Nunn Stops Tate in Ninth for Title

In the end, it had nothing to do with the weigh-in, the brand of gloves, the size of the ring or any of the other little wars waged over the last few days between the camps of Frank Tate and Michael Nunn.

No, in the end it came down to one punch, a blistering left to the kidney by Nunn that put Tate down at the end of the eighth round in their scheduled 15-round International Boxing Federation middleweight title fight Thursday night at Caesars Palace.

The punch left Tate helpless to defend himself in a ninth round that was stopped after 40 seconds, making Nunn, 25, the new IBF middleweight champion.

So Nunn (31-0 with 21 knockouts), of North Hollywood, has become the new gun in town, an overnight success story who already is being measured against middleweights such as Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler and other big names of the division.

His promoter, Bob Arum, referred to him Thursday night as “the next big superstar in boxing.”

He’s an overnight success, that is, if you overlook Nunn’s four-year pro career. It was four years of hearing that he couldn’t punch, four years of hearing scattered boos from ringside fans because he danced too much, four years of hearing that he’d be in trouble if he ever met a real opponent.

Tate, 23, was unarguably that. A former gold medalist and the reigning IBF titleholder, the Houston fighter also entered the ring unbeaten (23-0 with 13 knockouts).

“Everybody said I can’t punch,” Nunn said after winning his biggest fight. “I’m not a big puncher, but I’m consistent.”

The fight may have actually been won not in the last 40 seconds of the ninth round, but in the first 40 seconds of the first.

Nunn went into the fight with a reputation as a defensive specialist, Tate as the puncher.

But Nunn taunted Tate during the prefight instructions and then marched across the ring at the opening bell and took the fight to Tate, scoring repeatedly with his left.

Yes, he ran some, too. And grinned a lot. And motioned for Tate to show what he had. Like a young Muhammad Ali, Nunn, a lefty, changed styles several times each round, the aggressive puncher one moment, the taunter the next, the consummate boxer, hands at his sides, head bouncing back and forth, a moment later.

And Tate just stood there, looking confused and not quite sure how to react. Time and again he would throw a right at Nunn’s head, only to find that head was no longer there.

When it was over, Tate, while giving Nunn his share of credit, placed much of the blame on his weight, saying he had begun training camp at somewhere between 175 and 180 pounds. He weighed in at 160, as did Nunn.

“It’s Mother Nature telling me to move up in weight,” Tate said. “It finally caught up to me. I don’t feel bad, I’m a true champion.”

It wasn’t Mother Nature, however, that delivered the body blow that reduced Tate to a crumpled heap in the closing seconds of Round 8.

It appeared to take all of his strength for Tate to make it to his feet by the count of nine, though Joe Goossen, Nunn’s trainer, didn’t agree that Tate had gotten up in time. Goossen flung his stool into the ring and followed an instant later, berating the referee, Mills Lane. But a replay later showed Lane had made the correct call.

It proved academic.

Nunn went after Tate from the start of Round 9, blistering him with a series of punches until Lane finally ended it.

“It was not there,” Tate said. “I didn’t feel it. But after the eighth, my trainer said to go another round.”

When the fight was stopped, Tate had won no more than two rounds on any of the three scorecards.

Tate was at least the winner at the pay window. He made $400,000, Nunn $100,000.

“I’ll be waiting for you at 168 pounds,” Tate told Nunn in a crowded pressroom.

“I’ll be there,” Nunn replied, “when Mother Nature tells me it’s time.”

Based on Thursday night’s performance, that doesn’t figure to be for a while.

In a preliminary bout, Tony Willis, North American Boxing Federation light-heavyweight champion, defended his title by scoring a TKO victory over Frank Minton (20-6-1) of Indianapolis. The fight was stopped at the 1:40 k of the second round of the scheduled 12-rounder because of a cut over Minton’s left eye. The unbeaten Willis is 16-0 with 12 knockouts.