanges physical and landed the heavier punches. Nunn was the smoother boxer, but he did too much of his work while retreating. Looking elegant is not the same as controlling a fight.

The low-blow deduction hurt Cordoba badly, but he answered by dropping Nunn with a straight left. Nunn recovered well and finished strongly, which probably remained freshest in the judges’ minds. Even so, I could not give him enough rounds to overcome Cordoba’s pressure, harder punching and knockdown.

The split decision went to Nunn, but I believe the wrong man had his hand raised. The immediate rematch was justified. Nunn won that one clearly, but it does not rewrite what happened the first time.