Lloyd Honeyghan: Reflecting on the 'Ragamuffin Man' Pt1

[Srebmun]

Lloyd Honeyghan must have thought that he had seen it all going into his November 27 1985 contest against Sylvester Mittee. 'The Ragamuffin Man' had compiled a perfect 25-0 slate and was the EBU welterweight champion. There had been few surprises in Lloyd's career thus far but British and Commonwealth boss Mittee managed to throw the 25-year-old a curveball ahead of their clash by presenting Lloyd with a bunch of flowers.

Mittee was riffing on the recent street scuffle between middleweights Mark Kaylor and Errol Christie. The St. Lucia-born boxer warned Honeyghan to steer clear of the thorns yet it was Mittee who was cut to shreds come fight night. Referee John Coyle stopped the bout at 1:39 of round eight on the advice of the ringside physician. Sylvester had been floored twice and despite a few bright spots was well beaten.

Lloyd had successfully annexed Mittee’s British and Commonwealth titles; he was now on the brink of breaking new ground as a pro. Flora and fauna from Sylvester and now the possibility of world title garlands as news filtered through that both Don Curry and Milton McCrory were struggling to boil down to the 147lb weight limit for their December 6 unification fight. Whispers suggested that should both men would miss the weight the fight itself would still take place minus the WBC, WBA and IBF titles.

Curry's manager, Dave Gorman, had previously insisted that his man was making the trip down to welterweight for the final time, leaving the winner of Honeyghan-Mittee free to fight for the vacant belts. Both men eventually made weight and Curry prevailed via a one-sided, two-round icing of his world title rival. However, the lure of defending the unified titles proved too much for the 'Lone City Cobra'.

Don was riding high in the P4P rankings. Many US critics had him ahead of Marvin Hagler, no small feat when you consider that Marvin had the scalps of Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns on his slate.

Honeyghan was rated highly in Europe yet his single-minded approach had turned a few people off him. Especially when he did the unthinkable and dispensed with the services of trainer Terry Lawless, claiming that, “Everywhere I went with Terry I got the feeling I was only there because Frank [Bruno] was. I wanted individual attention because I knew I would be a champion”, when announcing the split.

Lawless was hugely respected. Honeyghan was perceived as headstrong, he did not care; the undefeated fighter employed Bobby Neill, a former British featherweight titlist, as his coach and moved on.

The rest is history, Lloyd went over to Atlantic City in September 1986 and ripped the WBC, WBA and IBF titles from the undefeated pound-for-pound kingpin at a time when British fighters tended to fail on foreign soil.

Lloyd joined Hagler as the sport's sole undisputed ruler after forcing Curry to withdraw after six rounds due to a cut to his left eye – the wound required twenty stitches. Lloyd gave his opponent a broken nose to boot, doing enough damage to prompt the ringside doctors, Paul Williams and Frank Doggett, to pull Curry from the firing line. Hey presto, Lloyd was now an international name and, in his mind, worthy of a spot in the record books.

“I just walked along the boardwalk and someone recognised me,” said Lloyd (The Guardian, September 29 1986). “They said they were glad I'd beaten Curry because he was arrogant. I called my mum and dad in England and they said the papers there didn't give me a chance either, but they believed in me. The papers'll have to eat their words. I bet Donald Curry discovers now who his real friends are. But I'm not going to let it change me. I'll keep the friends I've always had.”

Honeyghan, never shy when assessing his own ability, had the world at his feet yet he had been quick to remind the assembled press that he was also the ruler of Britain, Europe and the Commonwealth. He said, “That makes six championships in all. That should put me in the Guinness Book of Records.”

Despite the nature of the win over Curry there was a certain amount of scepticism in the US. Curry had battled the scales in previous title contests, famously resorting to chewing gum to generate saliva when drying down to 147 for a WBA and IBF defence against Colin Jones in January 1985.

Indeed, the champion was rumoured to have dropped 21lbs in three weeks ahead of the fight with Honeyghan, with 10lbs coming off during fight week. When winning contests, Curry's battle with the scales had added to his mystique, defeat turned everything on its head; the revisionists insisted that Don had been an accident waiting to happen. That it happened against an unknown and bolshie Brit was too much to bear.

