What was so special about Donald Curry?

Eh, pay no attention to the troll. That incessant "Saccharine Ray" quip of his is like the old drunk in the bar retelling the same unfunny joke every time you see him, waiting for someone to laugh and validate his presence. The drunk never seems to notice everyone just walks away every time.

 

But that rat Leonard was supposedly retired w2ith a detached retina & at the time working as Don's "advisor" with Muhammad & he said wait for Hagler stay at 147, which Don had trouble making, let him age he said All the time Leonard was negociating to fight Hagler himself, which as we know he did & robbed him too. The first anyone in Texas knew was when the fight was announced on TV. What dya know that rat Leonard had flown the coop.
As for Honeyghan he got Don at the right time he'd had flu & hadnt trained much & was overweight had to hit the sauna. He should never have fought Dave wanted to pull him out but Muhammad insisted he fought. Don was weak as a kitten & had no chance. Not blaming Honeyghan he just took advantage & won the fight BUT he would never give Don a rematch would he.
As for Leonard in Texas I knew a few guys in the Dallas/FtWorth area that wanted a piece of him thats why he ran. Maybe theyre still sore in Corpus too I wouldnt want to be Saccharin Ray Leonard lol

 

Only one Sugar Ray & thats Mr Robinson Leonard wasnt fit to lace his boots

 

Wacko.

 

I was feeling like being amused so I temporarily unblocked that wacko. I wasn't disappointed.

Don Curry was actually a bit like Bowe (except he didn't get hit as much). He had everything going for him, amazingly tight shots that still carried weight, a fine style, good defense. But he ended up being crushingly disappointing in the end. I'm not personally sure what happened, would appreciate schooling on that point.

And yeah, beating Marlon Starling twice was no joke, that guy was an excellent fighter imo.

 

One question ?..... Were you there when all this was happening ?? NO ?? Well I was I was at the fight too
dont believe all you hear OK? But there again believe what you want no odds to me lol

 

He was a very subtle fighter who you really had to pay attention to.
He was very fast and he was precise with his movement and punches.
Everything he threw was textbook like it came out of a boxing book.
He's one of the few fighters who actually hooked off the side step.
Part of the big problem was he was very shy and didn't seem to like to talk alot. Very reserved. And that doesn't sell tickets.
After Honeyghan he was never the same - kinds like what happened to Camacho vs Rosario.
You have to remember that as an amateur he went like 400-4.
He won everything. So he had never really tasted defeat per say.
And some boxers when they lose it just wreaks thier confidence permanently.
I remember watching him vs Aquino and it was like watching three fights.
One round he looked good - Curry of the old and then in the same round he would revert back to the hesitant Curry leading with his head.
Next round he's moving and looking pretty good and I'm thinking he's back in his old groove.
Then next round he's a completely different boxer.
It was annoying and Al Bernstein who was calling the fight got annoyed as well.
You remember Rosi when he was always finding ways to win?
Curry was absolutely shot when they fought and still managed to win dropping Rosi 3/4 times and stopping him. But he looked awful.

 

One thing that happens with guys who fight with headgears for long, long periods of time is that they develop habits related to that as a security blanket. So leading with or following your punches with your head has little or no consequence when both fighters have a big cushion there.

I remember seeing pretty good amateurs go at it in real amateur fights and they literally just kind of put their foreheads against each other (headgear to headgear) and in-fight. In a pro fight that’s not a good prescription for success.

 

I remember watching Curry in the mid 80's, watching his fights with Colin Jones, Nino Larocca, Marlon Starling, James Green. He was a tremendously talented fighter, Then he lost to Lloyd Honeyghan which was a big upset, supposedly Curry was weight drained, and his career never really recovered, but before losing to Honeyghan he was thought of as a fighter to fill the void left by Sugar Ray Leonard.

 

In his prime, he was as crisp and smart of a fighter around. He appeared to be hitting his stride when he shockingly obliterated McCrory, but we were unaware of his weight/discipline/managerial problems. For awhile, though, I thought he was competitive with about any Welter who ever lived. He was that good in my eyes, but not for long unfortunately.

 

You know you can see how sunken in Dons cheeks are during the ring introductions at the Honeyghan fight.
Muhammad did alot to ruin Dons career that is for sure.
Its funny because most people don't know Lloyd was offered a rematch with Don after Lloyd lost his titles.
And it was a pretty good sum - around $300000.
And Lloyd did turn it down.
I just remember in the Honeyghan fight Gorman between rounds telling Donald "you ain't right Donald" and he did look so weak in that fight.
Years latter I was reading I think a book about Mills Lane and he said he ran into Curry and Curry weighed 180 pounds. And this was when Curry was the Welterweight champion.

 

Well put. Not sure he had discipline problems but your post is solid.

 

I think what made Donald Curry so special was that he was a nice person, good personality and he was a good technically sound fighter. Sugar Ray Leonard's career and title reign at that time was short lived due to the Retina injury. Curry in a sense took Leonard's place on the boxing stage. Donald was reaching big heights with tremendous victories over Marlon Starling, Milton McCrory, and Colin Jones. He was inching closer to a mega fight with Marvelous Marvin Hagler, when he was stopped by Lloyd Honeyghan in Sept 1986.

 

Dave wanted to pull him out Muhammad wouldnt let him Don was a sacrificial lamb that night.
Between them Muhammad & Leonard helped screw up Don's career

 

Not sure how anyone could say that he wasn't special. Donald Curry, as disappointing as he turned out later on, was very much a talented fighter and even if his prime was too short he was still a great fighter @ 147. Just because he didn't look flashy like Leonard doesn't mean he wasn't special. At his best he was a sharp, straight puncher, solid technical skills and a very textbook fighter in the same mold as Alexis Arguello and Joe Louis except he had quicker hands. Beating the likes of a difficult defensive fighter like Starling x2, a slick Ali-esque fighter in LaRocca, and a Hearns-like fighter McCrory (albeit watered down version) in clean fashion did warrant some hype. He just never had the durability, chin, and that extra something that made Leonard, Duran, Hearns, and Benitez great.