Better fighter: Hector Camacho vs Michael Nunn

Not asking "greatness" here.

Both at their respective peaks, who was better?

My answer is that Camacho was probably awesome for longer, but apex for apex I think the Nunn who beat Tate was better than Hector ever was.

 

Actually, if you consider the string of Tate, Roldan, Kalambay, Nunn was pretty clearly the better fighter imo.

I would be down to hear a pro-Hector argument.

 

I looked at the thread title and thought Nunn was probably better, but thinking about it, I'd probably go with Camacho. Neither had the intangibles that make a fighter truly great, but I'd say Nunn's were a little more reliable. Camacho stuck around to take his beatings; never quit, but I've always seen that as him being stubborn, not brave. If that makes sense. Nunn seemed to want it more. Nunn was a much better technician. Not that Camacho was bad, but he was quite basic and could be repetitive. I think a high end technician would figure Camacho out quicker than they'd figure out Nunn.

The reason I'd pick Camacho though, is that he has a much better chin than Nunn IMO - not that Nunn's chin was glass like it's often painted - but Camacho's was made of iron. I also think Hector was more talented, athletically than Nunn. By a decent amount as well.

 

Nunn has much better wins. I think he was better and greater.

Him beating Miletich in a kickboxing fight at a 100 years old seals the deal

 

Nunn had more obvious strengths than Camacho, but also more weaknesses IMO.

I think the biggest mark against Nunn (and the strongest argument for Camacho being better) is that Nunn never seemed to find a stylistic identity - he sorta drifted back and forth between dancing around the ring and laying on the inside with opponents, seemingly without rhyme or reason - and that was quickly exposed in his post-Kalambay fights.

The Kalambay fight is probably the biggest and best win of either Nunn's or Camacho's careers, but I think it gives a deceiving impression that Nunn was a better fighter than he really was.

 

I would say Camacho and the reason is that I can pick out multiple eras where Nunn would be in deep and might not get out of it.

I can pick fewer eras- and fewer fighters in those eras- that would bother Camacho.

It's hard to get away from the impression of a half-starved, drained, and totally beaten James Toney laying Nunn out and not wonder if there was ever a 160lb era in which Nunn would have been truly safe.

Probably he's got his best shot in that Graziano-Zale-Cerdan era, that era at the end of the Monzon era, the Pre-Hagler era basically.

Whereas Camacho could find a range at a lot more periods in history and be winning big fights there.

Just how I look at it.

If you want to be shocked by Nunn blasting Kalamby, that's cool. But you got to take the Toney fight into account too, as that was just as shocking.

 

By the way Nunns jailing was a joke, At the time I didn't care.

I wonder did their shared Coke affiliation cause X to make this comparison.

 

Anyways it looks like somebody already answered this one........

 

Nunn was better. Camacho was just a survivor.

 

That makes him better, in my opinion. If Nunn was better, how come he couldn't survive for 2 more rounds vs dead, drained James Toney.

Camacho got the win vs Rosario.

DLH fight was in what? 1997? And Chavez was 1992. He survived those too.

The guy had remarkable longevity. He was still winning fights 30 years after he turned pro.

 

He arguably lost to Rosario and Mancini. And even his "clean" wins usually involved running around with his pitty-pat jab and then holding.

 

Look at Nunns performance vs Toney.

A sloppy, mad, suicidal performance.

 

A scaled down Nunn gets blasted out by Chavez, I guess that is what I am saying.

 

Not so sure about that. He sure as hell does better than Camacho did.

 

Camacho was way past his best for Chavez.

 

To George's point about talent, I'm not sure how much more athletically gifted Hector was.

Hector had faster hands, both in an absolute sense, and P4P. However, Nunn had much better defensive reflexes, and quicker/more fluid upperbody movement. Hector's only mode of defense was his legs. Nunn was more talented at standing in the pocket and making guys miss.

I wouldn't sell Nunn short in athleticism. He was the second most athletic middleweight ever behind obviously Roy.

I don't see this huge gap in athleticism at all. In handspeed, yes, clear advantage Camacho. But overall, no.

 

It's indisputable that Camacho had more longevity, but that doesn't answer "better."

We're talking who was better at their respective peaks.

 

One could argue that a scaled up Camacho gets outboxed by Kalambay.

One could also argue that having a tough go, but still clearly winning against a prime Barkley is more honorable than only slightly edging a come-backing, washed up Mancini.

 

Definitely not.

Toney was more athletically talented and Robinson shits on Nunn in that department.

 

Forgot about Walker Smith.

Toney, no, I wouldn't call him more athletic than Nunn. More skilled and tougher, yes.

 

I usually get pelters for saying so, but I honestly feel like Nunn is really overrated. Like really overrated. And most of it stems from that insane W against Kalambay, which in isolation seems to point towards him being some kind of great fighter but which, objectively, he never came closer to replicating again.

My view is that the Kalambay fight was more likely something of a freak really, rather than a true indicator of Nunn's rating.

MTF

 

Precisely, and theres authority to support that too. Kofi Jantuah doing Marco Antonio Rubio in a round. 6 Heads Lewis blowing out James Page. Neither guy added up to shit thereafter. It can happen.

 

In the comparison of slap avalanchers, Camacho had his Rosario moment and passed it, albeit via close, controversial decision. Nunn had his Rosario moment against Toney and crumbled.

 

That's kind of how I see it. And Toney was dead at the weight. It's not that Nunn lost, he looked in those later rounds like he was having some sort of a tryout.

 

On the other hand, only one of them metamorphosized into a pussy after their "Rosario" moment, and it wasn't Nunn.

 

Yeah. Nunn is still out there stuck to a canvas somewhere.

 

Before the Toney KO, Nunn fought hippity-hoppy against the likes of fat welterweight Starling in which he won a close decision against

 

Huh?

 

Fighting in a hippity-hop stink style against a undersized stinker Starling to get a close decision may be worse than Camacho converting himself into a stinky boxer because he got hit by one of the biggest punchers of all-time in Rosario

 

Nunn fought the right fight against Starling. But as a rule, he wasn't a stinky fighter. He showed that before and after the Toney fight. Camacho on the other hand, was nothing but stinky following the Rosario fight. With few exceptions, he was virtually unwatchable with his default action always to grab and stop the action in fear he might get hit.