Lloyd, though, was now allegedly $170,000 richer, a figure he later denied, and could add the world title straps to his colourful wardrobe. He had also emulated his idol, Muhammad Ali.

“When I was 12-years-old, I saw Muhammad Ali on television, and I said 'I want to be like that man, champion of the world'. I watched the tapes (of Curry) twice and gave them to my trainer. I've seen enough, I said. He fought the same way. He came straight ahead, and he held his hands up high. When I got inside, I turned on him and there was nothing he could do about it,” insisted Lloyd when speaking to the stunned media.

“I am a quick learner. All the praise people have been giving to Curry, they can now give to me. All the talk coming into this fight was about how good he was. Now it's my turn to do the talking. I wanted to come over here and get the respect of the American people. I fought a couple times in America before and looked real lousy. I guess that's one reason they made the fight. Who would take me seriously?” (The Times, 29 September 1986)

Lloyd's logic was easy to follow; he had beaten The Man so he was now The Man. American fight figures disagreed. “Honeyghan is a good fighter but it is hard to measure how good when he was fighting the ghost of Don Curry,” blasted Curry's business manager, Akhbar Muhammad (The Times, 1986).

Top Rank's publicity director, Irving Rudd, was stunned, telling the same publication that, “We knew very little about Honeyghan before the fight and everyone tended to write him off though you can never write off a Mickey Duff fighter. But still it has all been so sudden and stunning that it has thrown all future matches into a cocked hat. We shall put up a couple of suggestions but it is up to Duff to approve.”

Lloyd had kept his side of the bargain, he had been true to his pre-fight claim that he would “Punch his (Curry's) face in and take his title.” Now came the hard part, convincing the USA that it was not a fluke, a quest that would bring success, controversy and heartache for Britain's biggest upset king since Randy Turpin. Certainly, Lloyd was insightful when declaring that his victory would inspire a future generation of British fighters and fans.

“All this stuff is good because young kids look up to me. I don't drink, smoke or take drugs. The occasional glass of wine doesn't hurt anyone. Kids these days need heroes and there aren't many around. They look up to me because I beat a legend. I'm a legend, the undisputed champion of the world,” (The Times, 1986).

There were dissenting voices. It was hard to knock Honeyghan's in-ring form so his colourful personal life was often cited as a worry, the fighter was popular with women, fair enough when he was a contender, not quite as acceptable when you become a household name. The tabloids painted Lloyd as a wild womaniser, a charge that would dog Lloyd throughout his championship career and which led the boxer to successfully hit The Sun with a libel writ in 1988 after they ran an article entitled Big Headed Honeyghan which read as a character assassination.

When hit with the accusations of lasciviousness in the wake of his win over Curry, Lloyd said, “Well, that's the Press for you. What can I do if they want to print things like that? Sure, I like women, just like everybody else. I love women. There's no two ways about it. When I was younger, yeah, sure I used to make love, go training, make love, fight and then make love when I'd finished. But now I'm champion of the world, I can't do that. I've got to set an example to young kids. But I'm not reformed. I'm the same Lloyd Honeyghan. I'm not changing for anyone, but I'm world champion now,” (The Times, 1986).

There was always a truthfulness to Honeyghan, his swagger stretched way back to his amateur days, when he was billed as 'The Master of Disaster' and used to come to the ring in a swanky, personalised robe. Lloyd was clearly enjoying his time in the sunlight, if not the tabloids, honest to a fault, perhaps, but a million miles away from the robotic banality of many major sports stars.

There was even time for a spot of political protest. Honeyghan was ordered to defend his WBA belt against Harold Volbrecht of South Africa. Apartheid was all over the headlines; Lloyd made it clear that he could not countenance the thought of defending against a white South African.

“I would not fight Volbrecht for a million pounds – either here or in South Africa. How could I look myself in the mirror each morning or face my own people on the streets if I agreed?” declared Lloyd, although throwing the WBA belt into a bin would require a bit of PR repair work from manager Micky Duff further down the line (The Sunday Times, December 23 1986).

