52 fight challenge: Week 3 - Lloyd Honeyghan vs Donald Curry

[Horse]

Lloyd Honeyghan vs Donald Curry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GfCVvvlBX0

Watch and discuss.

[Horse]

British & Irish boxing 52 fight history knowledge challenge thread: http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=197079

[Horse]

60-54 Honeyghan before the stoppage.

I gave him every round.

[Monte Fisto]

i agree, he was in complete charge and boss'd it. Curry looked as though he was second best from the opening flurry in rd 1. im pretty sure i listened to this on the radio live.

[bigjack]

i agree, he was in complete charge and boss'd it. Curry looked as though he was second best from the opening flurry in rd 1. im pretty sure i listened to this on the radio live.

I seem to remember it on the radio too and if i'm not mistaken Colin Hart had a part in the commentary,was a long time ago though so could be wrong.

[markinmidd]

Remember watchng it and being amazed when Lloyd blasted off his stool and steamed right into him

[SNG]

I'll find them myself as I've only just noticed this challenge thing but maybe link the previous few weeks threads in the op of the new week.

[davie]

Honeyghan Curry
----10---------9 (worked harder and controlled the distance well, parrying shots well which you don't see much these days)
----10---------9 (as close to a 10-8 as you'll get, hurt him, nearly dropped him and beating a great inside fighter on the inside)
----10---------10 (honeyghan winning it until the last minute when he was hurt with a couple rights)
----10---------9 (close round, Honeyghan with more work, Curry lands a couple good shots. Honeyghan appears to be dictating tempo and distance well)
----10---------9 (another big round for Honeyghan, landed right hand at will in first 2 minutes, then chose to go inside and won that battle although both landed a few)
----10---------9 ( Honeyghans accuracy left him for the first couple minute, but still worked harder, close the show in the last 30 secs with some good punches)

Real shame that ended on a cut, particularly if it came from a clash of head. But thoroughly deserved and I suspect Curry's corner wouldn't have put up much of an argument about it getting stopped.
Good fight

[Old bones Ian]

When watching this you can see Curry just lose confidence and feel sorry for himself as the fight went on, the stoppage was a surprise , you don't get a close up of the cut. I'm still not sure who stopped the fight Ref, Cornerman or Curry himself?

[handsofstone]

i agree, he was in complete charge and boss'd it. Curry looked as though he was second best from the opening flurry in rd 1. im pretty sure i listened to this on the radio live.

I seem to remember it on the radio too and if i'm not mistaken Colin Hart had a part in the commentary,was a long time ago though so could be wrong.

A little known fact about Colin Hart is he's quite the fan of HW's of yesteryear

[Bricks]

(Face twists with scorn like tony montana).....whatta you mean by that?

[garethhop]

Shame it ends as it does.

Lloyd wins every round other than the second where you can give it either way.

Curry shows a great chin in this fight. On a day where brook and Khan are embarrassing themselves, great to see a proper welterweight fight.

[handsofstone]

1st time ive seen that,after all ive read over the years,it clearly was a great performance from Honeyghan but it wasnt the demolition i expected it to be,sure he was winning and landing the far better punches but i thought Curry folded pretty easily,i imagine it was the clash in the previous round that finished him off,i only gave Curry 1 round,the 3rd but a couple of them were quite close i thought

[Counter-puncher]

It was more the shock, at the time, of curry being hit at all. He'd looked pretty untouchable for a couple of years.

[Bodyshot3]

Back 'in the day' the papers were full of boxing with loads of journalists travelling out before the big fights and you got heaps of really good build-up....so that's how I really followed this one as a kid.

Mickey Duff gave great 'quote' and had said that Honeyghan was totally in the zone and in incredible shape.....pure Duff rhetoric seemed to be the consensus amongst the press guys who fancied Curry...but this time Duff was not over-selling and had indeed seen something special.

Fairly sure I caught it the day after...think the BBC quickly showed it having recognised that a colossal/major upset had taken place?

Honeyghan's extraordinary celebration showed how pumped he was; genuinely a man possessed. Just as Duff had said he was!

[Counter-puncher]

Yes mate the upset/underdog angle was heavily played in the aftermath of the fight.

