What happened to Donald Curry's career?

Fair. He was putting forward ATG performances but not for long enough to become an ATG.

 

Colin Jones was the British, Commonwealth and European champ and then he lost to McCrory for a vacant belt.

That typically doesn't make you "world-class." That typically makes you "domestic" class. Doesn't it?

Who was the best fighter Colin Jones beat? Fellow UK boxer Kirkland Laing? And that wasn't back when all the best fighters were in Europe. Colin Jones was a domestic-level fighter, if we're being honest.

European fighters like Dave "Boy" Green were world class contenders because, for example, Green stopped former champ John Stracey and he beat top contenders like Andy "Hawk" Price. And he was beating world champ and Hall of Famer Carlos Palomino before getting stopped.

Colin Jones never fought guys like that. He beat domestic level welters, then fought for a vacant belt twice against McCrory (who got his rating and shot because Emanuel Steward had pull) and couldn't win either time.

And, regarding Starling, again, Starling was a very good fighter. He wasn't great. Johnny Bumphus outboxed Starling easier than Curry did. Tomas Molinares knocked out Starling. Pedro Viella beat Starling.

Starling went on a nice run after most of the division had cleared out. I was happy for him. But six or seven years after first losing to Curry, Marlon Starling becomes the top dog at welterweight ... and people act like it was Curry who beat Honeyghan and Breland. Curry was losing to guys like Rene Jacquot by the time Marlon Starling rose to the top at welterweight.

Marlon Starling's run in the late 80s didn't suddenly elevate Johnny Bumphus to greater heights, like it apparently did for Curry. Bumphus beat Starling and lost to Honeyghan, too (same as Curry). Nobody's saying Bumphus was a Hall of Famer.

Does one win over Milton McCrory make THAT much of a difference? Seriously?

Curry is still wildly overrated by many.

 

Regarding Curry being "briefly" great ... great against whom?

I believe Jimmy Young was "briefly" great because, for a couple years, you could make the argument he beat Earnie Shavers, Ron Lyle twice, George Foreman, Muhammad Ali and Ken Norton ... a list that includes three Hall of Famers.

Who did Curry look "briefly" great against? Milton McCrory. Colin Jones. Pablo Baez?

Can you be "briefly" great if you aren't beating great fighters?

 

I rate them all about the same.

When Marlon Starling finally became the top dog at welterweight in 1989, had Marlon moved up to 154 for a fight and fought Curry, I'd have picked Starling to win.

If Starling beat someone, people seem to just assume Curry would've beaten them, too. That's a mistake.

Curry never beat Honeyghan. Curry never beat Brown. Curry never beat Breland.

Curry beat Colin Jones and Milton McCrory. And he got knocked out by Honeyghan.

 

I know, and if I was him, I'd make it a personal issue to find him and kick his ass.

 

Curry is a comfortable tier above Starling for mine and Starling is a tier above Honeyghan as well.

 

To sum up Curry performed at an ATG level in the ring for about 3 years. Multiple factors come together (weight drained, Honeyghan underrated and performed superbly) which led to him suffering his first loss.

He did the right thing and got back on the horse quickly winning a couple of minor bouts before aiming high again with the underrated (at that time) Mike McCallum. Looked quite good before suffering a one punch stoppage and was never anywhere near as good again.

Don's inability to overcome his first loss and bounce back puts him below ATG status. Not enough longevity at the very top as well.

He was however one of boxings finest P4P fighters during his medium length of time at the top.

 

I agree with everything in your post except for the first line.

I don't think Curry performed at an all-time great level for three years. His competition wasn't great. He never beat a great fighter during that time. He never beat a great reigning or former champ during that time.

He had one of the easiest roads to accumulating three belts. Curry was presented with an IBF belt. He never had to fight anyone to receive it. Curry had to get off the floor against an ordinary Jun-Suk Hwang to win decision and WBA belt. (Hwang would go on to get stopped by the Korean fighter Mark Breland blew out in a round to win one of his paper belts.)

The only defending welterweight champ he faced was Milton McCrory, who isn't on anyone's list as one of the best welterweight champs ever. (Milton is probably near the bottom, if he's thought of at all when making all-time welter lists).

I agree, pound-for-pound, Curry was considered one of the best fighters in the sport around 1985, which was fairly slim year for overall talent in the game. But it was only for a brief time. And that doesn't make you an ATG.

Donald Curry never proved himself to be an ATG in any single year of his career because he didn't have the wins over anyone who could've lifted him to that level. Once again, looking good for a year or two against less-than-great comp doesn't raise you to ATG levels.

 

Ray Leonard didn't stab Donald Curry in the back. If Donald Curry walked up to anyone at that point and asked: "Think I should fight Marvin Hagler?" The answer would've been "HELL no!"

Not being able to survive six rounds with Lloyd Honeyghan or even five rounds with Mike McCallum sort of proved that point to everyone at the time, except apparently Curry.

 

Why move up?

Weight issues

Donald should have moved up to 154 lbs. right after he destroyed McCrory.

He had already fought twice at 154 lbs. earlier in 1985 and looked comfortable. He was actually lucky the weight issues didn't catch up to him before the McCrory fight.

Maybe, if that fight went into the later rounds, it would have.

I agree jumping right from 147 lbs to 160 lbs to fight Hagler would have been ill-advised.

But, Curry was able to accomplish quite a bit at 154 lbs even after the Honeyghan and McCallum losses. Surely, he could have done quite well in 1986 at 154 lbs. BEFORE these losses. He may have still lost to McCallum if they had fought in 1986 before the Honeyghan debacle, but Curry would not have been jaded by the Honeyghan loss.

 

If Donald had moved after the McCrory fight, he beats McCallum definitley.