Is Donald Curry underated?

[TheSouthpaw]

[quote=mr. magoo;14215860]An outstanding welterweight talent, who defeated good quality opposition very early on. Unified a title and beat most of the best men around. Problem is, he was one of these guys who burned very bright for a very short period of time, and history is

I agree...he did beat most of the best around but his career was short lived, i think gettin KO'd by McCallum did something to him..Its a brutal Ko

[TheSouthpaw]

So How would Curry have done against Leonard.( In Donalds Prime )..?

[PhillyPhan69]

I don't think he is vastly over or under rated by any signifcant portion of the boxing community.....For the most part he was a very smooth, skilled technician...he was very good/ to border line great, but for me does n0ot enter that hallowed community...

In his prime @ WW There are only a handful who I think would outclass him, for nearly every other Welter he would be a tough out.

[MAG1965]

Originally Posted by anj

I don't feel he is underrated. He was performing better than Mike McCallum until he got ko'd, however I just cant call him a 'great' fighter as he lost to all of the great fighters and the wins he did have were not against 'great' but 'good' fighters. Therefore, Curry is a very good fighter.

pretty much what I feel. He mentally could not match up against the top elite guys, but his skill level was almost there. To be that elite level like a Hagler you need to be able to put your mind to a goal and take punches and win. Curry didn't have that mental toughness. A very good fighter. The fight with McCallum meant everything to both of them. Whoever won that had a chance to be great.

[zadfrak]

Speaking of Hagler, remember when Bob Arum was talking about a Curry/Hagler super bout at middle? That bout fell apart but at 1 time it was close to happening.

[Bokaj]

Originally Posted by Unforgiven

He was a superb fighter.
But he lost to Lloyd Honeyghan and Mike McCallum when he was supposed to be taking over from Marvin Hagler as the world's greatest fighter pound-for-pound. In fact he was tipped to succeed Hagler as middleweight king.

If he's not held in the greatest esteem it's because of his LOSSES in his prime, not necessarily a lack of wins.

Agree.

[Bokaj]

Originally Posted by TheSouthpaw

So How would Curry have done against Leonard.( In Donalds Prime )..?

The Curry that blew out McCrory would have been one of Leonard's most difficult opponents. Close to 50-50 for me.

Don't know what happened to him after that, but up until that point he was one of the most complete WWs ever. Technical, great defensively and offensively, fast, powerful, strong, could fight at any distance - you name it.

For some reason I don't enjoy watching him that much, though. Might be because he looks a bit tight.

[MRBILL]

Curry finished ugly....... Those tail-end losses to "Nunn and Norris" haunt and ruined his legacy....... Had Curry retired after beating Rosi in '88 for the title at 154 pounds, he'd be more appreciated from a historical sense......

MR.BILL

[Flea Man]

He's rated about right. Recognised as a very technically proficient and quick sniper type with a short prime and not the best chin.

His victory and performance against Starling in their second fight, a brilliant technical fest by the way, validates him as a fighter of the highest calibre in terms of ability for me, even if his career did not pan out in the way that the hype at the time made said it might.

But still, a good career.

[Flea Man]

Originally Posted by Bokaj

The Curry that blew out McCrory would have been one of Leonard's most difficult opponents. Close to 50-50 for me.

Don't know what happened to him after that, but up until that point he was one of the most complete WWs ever. Technical, great defensively and offensively, fast, powerful, strong, could fight at any distance - you name it.

For some reason I don't enjoy watching him that much, though. Might be because he looks a bit tight.

Well his struggles to make the weight drained his physical prime out of him and the loss to Honeyghan wrecked him mentally. Pretty swift and distinct downfall IMO. Still, Michael Nunn supporters will no doubt change their tune when he's brought up as a scalp

[PowerPuncher]

A great H2H WW with some of the best WW wins in history, whether he had lost the heart for the sport or was drained against Honeyghan I'm not sure, maybe he didn't have enough toughness and heart to rally back though, I'm not sure

Still H2H at 147, probably top10 of all time

[Bokaj]

Originally Posted by Flea Man

Well his struggles to make the weight drained his physical prime out of him and the loss to Honeyghan wrecked him mentally. Pretty swift and distinct downfall IMO. Still, Michael Nunn supporters will no doubt change their tune when he's brought up as a scalp

The fights with Nunn and Norris are just sad.

Think he looked good against McCallum for as long as it lasted, though. He surely confounded Mike there for a while.

[Flea Man]

Originally Posted by PowerPuncher

A great H2H WW with some of the best WW wins in history, whether he had lost the heart for the sport or was drained against Honeyghan I'm not sure, maybe he didn't have enough toughness and heart to rally back though, I'm not sure

Still H2H at 147, probably top10 of all time

What are 'some of the best winsin WW history' that Curry had then PP?

I like that thinking though

[PowerPuncher]

I rate Starling and McCrory pretty highly, not highlight real fighters that inspire the masses but very hard to beat

The thing is McCallum been underrated and Honeyghan having a prime of a few days when he was off the booze make Curry very underrated. In a sense it's like Hearns losing to Hagler and Leonard, which is okay 'because they're great', well McCallum and Honeyghan were great the nights they took Curry too, Barkley was never great though

[Flea Man]

Well as you know I'm a massive Starling fan.