Was Lloyd Honeyghan’s victory over Donald Curry at welterweight a flash in the pan victory?

It's worth remembering that Curry full well expected to win that fight despite being at 70% because he believed he was great after all the press clippings and such and would get the job done.

 

Thank you, I do appreciate it.

 

Breland was another one that tinkered with his style to please the fans.
Let me give you a history course: KRONK in the 80s was one of the best gyms in the world.
But they had a brutal atmosphere- if you couldn't fight you were driven out of there plain and simple.
And on top of that Steward had to see something in you to want to work with you.
Breland was a fixture in Kronk sparring everyone and let me tell you nobody was beating him up.
He dropped Milton. Sparred with Hearns.
But in Kronk he BOXED alot more.
They tried to make Breland into another Hearns which was what cost Breland.
Breland had a punishing jab- something Starling and Davis will tell you.
But Breland wanted to punch too much.

 

Ray was just so jealous of ANY attention any boxer received other then himself.
He never supported talent in his area and even appeared to try to derail anyone who was looking promising.

 

He didn't just lose to Breland though, did he? He lost to Starling and Vaca too.

If anything Lloyd's excellent performance against Curry was anomalous, not the losses which, given that they occurred almost every year from 87-90, might have been more indicative both of Lloyd's real level and how Don was faring in 86 when he fought Honeyghan.

 

Curry posed no threat to a Leonard vs. Hagler fight. You’re talking dimes to dollars difference and Hagler wasn’t going to turn down Ray to fight Donald for way less money. Marvin had wanted Leonard for years and may have simply retired if Ray didn’t come back … in fact he stalled negotiations with Leonard as he decided whether he even wanted to take that fight.

It’s well documented in a Sports Illustrated article and elsewhere that Marvin even ghosted the Petronellis who kept telling Trainer ‘I think he’ll take it but we can’t get him to respond, please give us more time.’

What Ray advised Curry to do was NOT move up to fight Mike McCallum. Given that Donald did that anyway (less than a year after Honeyghan) and nearly got decapitated, sounds like Ray gave him good advice. Too bad he didn’t follow it. In fact, Curry did nothing remarkable at all north of 147 pounds so there’s no indication whatsoever that him moving up was instead a wise thing to do.

If Curry was so awestruck by Leonard that he treated every word of advice like Ray was a Svengali, that’s on Donald. An advisor or consultant is just that — this whole line of thinking treats it like Donald gave Ray power of attorney and Ray sneakily signed a contract to fight Honeyghan and then bound him in Saran Wrap and shipped him to England against his will.

Look at Curry’s results at 147 leading up to the fight with Lloyd. Struggling with weight or not, he was dominating at welterweight. As we saw, he was far less so after moving up.

This whole narrative, btw, was settled in a court of law. Curry and Gorman sued Ray Leonard and Mike Trainer over just the issues raised and LOST in court. The court determined that Curry willingly and freely sought out Leonard and Trainer for advice and that they provided that service, and also that Donald wasn’t bound to take that advice and that it had no bearing on him losing a fight.

Curry was what he was: a dominant 147-pounder who unfortunately had trouble, after a time, making that weight and that played a part in him losing a fight. But he also struggled at the higher weight. The bill was coming due either way and Curry had to pay it.

 

April 1987 when that televised fight happened.

 

You know I honestly though that Lloyd Honeyghan's title reign was going to be a rather lengthy one based on what he did to Donald Curry, but I was wrong. I was 27 when Curry lost to Lloyd.

 

Run those first four words past me again, Mark.

 

It's amazing what gets blown down on Hampstead Heath.

As they used to say, up the road from it.

 

Great post. Every word makes utter sense and should put to bed the rather unrealistic premise that Ray wormed his way into Curry's camp to get him not to fight Hagler.

If Ray wanted to fight Hagler but was worried Don might get there first, all he had to do was call Hagler and say he wanted the fight. He didn't need to speak to Don or use subterfuge. Once Marvin knew a fight with Leonard might be on, he would not have chosen to fight Curry for far less money and greater risk, or so it might have been perceived at the time. As you say, that being even if he wanted to fight again at all.

Equally strange is the view that Curry, struggling to make welterweight and with the apparent rich pickings of a Hagler fight allegedly on his horizon, would keep on fighting at 147 though it made little sense financially or physically. Just because Ray Leonard, not his manager or advisor of record, said to do so? Come on, please.

Anyway, there's my view. But you might want to cover up for an incoming CJ counter.

 

You seem to forget I was there you weren't !!! Leonard was supposed to be permanently retired due to a detached retina. He was hired by Akhbar Muhammad as Don's advisor. He never said a word about he was negociating a comeback himself to fight Hagler. I was in the gym when someone said " hey Is it true that Leonard is going to fight Hagler" Leonard was nowhere around to ask he'd scarpered got the heck out of Texas. Probably a wise move too .They don't like snake in the grass in Texas. To cap it all he even robbed Marvin Leonard NEVER won that fight