How To Judge Donald Curry, the Lone Star Cobra!

Donald Curry, one of the most if not the most supremely gifted bxoer of his generation; yet very hard to place in terms of the greatest in his divison due to the catastrophic losses to Honeyghan and McCallum.
We know that both fights, in different ways were unfortunate. clearly hung around too long at welter and weight drained against Honeyghan (not to take much away from a brilliant Honeyghan performance). Boxing masterclass in many ways against McCallum until the wily Jamaican took brutal advanatge of a lapse in concentration (But thats boxing). Think McCallum has gone on record as putting Curry as perhaps his most difficult opponent. And then the loss to Rene Jacqot... i mean Jacqot didn't belong in the same air space!
Some will also point to the diffuclties with Starling in the first fight or the not too convincing championship win over Hwang!
However in terms of judging greatness, these losses have severely diminished his claims in many eyes. Got me thinking though about another measurement of judgement. Take a prime Curry, in terms of skills set, all round technical merits and aura and pitch him against your top 20 welters of all time. Ive done it with different combinations of top 20 and for me I could see Curry beat a lot if not most in match up's!
By that measurement of judgement, how great was Curry in your eyes?

It amazing how we all know so much about Curry.

The Starling and McCrory wins were sublime. It doesn't get much better.

Apparently he not that popular in boxing circles and is known to be surly.


The beefster will have his say no doubt. Who knows this might even rekindle an old fire.

Got to say purely from a technical viewpoint Don has given me some of my greatest thrill watching boxing. He was so sublime so often. His timing could make floyd look heavy handed.... astonishing!
for me he beats prime Mosley, Prime Oscar, Prime Tito!!

Phenomenal talent, first and foremost. In particular, his balance was superb.

I'd say that Curry is worthy of 'great' status as a Welterweight, despite the Honeyghan disaster, insofar as I'd have him somewhere around the number fifteen mark in the all-time Welterweight stakes. No mean feat in itself, given that it's perhaps the most stacked division of them all in terms of continual quality.

That said, of course, if someone who can turn in punch-perfect showings against the likes of McCrory and Jones can then somehow conspire to get himself outboxed by Rene Jacquot, then it goes without saying that there's definitely something amiss! No questioning his outstanding technical ability, but every reason to question his mental strength, which makes me think that, had it not been Honeyghan, it would have just been someone else to give him a similarly rude awakening sooner or later.

Good article on the whole, Zoomy, but just one small quibble from me; I don't think Curry was delivery the boxing masterclass against McCallum which you (and, oddly enough, a few other people) suggest he was. You'd think that McCallum won the proverbial lottery, but that's not really the case. The first two rounds were unequivocally Curry's, no doubt. The third was probably even but the fourth, beyond any doubt, belonged to 'The Bodysnatcher.'

Either way, it's only a small quibble, and there's no shame in losing to McCallum at 154 lb in any case. Curry a tremendous talent, verging on 'great' status for me as a purely 147 lb man, but also an underachiever when all is said and done.

Maybe he underachieved due to burn out after so many amateur fights, around 400. He also fell foul to the scourge of 80's boxing, the coca leaf.

i made the same point on curry in the laing thread, strongback. i've always questioned the weight draining re honey... sure he went straight to super middle, but looked lacklustre in all but the first few rounds against McCallum at that weight too. Whether it was burn out, white powder, weight troubles, confidence loss from his first defeat who knows for sure.

There are many fighters whom you might not rate as all time greats due to length of reign, or inconsistancy but who at their best you would give a shout at against all but the very best in history. That era threw up a few of them, Curry being one, Norris would be another as would meldrick taylor, mcClellan

milkyboy wrote:sure he went straight to super middle, but looked lacklustre in all but the first few rounds against McCallum at that weight too.

Just a clarification. You meant Light Middle didn't you?

Part of his lack lustre performance could be that his air of invincibility was gone and probably still depressed over losing his last fight. It does take some people a while to come back from a defeat and some of the better talents will take longer as it deeply affects them. Just a theory.

... Indeed a bleary eyed typo. Lots of plausible explanations for curry's decline, but I guess it's not uncommon for fast handed fighters to 'age' earlier than other fighters... Maybe they just need to lose a little to lose their effectiveness... Leonard, meldrick Taylor, even Ali had to change the way he fought and rely on an all time great chin

some great stuff here guys! Chris you are right i do fall in the camp that felt Curry looked more than well set against Mccallum, who i absolutely love! Mike himself has gone on record as rating Curry as one of his most difficult foes technically!
Now the likes of Milky and bbh have gone on to suggest reasons such as lifestyle or losing that aura of invincibility.... both points might be right! some however have also suggested a mental fragility was inherent in Don. I dont know! However I feel he would have defeated that crop of great welters over the last 20 yrs, including Moseley, Oscar and Tito! what say u???!!!

Zoomy, I'd pick curry over all three you mention in a head to head at welter, partly because I think Mosley and Oscar did their best work at Lower weights, and tito I never rated that highly. Not fights you'd want to bet heavily on though

Grew up watching Cury and must have seen most of his fights more than once......

Have to say he was poetry in motion...the way he'd stand in front of opponents daring them to lead and then counter so devastatingly.....

Underrated inside game also......

For me he is a great...and will always be my favorite.....

I'll disagree with milky about weight drainage....he beat Rodrigues in two before and he looked awful.....and he looked like a schindlers list actor in the honey fight..

Breland..Starling and others never rated Honey's win...

Funnily enough his best performance for me was against Mccallum (before the lights out).....he just outboxed the guy for 4 rounds before being nailed....

40-36 for me although Mccallum was more suited to the then 15 round distance....certainly wobbled Mike in the 2nd........

Have to say that the Curry that fought Mike batters Honeyghan........

I know that Starling always viewed Curry as his most dangerous opponent and had great respect..a respect he didn't have for Honey....who If we are honest was exposed.....but that's all history...

Certainly a guy who underachieved..........

Never has the phrase...

Could've..would've...should've...didn't!!!!....Been so apt...