"Donald Curry vs. Nino LaRocca" from 1984.

Larocca was massively overrated at the time.

Another Ali clone with some good physical talent, but not on par with his similarly styled Euro Welter contemporary Kirkland Laing in that regard(though a lot more dedicated no doubt).Incidentally those two fought when both were washed up, with Larocca winning one of the most appalling fights you are ever likely to see.

He was an outright frontrunner with a suspect jaw.Basically quit against Curry when he realised he was in deep.

Had he fought the ponderous but steady and huge punching Jones on the Euro scene, he would have been shown up before reaching Curry.He was matched actively but very carefully against mostly washed up fighters, lower level journeymen and the odd fringe contender like Bobby Joe.

I don't think Larocca would be even good enough to beat someone like Margarito or Cotto and god knows i think they are some of the most overhyped Welters of the past 50 years.Mind you, he had better natural boxing ability than Corey Spinks so he would probably fit in quite well on the recent scene, winning some losing some.

The other African that had come over to Italy to start his pro career-Kalambay was matched similarly initially, but got none of the hype or support LaRocca was given.

 

lora,

Did get to see Nino LaRocca in New York, versus Milton 'Pistol Pete' Seward, in an 8-Rounder.
He clowned a bit, but won convincingly.
Not big on the punch, but did toss them in bunches.

Maybe had a run of too many easy fights.

 

Curry vs McCrory, despite being rightfully marketed as a 147 lb superfight, was basically an event where one fighter's difficulty in making weight caught up to him sooner. A Curry-McCrory fight at 154 probably wouldn't have been the blowout that it turned out to be. McCallum did well to beat both of them, unfortunately only after both had already lost their unbeaten records.

 

I actually think McCrory partially redeemed himself with his performances against DeWitt and McCallum.He did about as well as his talent allowed for that era really.Having the likes of Curry, McCallum etc to contend with was always going to be too much.

 

Wasn't LaRocca 53-0 or something ridiculous like that? How the hell did he get such a record?

 

57-0. He got the record because Bobby Joe Young was his best opponent during the unbeaten streak.

Must credit LaRocca though for fighting at a pace of a fight or two a month.

 

he was matched with old-school regularity against safe fighters.Quite a few italian based fighters took that route initially.Patrizio Oliva and Kalambay in particular and it did nothing but hold them back imliva especially had a long amatuer career and ended up being past his peak by the time he won a title.

 

Or the formidable task of a shot Pete Ranzany.

 

Also fought several Tony Ayala/Charlie Weir left-overs, and Harold Volbrecht. LaRocca's record basically consists of every record-builder available from the early 80s.

 

His manager, Rocco Agostino, made himself a small fortune off of Nino.

Though he had all those bouts, he wasn't ready for Donald Curry.

 

MR. B,,,,,,,,,

Nino LaRocca was making real nice 'denaro' in Italy.
He did not need the Donald Curry fight.
He was making the equivalant of $15,000 (U.S. Dollars) per fight in Italia.
Easy pickings.

The loss to Donald Curry virtually ruined his career.