[PredatorHayds]

I'm still amazed at how ordinary he made Curry look.
Honeyghan was fantastic. Curry didn't look special or interested in getting involved in a war.

What's the general concencus on Curry afterwards? Overhyped or bad day at the office?

[Tomasino]

I'm still amazed at how ordinary he made Curry look.
Honeyghan was fantastic. Curry didn't look special or interested in getting involved in a war.

What's the general concencus on Curry afterwards? Overhyped or bad day at the office?

Probably suffering from weight drain and drug abuse. He was superb at his peak but had a brief prime. Mike McCallum said he's the most skilled fighter he faced. Even though he did shine bright for a time he was wasted potential IMO.

[Bodyshot3]

I'm still amazed at how ordinary he made Curry look.
Honeyghan was fantastic. Curry didn't look special or interested in getting involved in a war.

What's the general concencus on Curry afterwards? Overhyped or bad day at the office?

Lot's of things went badly wrong for Don as far as I recall....both before and during the fight. Everything that could go 'tits up' duly did

A bad lack of homework when it come to Honeyghan; seemingly odd because Lloyd was undefeated and the #1 contender but at the time Brit fighters were not generally feared when they came over for world title fights in the US due to a very long, poor run of results. Honeyghan was pretty much an unknown and famously the US bookies did not offer a 'line' on the fight.

That was a bad mistake, not least because Lloyd had fought and trained in the States before and kind of knew what to expect and was seasoned. Lloyd had also fought and beaten Rosi in Italy and that must have given him huge confidence.

Curry also had plenty of pretty serious background problems that must have been a major distraction; there was a rather weird triangle involving Don, his current manager who knew he was facing the chop and the 'incoming' manager as well. Disputes about where to train, who was going to work the corner on the night and basically the sort of hugely disruptive chaos that only 80s boxing seemed to specialise in!

Weight was also a huge problem with a potentially damaging late boil down to make the limit; this has variously been ascribed to Don needing to move up to light-middle anyway but also a death in the family is said to have taken his eye of training and diet.

Then there's Lloyd himself....completely focussed, incredibly fit and with a tactical plan carefully rehearsed and specifically devised for Curry. Honeyghan and his camp wanted and had done their homework.

Wrong time, wrong opponent for Don. Certainly a superb fighter and not hyped...but the mauling from Honeyghan hastened his decline despite some good later successes .

[Counter-puncher]

The version of honeygan that turned up that night would give hellfire to any version of curry. Stylewise, with his awkward to time head movement, and feet that let him bounce away or lunge very quickly in, he was very difficult for Curry to get into a rhythm against, and I think that form of smart athletic aggression always would have been. I definitely think Curry liked working at a certain pace and tempo, he generally liked a more sedate pace but could manage pretty high punch output (starling 2) if at a consistent tempo. Honeygan had a staccato sort of rhythm that totally screwed with Curry's style.

[danamba7]

Joy to watch.

[Boxerbeetle]

60-55 to Honeyghan at the time of the stoppage, I gave him everything other than the 3rd round which I scored even.

[PredatorHayds]

Just saw the Arum special on BN.

He says Curry is the most waste of a talent he's come across.

[Harrymonk36]

Just saw the Arum special on BN.

He says Curry is the most waste of a talent he's come across.

Hard to disagree with that statement

[Harrymonk36]

This fight brings back great memories. I'm sure I sat up and listened live on AFRTS, which a friend had put me onto for live NFL coverage. It's hard to believe now just how little live Sport we had in the UK back in 1986!

I thought Honeyghan won every round, he was super focused and ready for this. And as mentioned above, he was a better fighter than most in the US gave him credit for.

Sadly Honeyghan's peak was also pretty short lived also, he loved the party lifestyle, and didn't hold back once he'd won the belt. Lloyd never managed to find that intensity again IMO after this night. He seemed like a force of nature against Curry.

The fight against Marlon Starling in 89 broke him mentally and physically, he was heartbroken after that loss.

A footnote is that I also saw his final fight, on the undercard of Benn v McLellan fight. He was taken apart by an Olympic hopeful called Adrian Dodson. Sad for a one time Undisputed Welterweight Champion.