Marlon Starling

[Seamus]

One of my favorite fighters of the 80's. How does he do in 12 rounders vs the following

1.Felix Trinidad
2.Pipino Cuevas
3.Carlos Palomino
4.Milton McCrory
5.Colin Jones

[King Carlos]

I'd favor him over McCrory, but stylistically those guys are all difficult matchups for him, methinks. An excellent defensive fighter and technician from the waist up, but his legs prevented him from ever being consistently out of range against the bigger punchers. The guys you mentioned, outside of McCrory, were all top notch left hookers and in-fighters. I suppose I might favor him over Cuevas, given Cuevas's open nature defensively to go with his wide, telegraphed punching style. He'd be eating a lot of counters when loading up. Then again, even getting your arms banged away at by Cuevas for the long haul can take its toll. Real tough call, that one.

Colin Jones had an excellent left hook, and crushing power. Call me crazy, but while I'd give the benefit of the doubt to Starling based on his defensive skills, I'd put money on Jones over someone like Quartey if the odds were right. A dark horse pick, for sure, but I stand by it.

Palomino probably had the class to shell Starling up with an economical body-head attack. Tito is a difficult call.

[Ezzard]

Great assessment by Carlos.

The other problem for Colin Jones would be that Starling had a stout chin so when Colin did get through chances are that Marlon would soak it up.

The way to beat the really quite gifted Starling was to outwork and out-hustle him.

[Seamus]

1.I think Trinidad gives up on trying to ko Starling shortly after the midway points and uses his underrated boxing skills to win a close decision. Trinidad WUD12

2.Cuevas would bring out the best in Starling, and after Pipino uses up most of his heavy artillery trying to ko Starling, he get's countered to death. Starling TKO 11

3.Palomino has the durability and stamina to outwork Starling, and so more often than not I think it would be Palomino by a very close dec. Palomino WSD 12

4. McCrory could in my opinion beat Starling on a lazy night if he sticks to a safety first, jab and move fight plan. More than likely though, a more agressive McCrory gets warn down in the same fashion as Breland. Starling TKO 12

5. Colin Jones could also pull the upset against a laid back Starling, but more than likely, Jones' aggression get's Starling into the fight. If that happens, I think Starling's defense is the deciding factor and he wins a close decision. Starling WUD12

[Ezzard]

1.I think Trinidad gives up on trying to ko Starling shortly after the midway points and uses his underrated boxing skills to win a close decision. Trinidad WUD12

2.Cuevas would bring out the best in Starling, and after Pipino uses up most of his heavy artillery trying to ko Starling, he get's countered to death. Starling TKO 11

3.Palomino has the durability and stamina to outwork Starling, and so more often than not I think it would be Palomino by a very close dec. Palomino WSD 12

4. McCrory could in my opinion beat Starling on a lazy night if he sticks to a safety first, jab and move fight plan. More than likely though, a more agressive McCrory gets warn down in the same fashion as Breland. Starling TKO 12

5. Colin Jones could also pull the upset against a laid back Starling, but more than likely, Jones' aggression get's Starling into the fight. If that happens, I think Starling's defense is the deciding factor and he wins a close decision. Starling WUD12

I like this analysis too. I think Cuevas has a chance.

[Grimm]

I'd favor Starling against all of these guys.

[Bricks]

I'd take all of those guys to beat Starling. They are a cut above the "prospects" he always boasted of beating. Simon Brown in 1985 was still learning, Acquino and Baret are not in the league of the rest.

Starling is pretty overrated in my opinion. He could be very lazy in the ring and put in inconsistent performances. His best win was against a dead burnt out honeyghan.

[alexpaterson]

I think Starling vs Cuevas could be very intresting, Cuevas is very open but does pack a hell of a shot. Starling was a good defensive fighter and I think he could outbox him and avoid his big shots for the 12 rounds winning a good close competitive fight

[Nile4000]

I favor Marlon to beat all of them except Milton.McCrory from '83 on, Starling would beat by decision, but '81 to '82, I think Milton could decision Marlon, in a real close fight of course.

[Othro]

.

[Counter-puncher]

I'd favor him over McCrory, but stylistically those guys are all difficult matchups for him, methinks. An excellent defensive fighter and technician from the waist up, but his legs prevented him from ever being consistently out of range against the bigger punchers. The guys you mentioned, outside of McCrory, were all top notch left hookers and in-fighters. I suppose I might favor him over Cuevas, given Cuevas's open nature defensively to go with his wide, telegraphed punching style. He'd be eating a lot of counters when loading up. Then again, even getting your arms banged away at by Cuevas for the long haul can take its toll. Real tough call, that one.

