Nunn Two-Guns Jackson With a Knockout in the First Round

It may take some time to find out just how good Michael “Two Gun” Nunn really is.

It’s obvious he has talent: He earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic boxing team as an alternate despite little formal training.

His new manager, Dan Goossen of Ten Goose Boxing, believes he will someday be a middleweight title contender. But then, in the words of a friend, Goossen is the kind of guy who could sell you ice cubes for your freezer.

A fair judgement could not be made after his Southern California debut Tuesday night at the Country Club in Reseda.

Nunn barely broke a sweat in knocking out Robert Jackson of Los Angeles at 1:22 into the first round. It was Nunn’s third victory as a professional after a 168-8 amateur career. All his professional wins have been by knockout.

It took only 25 seconds for Nunn to hurt his overmatched foe, sending him to the floor with a right-left combination. Less than a minute later, after tracking the back-pedaling Jackson around the ring, Nunn ended the fight with a straight left to the face, sending a standing-room-only crowd of 1,200 home with no more than a token look at his boxing repertoire.

“The crowd may have been disappointed, but there was no use prolonging (Jackson’s) agony,” said Joe Goossen, Nunn’s trainer. “What we saw tonight was a world-class fighter. After a couple of stiff shots, the other man didn’t want no party, and I don’t blame him.”

Nunn said he knew Jackson was hurt when he hit him with his first left hook, which was also his first full punch after a couple of set-up jabs.

“I could see it in his eyes,” Nunn said. “I knew I stung him and I didn’t want to take a chance. I wanted to put him away.”

So now it’s on to Las Vegas, where Nunn will fight a yet-to-be-named opponent in a contest to be televised by ESPN on April 11. Presumably, “Two Gun” will have to use both barrels next time as he steps up in class for television.

“Tonight was just another notch on my holster,” Nunn said. “There is a lot of work to do. With each fight I get more confident, but I’m still hungry. I never knew how much it hurt to lose until I lost in the Olympic trials (to eventual silver medalist Virgil Hill). I never want that feeling again. It’s going to take some kind of monster to beat me.”

Or, at least more than Robert Jackson.

In other matches involving local fighters Tuesday, Canoga Park bantamweight Randy Ortega improved his record to 4-0-1 with a split decision over Juvenal Molina of Los Angeles. In another bantamweight fight, Canoga Park’s Manny Olivas won his professional debut by split decision over Ralph Guiterrez of Los Angeles.

In the junior welterweight division, North Hollywood’s John Russell improved his record to 3-0 with a second-round knockout of Los Angeles’ Hector Martinon.