Duff did have immediate plans for his latest champion. American idol Mark Breland was 16-0. Breland picked up the vacant WBA belt by defeating Volbrecht in Atlantic City on February 6 1987. His early paid career had failed to live up to his glittering 110-1 amateur slate but the Brooklyn-raised boxer was highly rated in the USA. First, though, there was the small matter of Honeyghan's maiden defence against Johnny Bumphus at Wembley's Grand Hall, London on February 22.

A former WBA light-welterweight title-holder, Bumphus was an interesting character, the Nashville-based southpaw brought over an exotic entourage member for his first and last welterweight title tilt. Dominic Giacobbe may sound like a character from The Sopranos yet the New Jersey fight figure was not your regular camp member, he was Bumphus's secret weapon, an expert in meditation who would focus the challenger's mind and ensure that Lloyd was hit with a dose of instant Karma come fight night.

“We meditate. It is a Zen type of meditation, 2,000 years old. It gives Johnny mental and physical flexibility when the going gets tough,” said Giacobbe when asked about his crucial role (The Times, February 17 1987).

Bumphus had brought the guru into the fold after losing his WBA belt to Gene Hatcher, a future Honeyghan victim, in 1984. Dominic introduced Bumphus to Tang Soo Do; Johnny introduced the concept to his manager Lou Duva and before you know it five of the 1984 Olympic starlets – Meldrick Taylor, Evander Holyfield, Tyrell Biggs, Mark Breland and Pernell Whittaker – were part of the Tang Soo Do crew.

“I knew Dominic could help me when I saw the kind of things he could do like put motorcycle spokes into his arm and hang cans of water on them,” explained the challenger. It certainly made for a strange pre-fight warm-up routine. “We get into the lotus position and focus on a candle and the fire power enters our bodies through the eyes. Concentration gives you internal power - ki - something I learned in the Orient,” revealed Giacobbe.

A deputy sheriff in his hometown of Nashville, Bumphus listed the Smith & Wesson as his favourite firearm only to be undone by a machine gun-like start from Honeyghan, who knocked his man down in the first round before racing out as soon as the bell went for round two and scoring another knockdown at 0.72 of the session. A move that took everyone by surprise – including referee Sam Williams.

Williams was engaged in a tussle with the BBC's cameraman and barely had time to register the fact that Lloyd had raced across the ring and hit his foe. Lloyd’s rush was within the rules but was deemed not in keeping with the spirit of the sport.

“I felt this tugging at my trouser leg,” recalled a bemused Williams (All the Honeyghan-Bumphus quotes are taken from The Times, March 1 1987). “It was a gentleman from the BBC. He wanted me to move over to the other neutral corner. I was in the way of his camera, I was trying to explain to him that I didn't think this request was quite appropriate when suddenly out of the corner of my eye, I saw Honeyghan headed across the ring.”

Or as Lloyd famously put it, “The bell went 'ding' and I went 'dong'.” Sam’s take was far more sober. “The offending blow didn't even land. It didn't hurt Bumphus. Honeyghan already had destroyed him,” argued the third man, who called a 'no knockdown'.

Bumphus's team were upset. They made two things clear. Firstly, they were going to launch an appeal in order to obtain justice. Secondly, Duva insisted that his man would never again step into the ring with Honeyghan. “We only want to see justice done. We're not going back into the ring against that guy. In fact, Johnny may never fight again,” raged Lou, he was right, Bumphus called it a day

Still, Lloyd's actions forced the BBBoC to implement the ten-second warning rule. Thereby giving the ref, the fighters and the cameramen an opportunity to brace themselves ahead of the next session.

Not one to be shy with his opinions, Mills Lane – experienced referee, sheriff and Robert Duvall-alike – lumped all the blame on Williams, a fellow officer of the law (Williams worked the streets of Detroit as a policeman). “It should never have happened. The referee lost control of the fight and that's all there is to it,” blasted Lane.

IBF president Bob Lee drew a line under the latest 'Ragamuffin' controversy. “I gave him [Honeyghan] a little whisper after the fight. I told him that for his own good, and others, he had better not do it again,” sighed Lee when asked for the IBF's official ruling on the incident.

