Frankie Owens Doesn’t Fight by the Numbers

Middleweight Frankie Owens of Oklahoma City could be excused for feeling a bit nervous about his 10-round co-main event Tuesday night in Las Vegas.

After all, his opponent in the bout, which will be nationally televised over the ESPN cable network, is Michael Nunn of North Hollywood. Nunn’s numbers would create trepidation in most fighters. He is 24-0 with 16 knockouts. He has knocked out his past four opponents. He is ranked fourth by the World Boxing Council, sixth by both the World Boxing Assn. and Ring magazine, and seventh by the International Boxing Federation.

Furthermore, Nunn must win Tuesday’s fight and another in September in his hometown of Davenport, Iowa, against an as-yet-undetermined opponent in order to qualify for an Oct. 29 North American Boxing Federation title fight in Las Vegas.

But numbers never have impressed Owens.

In January, he met Crandell King in Miami. King was 15-0-1 at the time. Owens knocked him down twice and won a 10-round decision.

Last month, Owens again fought against an opponent who had some flashy numbers to toss around. Donald Bowers entered the ring in Nashville, Tenn., at 19-2-1. Again, Owens knocked his opponent down twice and won a decision, this one over eight rounds.

That brought the 24-year-old’s record to 13-3-1 with nine knockouts. As an amateur, he was 77-2 and a Golden Glove champion in both Oklahoma and Kansas.

“Nunn’s just a boxer,” Owens says. “When you study his list of opponents, he’s never really faced the sort of fighter who likes to go inside and mix it up. He likes to stick and run. I’m a completely different fighter than he’s faced before.”

What about Nunn’s quickness and ability to dodge punches?

“It shouldn’t be any problem,” Owens says. “His running doesn’t bother me at all. I do my road work. Besides, I’m a former track star. The fight may reach the sixth round. It may not.”

Nunn admitted he wasn’t familiar with Owens.

“Just another guy in my path,” he said.

The other half of Tuesday’s main event will be another 10-rounder, between middleweights Alex Ramos (27-5-2, 19 knockouts) of Bell and Darnell Knox (26-1-1, 20 knockouts) of Detroit.

Knox, ranked 10th by the WBC, is Nunn’s tentative opponent for the Oct. 29 NABF title fight. But Knox, too, needs a win Tuesday night to qualify for the championship bout.

Nunn won a unanimous 12-round decision over Ramos last November in a California state middleweight title fight.