Dinald Curry was undisputed welterweight champion and was starting to get billed as the next boxing superstar. Then he got beaten up by Lloyd Honeyghan. Curry did the right thing and moved up a division. He won the USBA light middleweight title by a fifth round DQ of Tony Montgomery for heeadbutting. The fight against Santos was Curry's first defence of that belt. Guess how this one ended. For those who want to watch the fight online, here's a link to my Daily Motion channel: This content is protected
I rewatched this about a year ago. This is what I wrote: Donald Curry v Carlos Santos (USBA jr. middleweight title) Round 1: 10-9 Curry Round 2: 10-10 Even Round 3: 10-10 Even Round 4: 10-8 Curry (Santos deducted 1 point for a head butt) Round 5: Santos deducted another point for the same offense and then blatantly butts Curry for the DQ Total through 4 completed rounds: 40-37 Curry (actual scores: 40-36, 39-36 and another 39-36 all for Curry) The difference between this fight and the Montgomery fight was that this was a solidly competitive fight. In the 2nd and 3rd rounds, although Curry's shots were precise and solid, I had Santos sharing the round due to his workrate. The difference - I feel - was the orthodox/southpaw mixture, which was causing the clunk of heads. However, the final butt in the 5th could not be described as anything other than blatant. And Santos' whining after the fight that Curry was a protected fighter was puzzling. You don't come into a fighter as Gil Clancy said - like a Billygoat - and then start complaining afterwards. Funny enough, I read on the boxrec wiki from an L.A. Times correspondent that he seemed to side with Santos' assertion. Man, I just didn't see Curry as 'protected' in either fight and didn't see him complaining until the final straw. This was Curry's final fight before he met his Waterloo at the hands of that 5th round left hook by Mike McCallum. After that he was damaged goods. But the Montgomery and Santos fights are well worth watching for opinions on what went on in these bouts.
After Montgomery was DQ'd, Curry walked across the ring and blasted him with a right hand sucker punch. Probably the highlight of that event.
Curry was already damaged goods in this fight The reason he was so susceptible to head butts all of a sudden was pointed out by Marlon Starling. He said something to the effect that when he faced Curry Donald's guard was tight and his head was behind his gloves. Against Montgomery and Santos he leaned forward with his head slightly ahead of his gloves. I don't know if it was an issue with his legs or what but post Honeyghan he was not the same fighter.