It was an eventful first defence, even by Lloyd's standards; the champion's rapid response went down in history as one of boxing's maddest moments whilst the fight itself joined the annals of one-sided beat-downs. Bumphus had been well and truly caught cold; perhaps he was still in a meditative state. It seemed that the British upstart was on his way to showing the entire world that he deserved his place on the P4P list.

A further step towards universal acceptance came during a hard-fought points win over undefeated American challenger Maurice Blocker at London's Royal Albert Hall on the 18th of May 1987. Lloyd moved to the south of France ahead of the fight only to relocate as the date approached. Honeyghan had ran out of sparring partners – American imports Tony Montgomery and Mike Tynley left Cannes six days early – so the champion headed back to his London stomping ground in search of fresh meat.

“I hired Montgomery to spar not less than three rounds and not more than six, but after a day he would not do any more than two. Tynley decided he was not getting enough money, asked for more, but I told him to catch the next plane home. It could have become serious if we had stayed in Cannes for another five or six days,” marvelled Duff when explaining the decision (The Times, April 2 1987).

Lloyd was soon back on form, drafting in Kirkland Laing and James Cook for sessions. Laing had initially planned to join the champion over in France only to misplace his passport ahead of the trip, par for the course for Laing, himself a mercurial character. Outside the ropes, Lloyd was proving a model champion, literally – Duff netted his charge a six-figure deal with FU jeans ahead of the WBC and IBF title defence.

Honeyghan, however, still had a few more surprises up his sleeve; the 26-year-old subjected the press to the equivalent of his second stanza mugging of Bumphus during a short, 45-seconds, press conference.

Lloyd told the massed media that he was going to “surprise everyone”; he then outlined his future plans. “I'm cheesed off with boxing, and if my next fight is not against Sugar Ray Leonard or Duane Thomas, I am retiring,” he announced before exiting stage left (The Times, April 10 1987).

The astonished writers broke the news to Bobby Neill, “He told me something about it last night, but I did not take it seriously,” shrugged the bemused trainer. As build-ups go, it was unusual and resulted in a mixed performance on the night as Lloyd went the twelve-round distance for the first in his career.

Worryingly, the Jamaican-born boxer faded as the fight progressed. Bob Miles, trainer of Bumphus, believed that cracks were starting to appear. “I would never have believed that a man with Honeyghan's frame would start to fade from body shots as early as the sixth round. In the last round, why was Honeyghan, the pressure fighter, running? Did you see the lumps on Honeyghan's face?” asked Miles (The Times, April 20 1987).

Lloyd did what any Brit would do – he blamed France. He said, “My strategy was right. The only trouble was my fitness. Working in the South of France was a good idea that went wrong. I only managed to spar four times.”

Duff had seen enough, insisting that they would prepare for fights in the USA in future. Lloyd was now 30-0, the undisputed force at welterweight and on a 'Ray Leonard and retire' mission, his next outing would see him go from the circus of France to a bullring in Spain and, again, the 'Ragamuffin Man' made it a night to remember.

The next part sees Honeyghan lose his title, regain a portion of it and finally net that elusive Breland showdown.

Sorry for the massive C&P.

[bennie]

Terry, I saw Lloyd get taken the full 12 rounds by Cliff Gilpin in 1983.

[Srebmun]

No worries. Those who like it can do me a massive favour by nipping to the sticky and clicking through to the link to let the Yanks know that these articles attract hits.

After sourcing all the materials I was left with very little time to write the thing so I apologise for the clunkiness. Part II has been sourced and I will have more time for that one. An in-depth interview with Wayne Alexander is on tape and will be up ASAP. I would be extremely grateful if someone could put me in touch with Richard 'The Secret' Williams

Doh! sorry mate, never realised

Will, rightly so, visit via the correct link in the sticky also.

I C&P'd it cos I know some people don't bother following links.

I seen him at the Prizefighter Heavyweight night in York Hall - he was all dressed up like a Pimp

[J]

Terry, I saw Lloyd get taken the full 12 rounds by Cliff Gilpin in 1983.

twice? that aside nice article though Tel! I remember the curry fight being shown on itv tea time ..id have been 13 and was playing cricket..to my shame i hit my wicket to get in and watch the boxing..ottery st mary i think was the place..memories!

