I noticed he is underrated on these boards, so I thought I'd make a thread about him ..What're your thoughts on him ?
I was thinking of soing one the other day on him as well; I was curious as to the thoughts of British posters about how he is now viewed historically. Personally, I don't rate him all that highly. He was lucky enough to be the man with the golden ticket against Curry that night; one look at Curry in the ring before that fight told you this wasn't the same sleek, powerful fighter that demolished Jones, Larocca, and McCrory; he looked pasty, had little muscle definition, and had an ashen countenance. He was in terrible physical condition and very weakened. Kudos to Honeyghan for a spirited effort, but in all honesty it wasn't going to take a Sugar Ray Robinson to beat Curry that night. I thought the Blocker win was a good one for him, and I'm not trying to say the guy wasn't a good fighter, but I just think he gets far too much mileage out of the Curry victory. That wasn't all HIS doing.
..........Well, far gone inasmuch as he was severely weight-drained; his cheeks were all sunken in and he looked ashen. He looked like ****, really. Totally ready to be taken, so in my mind Honeyghan really deserves only partial credit. Curry's own fault, really; if he'd behaved himself and not lived 150 miles an hour between fights, he might have been alright.
I thought Curry was a bit jaded and probably struggling with weight but Lloyd would have stopped him anyway because he was the hungrier man and possessed to much dynamite in his gloves. Like I said, weight played a part in Cuury's performance but keep in mind that just a few months later at a more comfortable weight, Curry met the same fate-ko by 5. Lloyd with a record of 30-0 coming into the contest was unbeaten and way to much for Curry, Bumphus, or any other favorite of the boxing press.
..............Nah; Curry was never at 154 what he'd been at 147. The power and physical strength weren't there at junior middle.
He's often underated on these boards because the Curry win is seen as tainted for reasons given above. he had good wins over the likes of Rossi,Shufford and Blocker. Fought one of the dumbest fights against Marlon Starling and had his arse handed to him. I think this destroyed him as a fighter and he was easy meat for Mark Breland.
i dont think honeyghan is underrated. he was a good fighter and world champion..........but not a special one. he beat some solid contenders like in vaca and blocker. also his win over rosi looks great in retrospective. but with him i never know weather to judge him by his wins or by his losses. was his win over curry for real?? i find it hard to believe. if that had been his real capabilities he would have never lost to starling. nor would he have gotten beat up so easily by china chinned breland.
Honeyghan had a couple of exceptional upset wins (Rosi and Curry), looked good against Bumphus, sucked it up against Blocker, then look bang in form against Mad Dog... He seemed to underestimate Vaca, and although he should of got a draw (he lost a point because he was the one not cut in an accidental headbutt), and he won the rematch, The Raggamuffin man was never the same fighter again. His arrogance meant he could go to Italy and the USA and upset two excellent fighters; but that same arrogance was his downfall as perhaps he did not respect his body as a top notch boxer should. His legacy is for one year he was King of one of Boxing's strongest divisions; no more, but certainly no less...
I saw alot of Honeyghans fights from ringside ,leading up to his title challenge ,I would be lying if I said I saw him as a future world champ. Lloyd allways had the confidence,but I thought his abilities would reach a ceiling at European level,he certainly surprised me.
Starling completely wound up Honeyghan. Lloyd just wanted to take his head off and wound up fighting as the comentator said "like a demented demon". He basically punched himself out in the first 3 rounds in the dumbest display of boxing I've ever seen. He was well past his best when he fought Breland. As for the Curry fight, well Curry was weight weakened there's no doubt, but Honeyghan did exactly what you should do when those opportunities present themselves and thats give your opponent a good kicking.