Colin Jones had an excellent left hook, and crushing power. Call me crazy, but while I'd give the benefit of the doubt to Starling based on his defensive skills, I'd put money on Jones over someone like Quartey if the odds were right. A dark horse pick, for sure, but I stand by it.

Palomino probably had the class to shell Starling up with an economical body-head attack. Tito is a difficult call.

great post. All i would add is while starling would frustrate Trinidad i think ultimately tito's willingness just to go the extra mile would mean he should find a way to drag it out.

[Dart340]

Fantastic thread. You all gave thoughtful and reasoned responses. I hope I don't draw heat from our friends overseas, but I think Jones is the one who draws the short straw here. Starling was so spotty in terms of workrate and aggression, I figure he had to have a definitive advantage in technical skill to offset this liability. I can see him struggling with everyone on the list but Jones in this area. Do you all see Palomino as having any stylistic parallels to Starling?

[drunkenpiper36]

One of my favorite fighters of the 80's. How does he do in 12 rounders vs the following

1.Felix Trinidad
2.Pipino Cuevas
3.Carlos Palomino
4.Milton McCrory
5.Colin Jones

He was definitely one of my favorites too. Always in great shape, fun personality and very skilled. He utilized the Peek "o" boo defense better than just about anyone I've ever seen. How would he do against those guys you listed? I think he wins some and looses some. He certainly handled Mark Breland and Loyd Honeyghan well enough when they were prime.

[Othro]

I personally would pick Starling at his best to beat all of these guys at their best.

[Flump]

I fancy him to beat Jones and Cuevas, McCrory could give him some real trouble for 8-10 rounds, depends whether Starling could close the show on him. I think Palomino edges him via decision, and I think Trinidad is smart enough to come out with a 116-112 type win.

On song and working hard Starling has the skills and the beard to give any Welterweight an interesting evening. As an aside, whatever happened to Tomas Molinares?

[Cutman Scabbers]

I fancy him to beat Jones and Cuevas, McCrory could give him some real trouble for 8-10 rounds, depends whether Starling could close the show on him. I think Palomino edges him via decision, and I think Trinidad is smart enough to come out with a 116-112 type win.

On song and working hard Starling has the skills and the beard to give any Welterweight an interesting evening. As an aside, whatever happened to Tomas Molinares?

I am wondering the same thing.

And why was the result of this fight changed?

The more I watch the knockout, the more I believe Molinares won fair and square:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbMWtTP6A2g

[Othro]

I fancy him to beat Jones and Cuevas, McCrory could give him some real trouble for 8-10 rounds, depends whether Starling could close the show on him. I think Palomino edges him via decision, and I think Trinidad is smart enough to come out with a 116-112 type win.

On song and working hard Starling has the skills and the beard to give any Welterweight an interesting evening. As an aside, whatever happened to Tomas Molinares?

I believe I read that Molinares went in to depression after that fight and was never the same.

[orbtastic]

It was changed because the punch not only landed after the bell, it was thrown after the bell.

The post-fight interview is a classic.

[Cutman Scabbers]

It was changed because the punch not only landed after the bell, it was thrown after the bell.

The post-fight interview is a classic.

Isn't the bell still ringing when he throws the punch?

And they both threw punches at the same time.

[Bricks]

Four years is a long time I'm older and wiser enough to revise my opinion.on his absolute best day moochie startling would have given any welterweight in history a battle including Ray robinson.he was highly skilled,fast,defensively a marvel,had a good punch.his slow feet were what didn't change from his best to worst nights. He took a prime Michael Nunn to a draw on my and one of the judges cards.

[Seamus]

And I think he beat Donald Curry in there first bout. I had him winning by 3 pts.

[Dart340]

For the record, I remember the word in the magazines at that time was that Molinares had a serious cocaine addiction and was hospitalized with some serious health repercussions immediately afterwards and was unfit to fight the rematch.

[Ambling Alp II]

It's not not hard to imagine Starling out boxing and beating and beating any of these guys. Getting the decision is another matter.
He just seemed to have bad luck a lot. The draw against Breland that he should have won easily, the 6 round TD loss to Bumphus was pretty iffy, and some close decision losses in other fights.

[drunkenpiper36]

It's not not hard to imagine Starling out boxing and beating and beating any of these guys. Getting the decision is another matter.
He just seemed to have bad luck a lot. The draw against Breland that he should have won easily, the 6 round TD loss to Bumphus was pretty iffy, and some close decision losses in other fights.

I don't know about all of those decisions but I think Curry, Nunn and Blocker deserved the nod in their meetings with Marlon. Of course against Nunn and Blocker he was past it, and fighting out of his weight class against one of them.