[bennie]

It's loaded with interesting information, Terry. I wonder how Honeyghan and Laing got on in sparring.

[Captain Hook]

Nice work as always Terry.....used to love Lloyd, really caught the imagination when I was a kid.

[J]

well from my reaction you can tell it evoked some childhood memories so

[J]

yes getting rugby and boxing mixed up is ok, cricket and boxing doesnt quite work mate hahaha

[Old bones Ian]

i think that his win over Maurice Blocker is overlooked , everyone mentions the Bumphus and Hatcher wins. But these guys were past their best when facing Honetghan , Blocker was in top form when he came over and Honeyghan had to give it his all to get past him.

[orbtastic]

Nice article, read it earlier this week elsewhere. Looking forward to part 2.

[Ash-Weston]

Terry, I saw Lloyd get taken the full 12 rounds by Cliff Gilpin in 1983.

twice? that aside nice article though Tel! I remember the curry fight being shown on itv tea time ..id have been 13 and was playing cricket..to my shame i hit my wicket to get in and watch the boxing..ottery st mary i think was the place..memories!

Ottery st mary in Devon???? if so i was working there the other day lol

[deadpan]

What a talent.

If he was fighting today he would muller Khan, Brook and any other Brit prospect in his way.

If he was about in the internet era he'd have been eulogised by everyone.

And not got paid for overtime.

[bennie]

Love it, Terry!
Sadly, like a lot of our world champions (McGuigan, Stracey...), Honeyghan peaked the night he won the world title, in my opinion. After Don Curry, there was a sense of the load-up merchant about Lloyd, only compounded by his ferocious training habits which meant he left his best form in the gym.
Honeyghan completely forgot his boxing as world champion and walked into the likes of Blocker (in which he looked terrible) and Bumphus and Hatcher and Vaca (in the rematch), whaling away and getting away with it, up to the Starling boxing lesson. He was 'gone' by the time he fought Breland.
"There's nothing in the contract that says we have to like each other," said Duff, memorably, of Honeyghan's rants.

[Bricks]

i bought some late 80's ko boxing magazines on ebay recently. i read one last night dated/covering around about march 1987
where american media and boxing writers were asked to name the top 10 boxers p4p..........so this was just after lloyd had demolished curry and just beaten bumphus while curry had had the montgomery comeback at 154lbs........the shocking thing is how pretty much universally the americans dismiss honeyghans victory over curry as a freak result and continue almost to a man to rate curry far higher p4p than honeyghan. ray mancini rated curry no 2,tim ryan no 3,jack fiske no 2, mike marley 4 and some of them have honeyghan down at 10 pthers not rated at all and this is after lloyd had shown some fantastic boxing skill and speed as well as his power in pretty much comprehensively beating curry down in 6..............seemed pretty myopic of the americans since lloyd also was undefeated and pretty slick up to and including his title win.

[MightyWarrior]

i bought some late 80's ko boxing magazines on ebay recently. i read one last night dated/covering around about march 1987
where american media and boxing writers were asked to name the top 10 boxers p4p..........so this was just after lloyd had demolished curry and just beaten bumphus while curry had had the montgomery comeback at 154lbs........the shocking thing is how pretty much universally the americans dismiss honeyghans victory over curry as a freak result and continue almost to a man to rate curry far higher p4p than honeyghan. ray mancini rated curry no 2,tim ryan no 3,jack fiske no 2, mike marley 4 and some of them have honeyghan down at 10 pthers not rated at all and this is after lloyd had shown some fantastic boxing skill and speed as well as his power in pretty much comprehensively beating curry down in 6..............seemed pretty myopic of the americans since lloyd also was undefeated and pretty slick up to and including his title win.

These are the same people who had Curry over Hagler even though Marvin had a better resume overall at this point. Curry did things with such precision, it made it easier for people to see his work and you had to thyink that bit less when ranking him, hence the high US ranking for many years.

Yes, at the time it was seen as a similar result to Ali beating Liston first time around - and also seen in the same light as the Clay/Liston result was seen at the time: a freakish upset over ( arguably ) the sport's P4P 1. ( throw Tyson/Douglas in there too )
A controversial ending ( injury ? Weight drained ? Didn't train ? ) that would surely be put right with a rematch. Curry would have been favorite in a rematch, as was Liston - but history shows us those two results were no flukes.

