How good was McCallum-Curry 1? And how good was Curry until he got sparked?

First fight I ever video-taped...I though Curry was doing fine, at least holding his own..like he was trying to return to form after the Honeyghan debacle. Curry was holding his own until he made that grave error of squaring his feet when retreating from McCallum in that 5th round, and Mike just threw that technically perfect "clean-up shot" as he called it. A beautiful, showpiece ko.

 

Curry's left was excellent..both as a jab, as well as a hook..honestly he seemed to have it all, or at least almost when he was the welter kingpin...when he blew away McCrory..I think he would have avenged Honeyghan if he were fighting him instead of McCallum on that occasion...and at his best he may have been too mobile and fast for Mike as well...uh, maybe...the bodysnatcher was a different kettle of fish from the other guys Curry fought. I thought the fight was near even before Mike's sleeping pill took affect.

 

Curry was exploiting McCallum's only weakness: his cement-filled shoes.

 

The fight was very good but in a way Mike was a little tight in the early part of the fight and really only loosened up in rounds 4 and 5 when Donald's eye started to swell which changed the whole fight. Also, I noticed in round 2 before Donald landed that right hand that Mike was hitting Donald and Donald was trying to ride with the punches and his head would almost stay stationary turned way back to the side for a sec as though he was not riding with it properly and it was stunning him and for that reason he was not relaxed, which is when most guys ride with punches better-Donald's his leg did a little slip after one punch, and Mike was sort of starting to take over and that is when Donald had the right hand open to him and he hit Mike clean. I am remembering this from memory and not from the clips since it is a fight I loved to watch at the time. It was July of 1987. Donald fought well for a few rounds, but Mike was just too consistent down the way for Donald to have kept it up. In a way it was a different fight than most fights are. The patterns. Donald was winning the round but Mike was winning the fight. Odd to say that but something like that since it was 15 rounds and no way was Donald going to last that regardless of the swelling eye.

 

Curry was holding his own , but Mike was stronger and as Mike said in the post interview he was getting to him gradually. Curry was winning but his eye was swelling. Very interesting fight. I never could have imagined Curry knocked out like that a year before.

 

Curry's eye was swelling from a headbutt.

Curry was making Mccallum look slow.

Ray Leonard who was part of the broadcast team was getting annoyed with Mccallum who was unable to mount anything.

Great left hook ko-but keep it real.It was wide and wasn't set up-Curry got caught leaning back.Not lucky?When did Mccallum ever do that before or after?

Prime for prime on there best days Curry beats Mccallum.

 

Currys movement didn't allow McCallum the usual rhythm breaking shots he liked to put together early doors, and didn't allow for McCallum to build anything up himself.

Curry was winning every round, but it was still competitive. Maybe McCallum noticed something he could exploit....maybe it was a 'Hail Mary' punch.

Either way good fight, and good win for The Body Snatcher.

 

Curry was winning until he he got caught by McCallum's hook in round 5....

MR.BILL

 

Fantastic insight:huh

 

Like Mag said, I thought McCallum seemed tight, inflexible, cold, whatever you want to call it at the start. I thought the first round was pretty even with Curry doing the good work at the beginning and Mike starting to work into it a bit. Then I thought Mike had been winning the second or third round up until Curry clocked hard him with that right the first time and it was one of the few times I thought Mike looked hurt that I can remember, and Don took that round too. He continued to find a home but the eye started to swell and maybe not coincidentally McCallum started to look warmed up when it became very noticeable. Curry probably either won all the rounds leading to the knockout or perhaps one even round as I scored it in the first round. McCallum not known for gigantic power punching but to say he wasn't a good hitter would be wrong. That wasn't a total fluke in there. Very good power -not great but very good- and great instincts combined with it made that knockout as much as any fluke element did.

I'm rambling but, it's funny you should put that thread up now. I just got finished watchin McCallum VS Jackson again, and...I really can't recall any time I've seen a fighter (Jackson) come in with his trunks that damn high. And the ref warned McCallum for hitting low. Yeah, it's below the belt if your trunks are covering your nose.

 

So who else did Mccallum ice with one punch?NOBODY.
"warm-up" sure-remember Curry was on his way to winning round 5 until that punch.
Curry was done after the Honeyghan bout-hell truthfully he was done after the Mccroy bout.He fell in love with his power,argued with Gorman took advice from the wrong people,didn't control his weight like he should of.

 

Curry was doing good for himself I noticed that he tried to be an inside fighter to a degree(look at Norris fight too) and it didn't work for him as he wasn't well suited for that style. Donald Curry had more in him than people thought after the Honeyghan fight but being ko'd by another great in McCallum kinda put the last nail in the coffin for his career similar to Meldrick Taylor after his loss to Norris.

 

They only fought ONCE!

MR.BILL

 

Good insight. Also, in a way because McCallum was sort of starting to tee off on Curry in round 2, he was right in the way of Curry's right hand. Which happens in boxing, when a guy is landing his own stuff easily he can be countered like Hearns was with Barkley in 1988.