Underdog Has Fight Sized Up : Boxing: Marlon Starling, at 5-8, is confident he can defeat 6-2 Michael Nunn tonight.

When Michael Nunn, the unbeaten International Boxing Federation middleweight champion, fights World Boxing Council welterweight champion Marlon Starling tonight, it will be Team Turmoil vs. Team Tranquility.

Nunn (34-0), in a bitter split with the management team that had guided his career since 1984, walked out of training camp March 17. However, a meeting was underway late Friday night in what sources said was an attempt to resolve the fued between Nunn and his manager, Dan Goossen.

Starling (45-5-1), in contrast to such turmoil, seems happy and confident. And he is laughing at the 6-1 odds favoring Nunn.

Nunn, at 6 feet 2, will tower over Starling, who claims to be 5-8. Nunn will also have a huge reach advantage.

But according to Starling, reach advantages can be deceiving.

At his training camp in Fountain Hills, Ariz., two weeks ago, Starling rolled his eyes when a reporter raised the subject. He put his face two inches from the reporter’s.

“Let me ask you this question,” he said. “What good will Nunn’s reach do him, when my face is right here?”

Starling, 31, is from Hartford, Conn., and has been a professional since 1979. He received little recognition until 1987 when, in an upset, he knocked out Mark Breland in Columbia, S.C., and won the World Boxing Assn. welterweight title.

He defended that championship twice, including a Las Vegas draw with Breland. He was beating Tomas Molinares in Atlantic City, N.J., one night in 1988 when Molinares hit him after the bell ending the sixth round and knocked him out.

Five days later, the fight was declared “no decision” by New Jersey boxing officials, but the WBA recognized Molinares as champion.

In 1989, Starling won the World Boxing Council welterweight crown by knocking out Lloyd Honeyghan in Las Vegas. He successfully defended it against South Korean Yungkil Chung last September.

He has never fought a true middleweight, but insists he is a natural middleweight.

“Before my last fight (against Chung), I went into training camp at 169 pounds, got down to 147 and won,” he said.

“Between fights, I’m walking around at 165. Hey, this is right for me. This is luxury, being able to fight at 160. This is the first time in my career I haven’t had to train in (rubber) sauna suits.”

“I’m like Ray Leonard, I’m a moneyweight fighter. I’ll fight where the money is. After I beat Nunn, I think I’ll fight at light-heavy. Or maybe I’ll go down and fight Julio Cesar Chavez.”

This will be the first time a welterweight champion has taken on a middleweight champion for the latter’s title since 1974, when Jose Napoles unsuccessfully challenged middleweight champion Carlos Monzon.

Starling is managed by Mort Sharnik, former Sports Illustrated boxing writer and CBS boxing consultant. He said Nunn’s management problems probably won’t be a factor in the outcome tonight.

“Once the bell rings, I don’t think Nunn will give a thought to any of that,” he said.

“Fighters tend to be very focused on fighting--Muhammad Ali had all kinds of problems outside the ring but he never let them affect his performance.”

Starling seemed to sympathize with Nunn at a news conference Thursday when he pointed to “New Wave media” representatives and asked: “Any of you guys do roadwork? Any of you get hit? Any of you have fights with your manager? It’s tough, sometimes, just to survive.”

Starling predicted a reduction in the odds on the fight.

“If you could look into Michael Nunn’s mind right now, you’d see those odds dropping,” he said.

“You look at my career, who I’ve fought, what I’ve done. Then look at who Nunn’s fought. Then you look at those odds again.”

Nunn, who lives in Agoura Hills, will earn $1.1 million tonight, Starling $675,000.

And for the winner, bigger purses await. Sharnik said Starling could receive $1 million to fight Chavez or Hector Camacho, win or lose against Nunn.

Nunn, 26, said he is no longer interested in unifying the middleweight division. He said Thursday that he might move up and challenge Virgil Hill for the WBA light-heavyweight championship.