I was a massive Honeyghan fan ( my mate, who doesn't follow boxing, actually put a bet on Lloyd to beat Curry, and of course I informed him that he was completely insane ) but I never though he'd be able to beat Starling - who's brilliant defence was always gonna be a huge problem for the wild punching Honeyghan.

[J]

Terry, I saw Lloyd get taken the full 12 rounds by Cliff Gilpin in 1983.

twice? that aside nice article though Tel! I remember the curry fight being shown on itv tea time ..id have been 13 and was playing cricket..to my shame i hit my wicket to get in and watch the boxing..ottery st mary i think was the place..memories!

Ottery st mary in Devon???? if so i was working there the other day lol

yes mate lived and played cricket in exmouth...ottery was al ocal club the 2nds played against nice place..or it was very pretty sleepy devon town.

[orbtastic]

Another good article, that. Will we be seeing any more trips down memory lane?

Honeyghan was at the York Hall on Saturday (as he is quite often) and in full pimp regalia. I just had to go bump knuckles with him.

[orbtastic]

I can't stand BS (as a website), but would be interested in reading the other articles fella.

I'd love to read a McCallum one, I said elsewhere in another thread. He's long overdue a retrospective. I'll have a think about British names - Off the top of my head, interesting characters/careers I would love to read a well written retrospective on - Crawford Ashley, Henry Wharton, Paul "Scrap Iron" Ryan, Ross Hale, the CAT etc.

[Ezzard]

Great stuff Terry, big thanks!

Agree with comments on the opponents. Blocker was a top contender whereas Hatcher and Bumphus had seen better days at 140. Those wins and the manner of them did flatter to a large degree. The win over Blocker might not have looked pretty but it was a very good victory.

Honeyghan buoyed by remarks by Hagler and Tyson seemed to fall in love with his punching power. This led to a suicidal strategy against Starling. I remember when Molinares KO’d Starling…Lloyd was doing some commentary/analysis work on TV and was saying how Starling looked “shot”. He didn’t look that way to me and it seemed as if Honeyghan wasn’t taking the threat seriously enough.

The fight with Breland (who Lloyd would have beaten on his day) and the crowd’s reaction is one of my worst memories from following boxing.

Mittee was a top boxer who many, including me, thought would best Honeyghan. Lots of domestic rivalries back then on BBC and ITV. We’d walk to school discussing Honmeyghan-Mittee-Laing; McGuigan-Cowdell; Bruno-Bugner; Sibson-Kaylor-Christie-Graham; Pyatt-Rodney; McKenzie-McAuley... Used to watch Saturday afternoon boxing with my Nan… Would lvoe to go back in iem for one of those saturday afternoon shows...Just for a coupe of hours...

Curry looked great but the US media were in love with him back then. They wanted someone to replace Sugar Ray and they didn’t want it to be Marvin. Roberto was fat. Tommy would not be forgiven for losing to Marvin. There are many now on forums who won’t accept Honeyghan’s victory.

I was playing football with mates over the park during that time in your life when you’re too old to be at home but too young to get served in pubs. A mate came over and said he knew the result from the radio. We all said don’t tell us, don’t tell us… He whispered to one mate who wasn’t going to able to watch. Mate’s jaw dropped “No f**king way!” he shouted… We all knew then…

Anyway, big thanks for the article and the thread. Made my day.

[orbtastic]

re: BS, I'm sure the owner isn't too interested, but my main gripes are:

it's too much like the current scene on there - far too much you brits are fags, so and so suck your mum's plums etc
the layout is poor and garish, it's not remotely work friendly. second only to perhaps livefight in that respect
all the rep and trophy system is just...........pointless
the debate is largely poor due to point 1

maybe there's an equivalent of the boxrec british & irish scene but I must admit I've never spent long enough on there to try finding it due to the above points.

Whenever I google something boxring related the hits generally return a BS article first and you just have to see the comments that follow it, not quite on the level of general retardation of an ESB article but not far off.

[Ezzard]

Great stuff Terry, big thanks!

