Donald Curry

[Esquire]

What could have been. After going 400-4 as and amateur he is denied the chance at a gold medal in 1980 by the boycott. Back then a gold medal meant huge money coming right out of the gate. He would have been right on the heels of Sugar Ray and would have had the same type of hype for his pro debut. Even so, he made it to the top of the boxing world.

In his prime he was unbeatable. But his prime was oh so very short probably due to fighting 400 plus amateur fights. IMHO he could have been an all time great had he listened to his body and not stayed at welter too long.

[slappy]

All very possible. His prime was surprisingly short. He had an excellent career but something seemed to be lacking in his arsenal for the pros. Maybe you're right/ He could have just worn himself out in the amateurs.

Nevertehless his KO of McCrory was so devastating. Maybe one of the all time best.

[MEISINGER]

i have always thought that donald curry could of been
an all time great.
maybe you are right and it was too long of an amatuer career

[boxbible]

I would compare Donald Curry to a Roy Jones, Jr.

Tremendous natural assets, especially reflexes, but which allowed them to get away with being mistake-prone.

When the reflexes slowed down, they could not rely on their fundamental boxing skills, or a granite chin, to allow them a slow decline over the years.

The decline happened suddenly... as opposed to fighters like McCallum and Toney whose solid mechanics kept them competitive way past their prime, or even an Ali or Holyfield whose grit, toughness, and shock proof chins let them fight on far too long at a high level of competition.

[granberry]

I always thought brother Bruce Curry was a far better fighter than Donald.

[Seamus]

That was a very good assessment of Curry, Boxbible. Never had thought of it that way before, but it does accurately describe Curry. Once, the blinding handspeed and reflexes had faded a bit, he didn't know how to come back in a tough fight. Look at his bout with Rene Jacquot at JMW for instance. Curry was still way ahead of the Frenchman in terms of skill, but when Jacquot made it into the second half of the bout and began pressuring Curry, he looked like he didn't know what to do and ended up dropping a decision that would have seemed impossible a few years earlier.

[slappy]

I would compare Donald Curry to a Roy Jones, Jr.

Tremendous natural assets, especially reflexes, but which allowed them to get away with being mistake-prone.

When the reflexes slowed down, they could not rely on their fundamental boxing skills, or a granite chin, to allow them a slow decline over the years.

The decline happened suddenly... as opposed to fighters like McCallum and Toney whose solid mechanics kept them competitive way past their prime, or even an Ali or Holyfield whose grit, toughness, and shock proof chins let them fight on far too long at a high level of competition.

Man, RJJ defeated 4 or 5 hall of famers. Not sure Curry ever beat one. Roy dominated an entire decade but the hype surrounding Curry was huge and he flashed out within a few years.

[bennie]

I always thought brother Bruce Curry was a far better fighter than Donald.

This is a crazy statement. Bruce was limited, one-handed if immensely brave; Donald was much more 'rounded'.
Stick to the decades you know about.

[Ezzard]

I would compare Donald Curry to a Roy Jones, Jr.

Tremendous natural assets, especially reflexes, but which allowed them to get away with being mistake-prone.

When the reflexes slowed down, they could not rely on their fundamental boxing skills, or a granite chin, to allow them a slow decline over the years.

The decline happened suddenly... as opposed to fighters like McCallum and Toney whose solid mechanics kept them competitive way past their prime, or even an Ali or Holyfield whose grit, toughness, and shock proof chins let them fight on far too long at a high level of competition.

Man, RJJ defeated 4 or 5 hall of famers. Not sure Curry ever beat one. Roy dominated an entire decade but the hype surrounding Curry was huge and he flashed out within a few years.

Curry may not have lasted as long but then he took on bigger challenges and there is less suspicion around his career.

[Bricks]

I would compare Donald Curry to a Roy Jones, Jr.

Tremendous natural assets, especially reflexes, but which allowed them to get away with being mistake-prone.

