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| Date | March 25, 1989 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Las Vegas Hilton, Paradise, Nevada, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | IBF and The Ring middleweight titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nunn wins via 1st-round KO | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Michael Nunn vs. Sumbu Kalambay , billed as Premier Battle, was a professional boxing match contested on March 25, 1989, for the IBF middleweight title. [3] The fight won The Ring magazine's inaugural knockout of the year award for 1989. [4]
In January 1989, promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank announced his intentions to create a middleweight unification series in order to crown an undisputed middleweight champion. [5] Arum's initial plans called for Michael Nunn, the IBF middleweight middleweight champion, to face WBA middleweight champion Sumbu Kalambay in a unification bout that March and then move on to face the winner of the Iran Barkley–Roberto Durán fight that would take place one month before the Nunn–Kalambay fight for Barkley's WBC middleweight champion. [6] These plans were derailed almost immediately when the WBA refused to sanction the Nunn–Kalambay fight, instead mandating that Kalambay face their number-one ranked contender Herol Graham, though Kalambay decided to go through with facing Nunn leading to the WBA to strip him of their title. [7] Angered by the WBA's decision, Arum criticized the organization, stating that the WBA was "extorting sanctioning fees" and acting "unlawfully" by stripping Kalambay. [8] At the insistence of Arum, Kalambay was still introduced as the WBA middleweight champion by announcer Michael Buffer during the pre-fight introductions. Kalambay, not largely known in the United States and seven years older than Nunn, was installed as a 4–1 underdog by oddsmakers. [9]
The fight would last just over one minute. The two fighters started the fight trying to establish their jabs, though the taller Nunn was having much more success than Kalambay. Than with seventy seconds having gone by, Kalambay threw a jab that missed Nunn, who countered with a big left hand that caught Kalambay flush and sent him down on his back. Kalambay hardly made an attempt to get back up as he was counted out by the referee, giving Nunn the knockout victory after only 1:28 of action. [10]
Confirmed bouts: [11]
| Weight Class | Weight | vs. | Method | Round | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middleweight | 160 lbs. | Michael Nunn (c) | def | Sumbu Kalambay | KO | 1/12 | Note 1 |
| Cruiserweight | 190 lbs. | Yawe Davis | def | Randy Leaks | UD | 6/6 | |
| Middleweight | 160 lbs. | Dan Sherry | def. | Scott Sharp | UD | 6/6 | |
| Cruiserweight | 190 lbs. | Al Cole | def. | Lorenzo Thomas | TKO | 3/4 | |
| Super Lightweight | 140 lbs. | Charles Murray | def | Benjamin Quintero | TKO | 2/4 | |
| Super Bantamweight | 122 lbs. | Kennedy McKinney | def. | Charles Hawkins | TKO | 1/4 | |
| Light Heavyweight | 175 lbs. | Andrew Maynard | def. | Rodney Brown | TKO | 2/4 | |
| Super Welterweight | 154 lbs. | Robert Wangila | def. | Louis Saucedo | UD | 4/4 |
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 United States | HBO |
 Thailand | Channel 7 |
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