Goossen: Nunn Returning to First Trainer : Boxing: Top Rank official says brother Joe will be in fighter’s corner for June 13 bout.

Michael Nunn, who began his professional boxing career by training at a makeshift gym set on an otherwise vacant lot on a North Hollywood cul-de-sac, could soon be training under his original mentor at the new Ten Goose Boxing Club.

Nunn, who split with Ten Goose in March, 1990, after a six-year association, has signed a promotional contract with Top Rank Inc. and is expected to be reunited with trainer Joe Goossen.

Dan Goossen, vice president of Top Rank and Nunn’s first professional manager, said his brother Joe will be placed in charge of readying Nunn for a June 13 bout against Earl Butler to be televised on the USA Network.

Nunn, 31, former two-time World Boxing Federation super-middleweight champion and International Boxing Federation middleweight champion, has a record of 43-3 with 28 knockouts.

Joe Goossen, vacationing this week after months of preparing Gabriel and Rafael Ruelas for world championship bouts last Saturday in Las Vegas, said he has not formally agreed to train Nunn but added, “If all goes as planned, Nunn will be working out at the Ten Goose Gym in Van Nuys.”

Nunn could not be reached for comment.

Nunn and the Goossen brothers rose through the ranks together. After Nunn lost to Virgil Hill in a bout to determine the 1984 U.S. Olympic middleweight representative, the Goossens were the only professional boxing people to show much interest.

Dan Goossen, who served as manager for now-defunct Ten Goose Boxing, started Nunn on cards he was promoting at the Reseda Country Club. From those humble beginnings, Nunn ascended to become IBF champion less than four years later, beating Frank Tate.

Nunn’s quickness and long jab formed a tough combination for opponents to solve. Critics called him a runner, but as his knockout total suggests he also developed solid punching power.

During his association with the Goossens, which ended over a contract dispute, Nunn never lost. His first defeat came in May, 1991--14 months after the split--when he was knocked out by James Toney with 36 seconds left in a fight he was winning handily.

Ironically, Joe Goossen was working that fight as a pay-per-view television commentator. Afterward, he interviewed his former pupil, opining that Nunn had become sloppy during the fight’s later rounds.

Nunn agreed.

The Davenport, Iowa, native has lost two of his past three bouts.

Nunn lost a 12-round split decision to Steve Little in February, 1994, for the World Boxing Assn. championship.

His last title fight was for the same crown, last December in Quito, Ecuador, where he lost a unanimous decision against Frank Liles.

Since his split with the Goossens, Nunn has had several brushes with the law, including a February, 1993, arrest on alcohol and weapons charges in Orion, Ill.