Nunn Taken to the Limit in 8-Round Decision

Michael Nunn’s handlers had been looking for a worthy opponent for their opponent.

And while Nunn didn’t exactly meet his match Wednesday night at the Showboat Sports Pavilion, he had to go the full eight rounds to score a unanimous decision over Charles Campbell.

That in itself qualifies as a marathon performance for Nunn, the unbeaten middleweight who had won his first eight professional bouts by knockout.

Judges Chuck Giampa and Cindy Bartin scored it 79-73 for Nunn, while Lou Tabat had it 79-74.

On all three cards, Nunn won every round but the third.

And everyone in the Nunn camp came away happy.

Nunn, who fights for Ten Goose Boxing in North Hollywood, is still unbeaten, but, at least in terms of stamina, he is no longer untested.

“I definitely needed a tough eight-rounder against a game competitor,” said Nunn, whose longest previous bout had ended in the fifth round.

“Now people won’t be saying, ‘Can he go eight rounds?’ or ‘Can he go 10 rounds?’ I can go as long as I need to go.

“Like I told Charles Campbell at the press conference, ‘If the fight goes eight rounds, I will be there.’ ”

Said Dan Goossen, Nunn’s manager: “I was relieved to see him go a strong eight rounds. . . .

“I hated to see the knockout record go, but like I told him, ‘A win is a win.’ ”

Nunn, 22, dominated the fight against the 24-year-old Campbell, who has lost his last two fights after opening his pro career with 15 wins and a draw in his first 16 bouts.

Nunn staggered Campbell in the middle of the second round with two strong left hands, then seemed to daze him again near the end of the round with another left.

After losing three of the first four rounds, Campbell became more aggressive in the fifth and when he and Nunn butted heads during one exchange, an inch-long cut opened above Campbell’s right eye.

Campbell had said before the fight that he expected to knock out Nunn and that if he didn’t, the southpaw’s inexperience would eventually become a big factor in Campbell’s favor.

But by the eighth round, Campbell’s breathing seemed labored while Nunn was breathing easily.

Giampa and Bartin had Nunn winning the last five rounds, while Tabat rated the sixth round even.

Joe Goossen, Nunn’s trainer, called it a “lopsided” fight.

“Dave Gorman (Campbell’s manager) came up to me afterward and said, ‘It was good work for your fighter,’ ” Goossen said.

“If this guy had made a close battle of it, I might have had to re-evaluate Michael’s position in this game. But Michael manhandled this guy.”

Campbell, who claimed he was “illegally drugged” before losing his last fight to Ray Ray Gray in April, made no such excuse this time.

The native of Fairhope, Ala., called Nunn a “better technician” than Gray but said Nunn has “a lot of work to do” on his punching.

So, on a night when Nunn finally has a chance to show his stamina by going the distance, naturally somebody questions his power.

Nunn won’t let it bother him.

“Why should I be disappointed?” he said. “He was an experienced fighter. He wasn’t going to go down easy.”