Nunn Makes It 22 Straight in 9th Round

In the trailer that served as middleweight Michael Nunn’s dressing room, there was euphoria after Saturday’s fight at Caesars Palace.

Over in Charles Campbell’s trailer, the feeling was one of pure disdain.

Chapter 22 of the Nunn saga ended as did the previous 21, with a Nunn victory and a nagging question about his power. This time, he stopped Campbell at 1:04 of the ninth round of their scheduled 10-rounder with a flurry of lefts.

But is this the making of a champion? That question will have to be answered in later chapters. For now, this is still a story without a punchline.

“He can’t punch at all,” said Campbell, his lip cut, his left eye puffed. “He just caught me off balance.”

Nunn again demonstrated the speed and defensive skills that have reduced all previous 21 opponents to awkward-looking, frustrated fighters. He delivered six or seven punches for every one he received, but it took him nearly nine rounds to end the fight.

Campbell (17-4-1, 10 knockouts) was shut out on one judge’s scorecard and won only one round on each of the other two cards.

But will a similar performance by Nunn--currently ranked seventh by the World Boxing Council and ninth by the World Boxing Assn.--be enough as he tries to move to the top?

“He punched a little bit harder than he did the last time we met,” said Campbell, who lost a unanimous eight-round decision to Nunn a year and a half ago in a fight in which there were no knockdowns. “But he’s got to do something real fast as far as punching if he wants to be a contender.”

Even in the Nunn camp, there was an admission of frustration despite his 14th knockout.

“The frustration was that Michael could have gotten him out of there four rounds earlier,” said Joe Goossen, the North Hollywood fighter’s trainer. “He’s just realizing his full potential. He’s doing more each time out. I was telling him to hit the body today. When he finally did, he was saying to himself, ‘It’s there. I can do that.’

“He’s learning as he goes on. It’s like climbing a mountain. Michael is three-quarters of the way there. He needs another quarter to become a complete fighter.”

Nunn had bruised a rib in a sparring session two weeks ago, but said it wasn’t a factor Saturday.

“I was wasting a lot of motion,” Nunn explained, “but once I started punching inside, I got it done.”

When Nunn, 161, finally ended the fight, it seemed as if Campbell, 160 1/2, went down from eight and one-half rounds of constantly battling a glove in his face, rather than the force of a single blow.

“It was nothing I couldn’t have recuperated from,” insisted the Forth Worth, Tex., fighter of the blows that stoppd him. “But my trainer thought I had taken too many punches and I’ve got to go with his judgment.”

After Campbell had gotten back on his feet, trainer Ron Hatcher signaled referee Richard Steele to stop the fight.

Nunn received $5,000 for his afternoon of work. Campbell got $3,000.