Donald Curry, "Hall of Fame" worthy? Yes or No.

this thread might have set the record for most references to the mcguigan rule per post

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Of course he is. You have fighters in the hall now that don't belong, they haven't accomplished anything near what curry has. When he was in his prime he was one of the best ever, a technically flawless fighter who was a superior boxer to most and could punch like hell with either hand.

I feel he would have been one of the best in any era. A fighter should be judge by how he performed at his peak, not over the hill. If people are going to judge fighters by how they fought past their primes then people like evander holyfield, matthew saad muhammad, wilfred benitez and emile griffin should not be in the hall of fame.

 

agreed but holyfields, muhammad's, benitez's and griffiths times on top were a lot longer and littered with much more meaningful wins than curry had. i agree with his talent but even in his prime was very short without quite the number of meaningful wins i'd like

 

For christ sake, Brian Mitchell is in the hall of fame. People are saying Curry didn't have enough quality wins. The best fighter Mitchell beat was Tony Lopez. I defy anyone to look at Brian Mitchell's career record and tell me he belongs in the Hall of Fame and Curry doesn't with a straight face.

 

Mitchell doesn't deserve to be in the IBHOF, neither does McGuigan. Curry beat a lot of good fighters, and was dominant in a very competitive time for WW's. Up until the loss against McCallum, he was an elite fighter.

 

you'll not make the feather limit then??

 

McGugian is in the Hall. And McGugian was not as good as Curry, and didnt accomplish as much. Same with Brian Mitchell.

 

barry's a great bloke but your right, he's not in curry's league.if asked, barry would probably agree

 

If McGugian's in the hall... it kinda baffles me that Ray Mancini hasnt made it.

 

i have to say that mcguigan and johansson are probably the two most damaging entries thus far into the IBHOF

 

His proposed candidacy seems based more on potential than realized achievement sometimes. Best wins: Starling II, LaRocca, Jones and McCrory.

Roger Stafford stupidly came in stone cold, spending all the time in his dressing room praying, so I can't give Donald much credit for that. Nor can I give him much credit for Starling I, where Marlon continually secured a perfect inside position, only to inactively behave as though he was wearing the cuffs (or perhaps ear muffs in Moochie's case). Jun Suk Hwang dropped him in the match that originally made him a world title claimant, but the tough South Korean slugger was otherwise not a serious stylistic obstacle in the Cobra's Fort Worth hometown coronation. A lopsided decision win, but not particularly impressive to me watching at home.

By wiping out the Iceman to unify at 147, it seemed as though he was on his way to a phenomenally dominant reign. Then, Honeyghan came from nowhere to abruptly squelch it, making him quit the title after six rounds the following year.

Don can be said to have had just two truly great years, 1984 and 1985. He had a grand total of seven successful title defenses. (Six if you consider McCrory a unification rather than a defense.) Against eight total title wins, he has five title bout defeats, four by stoppage. He was not yet 30 when Terry Norris ended his world class career.

Losing the way he did to Honeyghan and McCallum at a time when he should have been peaking is horrendous. He was thought to be the P4P top of the heap when Lloyd did him in, and he didn't have weight draining as an excuse when the Bodysnatcher laid him out with a single shot.

No, Donald has neither the top flight longevity or depth of resume to validly qualify for the IBHOF as I would define legitimately earned inclusion. However, Ingo and McGuigan lowered the bar considerably, and there's no way Canastota should have brought Norton in as early as 1992.

Eventually, I expect that Donald will be voted in, but there are far more worthy candidates who have been waiting much longer. Even by greatly diluted standards, I feel he should wait his turn.

Joey Archer would be a far more educational selection, an example of how well one can do with little more than movement and a great jab. Wins over Don Fullmer, Mick Leahy (dropping Leahy twice!), Ruben Carter, great veteran Holly Mims, Dick Tiger (between his first and second MW reigns), and retiring SRR as well as pushing a peak Griffith to the brink twice gives Joey just enough of an edge to merit an earlier entry, if not a simultaneous one with Donald.