Agree with comments on the opponents. Blocker was a top contender whereas Hatcher and Bumphus had seen better days at 140. Those wins and the manner of them did flatter to a large degree. The win over Blocker might not have looked pretty but it was a very good victory.

Honeyghan buoyed by remarks by Hagler and Tyson seemed to fall in love with his punching power. This led to a suicidal strategy against Starling. I remember when Molinares KO’d Starling…Lloyd was doing some commentary/analysis work on TV and was saying how Starling looked “shot”. He didn’t look that way to me and it seemed as if Honeyghan wasn’t taking the threat seriously enough.

The fight with Breland (who Lloyd would have beaten on his day) and the crowd’s reaction is one of my worst memories from following boxing.

Mittee was a top boxer who many, including me, thought would best Honeyghan. Lots of domestic rivalries back then on BBC and ITV. We’d walk to school discussing Honmeyghan-Mittee-Laing; McGuigan-Cowdell; Bruno-Bugner; Sibson-Kaylor-Christie-Graham; Pyatt-Rodney; McKenzie-McAuley... Used to watch Saturday afternoon boxing with my Nan… Would lvoe to go back in iem for one of those saturday afternoon shows...Just for a coupe of hours...

Curry looked great but the US media were in love with him back then. They wanted someone to replace Sugar Ray and they didn’t want it to be Marvin. Roberto was fat. Tommy would not be forgiven for losing to Marvin. There are many now on forums who won’t accept Honeyghan’s victory.

I was playing football with mates over the park during that time in your life when you’re too old to be at home but too young to get served in pubs. A mate came over and said he knew the result from the radio. We all said don’t tell us, don’t tell us… He whispered to one mate who wasn’t going to able to watch. Mate’s jaw dropped “No f**king way!” he shouted… We all knew then…

Anyway, big thanks for the article and the thread. Made my day.

Cheers, Ez, pretty big compliment as we know that you know your onions, as do the other posters on the thread. I was very young at the time of the Curry win so it barely registered. I got into reading about boxing when I was 7ish, Ali and Cooper stuff, and could only start following the sport properly when I was about ten as I got a paper round and could finally afford to get BN each week (my mum would only pay for my weekly Batman comics!). This gave me the money to buy VHS tapes from the back of Boxing Monthly and I used to order in such a way that I’d get tapes every month and top them up with ITV and trips into town for those boxing compilation tapes.

Best boxing education I received was via the Fights Of The Century tapes narrated by Jim Jacobs, covering the sport division by division and in terms of titles. I can still recall the frustration of watching boxing during the first few months as I couldn’t quite see what was going on and it all looked so messy and fast. I got the eye for it pretty quickly and was well versed by the time I got into my early teens. Thank Christ for dads, granddads and mail order tapes. I’d seen boxing matches when very young but there is a difference between seeing and understanding.

I’d quite like to do an in-depth look at a few fighters but we live in a world in which the demand is for news briefs. Knocking out a second hand Khan quote with your own bits thrown in gets you far more hits than doing these bad boys.

Well Terry, you, and most of the posters on the Brit & Irish Scene, know your onions sliced, diced and pickled.

A Barry McGuigan fight in the 1980s was the biggest sporting event on the calendar. Everyone in those days seemed to have an opinion on boxing. You couldn't buy a bag of chips without arguing with the bloke serving you...

Mind you, I live in Surrey now so perhaps it's still the same elswhere.

I turn on the TV and see golf or some other corporate "nice-to-play-but-cr@p-to-watch" sport getting mianstream attention and I want to weep. Carl Froch would have been the proverbial housewives' favourite 25 years ago...

Read the Laing biography and he was hoping to get a showdown with Honeyghan when both were going into the November of their careers.

What always stood out with Lloyd (at his best) was that for such an aggressive fighter he varied his angle of attack so much that he was hard to catch cleanly.

[Ezzard]

Think we'd all love a Kirkland article.

Nice to hear you're a part of the peace process with the friends and family. At least they've heard of Archie.

Still remember the bloke who ran the local newsagents (Ray Barlow: used to play for West Brom back in the day) shaking his head as we were all convinced Bruno would be world champion after watching his win over Jumbo Cummings.

