Marlon Starling was a highly skilled boxer and arguably the best defensive fighter in the 80`s

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by mark ant, Feb 16, 2021.



  1. clum

    clum Member Full Member

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    Counting the Bumphus loss against Starling is dirty pool. I'd sooner count Molinares against him, which in the record books isn't even considered one of his losses (after all, he wasn't knocked out, he wasn't knocked down). But the Bumphus affair, with open scoring and an accidental headbutt, was a sham and didn't prove anything about either man.

    It's weird to me that there's so much discussion of resumes here. I kind of thought that judging someone's defense would be more of an eye test.
     
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  2. Cobra33

    Cobra33 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Bumphus "win" was because Duva allowed the cut to get bad.
    Viella he came back and beat.
     
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  3. Saintpat

    Saintpat Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    I gotta look at this. I met Pat Barrett in the early 1990s when I was in the UK. I was staying at Manchester U (in the female wing of the international dorm with the girl I was dating) and I was determined to find a boxing gym ... and finally found the one where Barrett trained. Really cool guy, skilled and could punch a bit.

    (As a side note, I also wanted to go to a fight but there were hardly any during the week when I was there. I finally found of one in Kent and took a train and got a room at a bed-n-breakfast. I called the promoter and he told me it was a black-tie event, a big fund-raiser of some sort, so I had a black leather jacket and went and found some nice slacks and a tie at a store, haha. They introduced me as ‘coming all the way from America to see this fight,’ haha. It was at a swanky hotel. A young Tony Booth was on the card and a boy named Toomey won the Central Area lightweight title on his back by DQ for being hit while he was down. Brendan Ingle was there and his young prospect Johnny Nelson and I chatted a lot with them. Good times.)

    Thanks for posting this and bringing back the memory!
     
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2021
  4. Kamikaze

    Kamikaze Bye for now! banned Full Member

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    Wtf is with your PP man.
     
  5. PernellSweetPea

    PernellSweetPea Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Benitez was better and so was Ray as far as defense, but Starling was good at picking off shots and being in position to counter. His weakness was speed of his opponent, who could offset him and land a little on him. Strong and great at picking off punches with his gloves. Amazing at times.
     
  6. TBooze

    TBooze Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    Nice memory, I can tell you are American though, as your geography is terrible! ;)


    I suspect the bill you saw was in Hull, which is in Humberside, at least 200 miles north of Kent. A Central Area title fight in Kent would be very rare, they would generally have Southern Area fights.


    Was this the bill?

    https://boxrec.com/en/event/34149
     
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  7. George Crowcroft

    George Crowcroft Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    TBF, boxrec could have the venue wrong.
     
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  8. JohnThomas1

    JohnThomas1 VIP Member Full Member

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    Starling remains an underrated operator. At one point in the 80's, i think it was around 87-88, Futch stated he was one of the best two or three defensive fighters in the world.
     
  9. TBooze

    TBooze Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    True. For many years they had Benn/Miller at Wembley, with Duke McKenzie. But as a kid my Dad for a surprise, took me to the McKenzie fight (he was meant to fight Chitalada, but the Thai pulled out), and I was pissed as I felt sure he was going to take me to watch Benn/Miller, as I had been ranting and raving about him for months having seen him on Seconds Out.


    What was worse, was there was a near riot as two gypsies fought on the undercard (Sim/Frankham) and Frankham attacked the ref after he was stopped.


    But if boxrec has made an error, I apologise for teasing Saintpat on their geography skills.:thumbsup:
     
    Last edited: Feb 18, 2021
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  10. Saintpat

    Saintpat Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    That is it and you are correct on both the location and my knowledge of Brit geography.

    Cheers!

    The other part I remember is hopping on a bus after the fight with all these well-dressed coat-and-tie lads who looked like they came from a finishing school and they were complete drunk and rowdy hooligans who invited me to pubbing with them since I was a novelty from ‘Americaw’ haha.
     
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  11. TBooze

    TBooze Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    LOL; if a lack of geographical knowledge is considered an American stereotype, we (the Brits) really did have habit, particularly back then for drinking too much and hooliganism, and as you showed, no matter what class!
     
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  12. Richard M Murrieta

    Richard M Murrieta Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    I believe what hurt Marlon Starling's reputation as a defense oriented great was his knockout loss to unheralded Tomas Molinares of Colombia in 1988, when he was kayoed by a punch after the bell.
     
  13. IntentionalButt

    IntentionalButt Guy wants to name his çock 'macho' that's ok by me Full Member

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    Indeed, one might argue Tomás Molinares was the weakest and most undeserving belt holder of all time at welter - and in fact, I've done just that. :sisi1

    https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...-era-listed-chronologically-lets-sort.601844/
     
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  14. Richard M Murrieta

    Richard M Murrieta Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    I do agree, never gave Marlon Starling a rematch, he was getting beat by Starling before the knockout loss. Molinares was trained by Amilcar Brusa that night.
     
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  15. mr. magoo

    mr. magoo VIP Member Full Member

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    He was awesome. I enjoyed his fights against Mark Breland and Lloyd Honeyghan which resulted in a couple of big wins. His peak o boo defense was highly effective and he wasn’t a bad counter puncher either. His fight with Thomas Molinares was disappointing as he was easily beating the Colombian when the guy floored him from a punch that landed after the bell sounded.
     
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