Pipino Cuevas vs Donald The Cobra Curry, both prime, 15 rounds, at 147 lbs.

Curry easy. Cuevas couldnt box a lick.

 

But Pipino could clock. And the Don would have to be at his absolute best to win.

 

i get that Cuevas could pull a shot out the fire...but that is hardly a thing i would bet on. curry was excellent from the outside moving outside.

i'd give Curry 7 rounds to dispatch him. i think Curry could take the shots and come back into sharp counters. he was pretty hard to back up. it's why i think honeyghan was so successful was because lloyd was dynamic and explosive enough to get round him and his guard when Don stepped back or went inside.

i just don't see that from Cuevas. yeah he could smash a left hook after a right hand over the jab but curry was far crisper.

This is not a knock against Cuevas i just think Curry would be a exaclty what he ddint want.

 

Nice comment. It is very interesting what you said. Why was the Leonard and Hearns level (in retrospect) so much higher than Curry and McCrory. The boxing records as far as amateur background and coming up- would it make that big a difference? Not on paper. Greater mindsets of Hearns and Leonard? Yes perhaps and probably so? In retrospect it looks like a bigger difference than it looked like in the 1980s since we did not know Donald would lose 2 times in 9 months after being undefeated and in his prime. I think perhaps people made Donald more than what he was, and he was a great prospect beating Starling and Jones and Milton, but Lloyd took him into deep waters which he was not used to.
A lot of people seem to insinuated that Lloyd beating Donald was a fluke. My feeling was and was before hand that Lloyd was a strong and fast handed undefeated fighter with good power- and a little awkward with his hands. To me it was not as much of an upset as people said at the time (coming the same weekend as Bramble and Rosario and that upset) although Lloyd would not have beaten Leonard or Hearns level fighters like he did Donald, and I do think the style of Milton would have been tougher for Lloyd than Donald was.

Getting back to the original point I am making since I am straying< I think the main difference between a Leonard and Hearns level and a Curry and McCrory is mentality. Milt came in so docile against Curry and Curry could not find a way to beat Lloyd, which Tommy and Ray would have found something to turn that fight around. Against Curry, had that been Tommy instead of Milton, he would have come in shooting punches off his jab, and also Milt was the same height as Tommy but his reach I seem to recall was 73 or so.. Tommy's was 78 inches. And I remember Emanual saying Tommy was physically stronger than Milton, so that would have helped also.

 

I am a big fan of both. I think Pipino gets overrated due all his ko´s whilst Curry seems to get underrated because of his losses to Honeyghan and McCallum.

I still think the Honeyghan loss was a combination of superb Lloyd performance and Curry struggling with weight.

His quitting was very disappointing, Leonard or Hearns would never have done that. Both would have gone out on their shields.

The McCallum loss was embarrasing at the time because Mike was not really known mainstream and he had boxed so well even buckling iron-chinned McCallum at one point to get knocked out in such a way.

Then McCallum lost his next fight and disappeared for most American fans for almost 4 years till the first Toney fight in late 1991. During that time Curry at won another world title, lost it quickly and then had been hammeared by Michael Nunn (fought well early on) and Terry Norris which finished his career.

The Curry that twice beat Starling and dismantled top contenders like Larroca, Stafford (coming off a win over Cuevas), Jones and his massacre of McCrory would beat and possibly even wear down Cuevas for a late stoppage.

Curry at his peak had a brilliant defense, could counter-puncher or attack and throw some very accurate and hurtful punches. Cuevas was a premier puncher but with the exception of Weston and Shields his opposition wasn´t that strong.

He struggled badly with Randy Shields who some thought deserved the decision. Shields was a good solid fighter but not on Curry´s level.

Personally, I don´t think Cuevas could beat Starling let alone Curry..

 

Donald Curry dealt with Colin Jones who was a pretty big puncher like Cuevas although maybe a slightly tier below him in punching power department.

But still overall i think Curry has too much overall skills and apart from the power I think Curry is a class above Cuevas in most other attributes.

Curry by decision for me or possibly late stoppage.

 

I like Cuevas by stoppage ( of course; he's not decisioning him). Curry was much more fragile and was always in front of you behind that high-hands guard. Cuevas would punch through that.

 

Its hard to say Cuevas was overrated because his power literally broke bones in multiple boxers- I cannot think of anyone who has ever done that.

Broke Westons jaw. Broke Espadas jaw. Broke Backus eye socket.

 

I meant overrated in the sense that he scored kos over solid but not outstanding competition which have blinded some in thinking
he could do that to anyone. You are completely correct in that his power was amazing, I also can´t think of another fighter who damaged his foes in such way.

He made 11 defenses but Backus had seen better days, Tjusimoto,Clarke,Campanino+Volbrecht were pretty average. I give him a lot of credit for his victories over Espada (especially at such an early age and coming off a loss) , Weston, Ranzany (brutal) and still decent Clyde Gray.

Cuevas power was brutal and if he were to catch Curry flush he could easily do McCallum on him but Pipino for all his power failed when he took on anyone of the top tier. Hearns completely befuddled him with speed, Duran took him to pieces and they are the only 2 fighters of the upper echeleon he fought.

Solid fighters like Shields and Weston had no problem in hitting him and especially Randy in outboxing for long periods of their 15 round fight. Later Roger Stafford, a solid fringe contender got off the floor to batter Cuevas to win on points in front of his fans in 1981 Ring´s upset of the Year. Stafford was then dispatched in one by Curry in a title defense.

He was then outpointed by the strong but limited Korean Jun Sok Hwang who had previously been soundly outpointed by Don Curry except for a Curry suffering his 1st knockdown in the 6th.

Cuevas is arguably one of the hardest punching welters of all time but his technical skills are way below that level whilst Curry at his peak had the tools to dismantle him. Would be a terrific fight.

 

Curry was too skilled and hit too hard for Cuevas. Cuevas has a shot because of his power and Curry wasn't the toughest guy ever but it's more likely Curry get's him out of the there and probably spectacularly.

 

I don't know if it comes down to that. Curry's punches are more compact and quicker. He's going to strike first and hurt Cuevas and Cuevas doesn't do well when he's hurt.

 

You had to see Cuevas in his trilogy against Angel Espada, a WW Champion seemingly on the road to greatness when Pipino got his hands on him. Cuevas blew him out the first time in a two round ambush. Then, he surprised Espada with boxing skill in their second bout, showed he could win with attrition in a war, and displayed smarts with southpaw Backus in dispensing with his vaunted left hook to wing right leads from the opening bell.

Espada was only stopped four times in 59 fights. The first three stoppages were against Pipino, which softened Angel up for an up and coming Hearns.

The closest thing to Cuevas which prime Donald Curry faced was South Korean slugger Jun-Suk Hwang, an intended coronation on the Cobra's Fort Worth turf. In round seven, Donald hit the deck, then had to box with caution the rest of the way. A pre Hearns Pipino had too good a chin to be taken out by Don, and a much harder punch than Hwang. Duran got hit to the body by the Cuevas power (something Tommy never got struck by) and Robert winced, shoving Pipino off him.

Donald had what was necessary to stay away from Cuevas for a lopsided 15 round decision win, and he'd better. All Cuevas needed was one bomb to turn things around, and Don suffered from the Curry family chin.

Pipino fractured Harold Weston's jaw. In their second bout, he fractured Espada's jaw. And in a demolition on YouTube, he fractured the eye socket of Backus, ending his career.