Each generation has it's own shortcomings.

[bennie]

I hate to point out a few little oversights, Terry, because you have a real talent for writing and I know you were only a kiddie in the 1980s; however, you call Jack "Kid" Berg, Ted "Kid" Berg", and also state that Honeyghan in 1988 was bidding to regain a world title for the first time since Berg, when the likes of Charlie Magri, Kenny Buchanan and Randolph Turpin had all attempted to regain a world title, among one or two others.
This is merey throwaway stuff after two great articles on Honeyghan.

[Bricks]

Great stuff Terry, big thanks!

Agree with comments on the opponents. Blocker was a top contender whereas Hatcher and Bumphus had seen better days at 140. Those wins and the manner of them did flatter to a large degree. The win over Blocker might not have looked pretty but it was a very good victory.

Honeyghan buoyed by remarks by Hagler and Tyson seemed to fall in love with his punching power. This led to a suicidal strategy against Starling. I remember when Molinares KO’d Starling…Lloyd was doing some commentary/analysis work on TV and was saying how Starling looked “shot”. He didn’t look that way to me and it seemed as if Honeyghan wasn’t taking the threat seriously enough.

The fight with Breland (who Lloyd would have beaten on his day) and the crowd’s reaction is one of my worst memories from following boxing.


Mittee was a top boxer who many, including me, thought would best Honeyghan. Lots of domestic rivalries back then on BBC and ITV. We’d walk to school discussing Honmeyghan-Mittee-Laing; McGuigan-Cowdell; Bruno-Bugner; Sibson-Kaylor-Christie-Graham; Pyatt-Rodney; McKenzie-McAuley... Used to watch Saturday afternoon boxing with my Nan… Would lvoe to go back in iem for one of those saturday afternoon shows...Just for a coupe of hours...

Curry looked great but the US media were in love with him back then. They wanted someone to replace Sugar Ray and they didn’t want it to be Marvin. Roberto was fat. Tommy would not be forgiven for losing to Marvin. There are many now on forums who won’t accept Honeyghan’s victory.

I was playing football with mates over the park during that time in your life when you’re too old to be at home but too young to get served in pubs. A mate came over and said he knew the result from the radio. We all said don’t tell us, don’t tell us… He whispered to one mate who wasn’t going to able to watch. Mate’s jaw dropped “No f**king way!” he shouted… We all knew then…

Anyway, big thanks for the article and the thread. Made my day.

yes ezzard, the ko magazine in question in fact all of them of that time (late 85- early 87) are full of talk of a curry v hagler superfight... Curry was undoubtedly a fantastic fighter but hagler cmon he was a formidable fighter from another age and time (philly mid 70s) and a total throwback......while Curry was supposed to be a new sugar ray leonard albeit a totally different fighter.and if curry wasnt the new srl in the same issue michael olajide was being lined up as the new srl. The interview olajide does in the magazine is full of talk of how he would beat hagler using the same template srl did a month or so later.

As a 10 year old honeyghan caught my imagination like no other fighter. I was taking up boxing and my dad and me watched all his fights.

Great thread and article by the ts and all the posters here who genuinelly shed new light on a very enigmatic and somewhat mysterious figure in honeyghan despite his ubiquitousness in pimp regalia at fight shows!

[bennie]

I hate to point out a few little oversights, Terry, because you have a real talent for writing and I know you were only a kiddie in the 1980s; however, you call Jack "Kid" Berg, Ted "Kid" Berg", and also state that Honeyghan in 1988 was bidding to regain a world title for the first time since Berg, when the likes of Charlie Magri, Kenny Buchanan and Randolph Turpin had all attempted to regain a world title, among one or two others.
This is merey throwaway stuff after two great articles on Honeyghan.

My bad on Ted, keep doing that one time and again. Think he should have been a Jack! Was going to throw in mention of Randy as I've looked over his career often, I stuck when I should have twisted and the whole para got messed up in the rush to edit and get onto the news bits I had to get in by this weekend. I'll be up on my toes next time out, and cheers for the comments!

Yeah, I've been there. You alter a line, ever so slightly, and the whole bloody paragraph goes belly up.