When the reflexes slowed down, they could not rely on their fundamental boxing skills, or a granite chin, to allow them a slow decline over the years.

The decline happened suddenly... as opposed to fighters like McCallum and Toney whose solid mechanics kept them competitive way past their prime, or even an Ali or Holyfield whose grit, toughness, and shock proof chins let them fight on far too long at a high level of competition.

Man, RJJ defeated 4 or 5 hall of famers. Not sure Curry ever beat one. Roy dominated an entire decade but the hype surrounding Curry was huge and he flashed out within a few years.

Yes not too much more that can be added to whats already been said, except ultimately because Currys proffesional peak was so short and he was more or less shot by 25-26 it is difficult to assess him other than on so many what ifs and what could have beens?

Undeniably as much as Marvin Hagler , Donald was a victim of Sugar Ray Leonards mind games. Don was denied a superfight with SRL that had he won it would have cemented him as a HOF'er.

Ironically the parallels with a lloyd Honeyghan who defeated him are uncanny. Both were never the same after losing their title and suffering their first defeat to a bitter foe. Curry to Lloyd and Lloyd to Marlon Starling ( Im disregarding the Vaca "loss" which was more a technicality of course Lloyd knocked Vaca out with one punch in the return)

The Jacquot fight was particularly shocking. Curry seemed exhausted in the last 2 rounds.

[Counter-puncher]

seamus/boxbible:

I don't quite agree that Curry's problem was with fundamentals, or at leats i would say it is a different case to RJJ. he had much better + more honed/less indecent fundamentals than RJJ, he was actually a pretty well-schooled boxer IMO.

i think seamus is closer to the mark in highlighting Curry's tendency to have lapses in concentration- these were like short-term lapses rather than in fundamentals- so for me if this doens't sound too pedantic and my apologies if it does- mistake-prone doesn't exactly equate to having poor fundamentals, as much as mental lapses. though i suppose you could say they amount to the same thing ultimately, haha, look all I am saying is 99% of the time Curry did all the right things technically whereas RJJ almost never did them. apologies again if that seems pedantic, its just, you could put your kid in front of a Curry fight and say technically yeah, look at what this guy is doing, if you want to box he's a good example. and I'd never do that with RJJ obviously.

his real weakness IMO i think you are alluding to as well, that both physically and mentally he could seem like he would fall to pieces in tougher fights. his stamina was okay around the time of the Starling fights but seemed to take a real nosedive thereafter.

[punjabipal]

With reference to Don Curry. I wonder how many people backed the "Ragamuffin Man" Lioyd Honeyghan to beat Curry ??? And he did'nt just beat him !! Curry was never the same boxer after that fight. Lloyd was alot better boxer than he was given credit for.

[Bricks]

Well i think even Lloyds biggest fans such as me, would concede Curry was beset by managerial problems and weight issues but I still would have bet on the Curry that fought lloyd to have beaten Brown, Starling and Breland that night. lloyd was just at his absolute peak and as you say took Currys confidence away that night. no one had outboxed Curry like that. Even when he came back he was executing a masterclass against McCallum until he made a mistake and the great McCallum capitalised, there is no guarantee Mike wouldnt have done that later in the fight as he had real power and came on late, but equally Don wqas outboxing him superbly the first four rounds.

[Bricks]

dp

[fatcity69]

I always thought brother Bruce Curry was a far better fighter than Donald.

This is a crazy statement. Bruce was limited, one-handed if immensely brave; Donald was much more 'rounded'.
Stick to the decades you know about.

I dont usually agree with Granberry, but there is something in what he says about Bruce, if you watch the two Benitez fights then you can see that Bruce was a hugely talented all round boxer/puncher... but he was hugely mismanaged and put in far too deep too early and his skills started eroding almost before they had fully developed.
The Bruce Curry who beat Hayley for the title was just a shadow of the guy who fought Benitez... sad but true...