Nunn Stops Ashley in Sixth to Retain WBA Title Again

Super-middleweight champion Michael Nunn retained his WBA title by scoring a technical knockout over Crawford Ashley of England in the sixth round of a scheduled 12-round fight Friday night.

Nunn (41-1) knocked down Ashley (18-5-1) three times during the sixth round at the Memphis Pyramid.

Ashley, the light-heavyweight champion of England, was fighting for the first time in the United States in his first shot at a world title.

Nunn, of Davenport, Iowa, dominated from the early going, landing frequent lefts to the head. He changed his strategy during the sixth round, when he started working on Ashley’s body.

Each time Ashley went down, it was from a left to his lower right side. Jacinto Hernandez, the ring doctor, said a preliminary examination of Ashley indicated he might have suffered a broken rib.

The fight was Nunn’s third title defense this year. He won the WBA championship in September of 1992 from Victor Cordoba in Las Vegas. Nunn defeated Cordoba again in January in his first defense of the title in an ordered rematch in Memphis, and he knocked out Danny Morgan in Mexico City during the first round in February.