Present for Trussman

http://thelivingdaylights.co/2012/09/21/we-were-young-together-once-top-20-favorite-fighters-of-the-1980s-a-personal-reminiscence-3/

That's a pretty good read and fairly balanced. He was superb in his day, but his day didn't last too long as a professional. Mind you, his win against Colin Jones was, if I remember rightly, brutal, which shows the gulf between a good fighter in Jones and a great one in Curry.

Curry was class, no doubt about it.

I think the Hagler fight, which was being mooted heavily in 1985 / 1986, would have been a bad one for him; unlike Leonard, Curry wasn't going to take Hagler's legs from him by using every inch of the ring, and fighting from the centre of it, as Curry liked to, I think Marvin would just have been a bit too big, bullying and tough for him, even at that stage. But you have to wonder how long Curry's reign as pound for pound number one might have lasted had he stepped up to Light-Middleweight straight after unifying so brilliantly against McCrory. In his post-fight interview he said that he'd now boxed his last fight as a Welter as there was nothing left for the division to offer him, so to me it's still a bit of a mystery as to why he laboured on there for another two fights and twelve months, eventually costing him his belts against Honeyghan.

It's fair enough to suggest that his post-Welterweight career, which was still really only patchy at best, shows that he was maybe built up too much prior to the wheels coming off against the Ragamuffin Man, but I do think the shock of the Honeyghan loss took something away from Curry and blunted his edge somewhat. Still, he left his mark on the Welterweight division and his smooth as butter skills brought him some impressive scalps - not just who he beat, but how he beat them.

Think Curry just thought like anyone else that Honeyghan was in for a beating and being beaten so comprehensively took that unflappability away from him. He had it I think - the easy grace with which he fought indicated a supreme operator on the top of his game. A combination of bad decisions an untimely loss and then dented confidence ruined what could have been another magical performer at the world level.

Lovely haircut.

88Chris05 wrote:Curry was class, no doubt about it.

I think the Hagler fight, which was being mooted heavily in 1985 / 1986, would have been a bad one for him; unlike Leonard, Curry wasn't going to take Hagler's legs from him by using every inch of the ring, and fighting from the centre of it, as Curry liked to, I think Marvin would just have been a bit too big, bullying and tough for him, even at that stage. But you have to wonder how long Curry's reign as pound for pound number one might have lasted had he stepped up to Light-Middleweight straight after unifying so brilliantly against McCrory. In his post-fight interview he said that he'd now boxed his last fight as a Welter as there was nothing left for the division to offer him, so to me it's still a bit of a mystery as to why he laboured on there for another two fights and twelve months, eventually costing him his belts against Honeyghan.

It's fair enough to suggest that his post-Welterweight career, which was still really only patchy at best, shows that he was maybe built up too much prior to the wheels coming off against the Ragamuffin Man, but I do think the shock of the Honeyghan loss took something away from Curry and blunted his edge somewhat. Still, he left his mark on the Welterweight division and his smooth as butter skills brought him some impressive scalps - not just who he beat, but how he beat them.

From what I read, Curry took advise from Ray Leonard who advised him to stay at welterweight for awhile longer, allegedly clearing the way for Leonard to make his comeback and fight Hagler. Curry did sue Leonard over this claiming that Leonard gave him bad advice but he lost.

As much as I grew to dislike Leonard if Curry did postpone his move away from welterweight due to Leonard's advice then he's only got himself to blame. Curry had a manager of his own (Dave Gorman), and that's who he should have went to for advice, but like Curry said "He (Leonard) kills you with his smile".

One more thing, I am an old so and so. I remember buying that edition of KO magazine.

Great post Atila, thanks. I guess we all should have know that that meddling Ray might have had something to do with it!

Great memories Haz....

Brought all my ko mags over but somehow they have been "accidentally" lost......

Sure it must have been an oversight by My number 2....

Curry struggled with weight well before Honey....

Unfortunately he was told he was fighting the usual Brit...

Such things happen when you hide your private collection of razzle inside your boxing mags truss.

Always a but if a don curry fan. The mcrory ko was a thing of beauty... unless you're milt mcrory, in which case it probably wasn't.

bhb001 wrote:That's a pretty good read and fairly balanced. .

The writer is Carlos Acevado -- his other "main" website "The Cruelest Sport" is fantastic.

Was the ref Mills Lane in the McCrory fight? Bad call letting Curry back at a clearly kaput McCrory.

Yep, a rare bad call from Mills, that one. McCrory was clearly still all over the shop after that first knockdown.

So then, Curry against Hearns, Light-Middleweight, 1985 / 1986. How does everyone see that one going?

Just top writing:

In the mid-1980s, Mike Tyson was considered the heavyweight messiah. And, for a little while, at least, he was almost worth worshiping…from the comfort of your living room. Honed to destructive perfection by the Freudian Mad Hatter of the Catskill Mountains, Cus D’Amato, Tyson, the youngest heavyweight champion in history—and the first undisputed kingpin since Leon Spinks—tore through most of his fatso opposition with easeful savagery. Ditto the American psyche. Although his flashroll eventually reached hundreds of millions of dollars, money is no levee for madness. With enough hang-ups to fill a new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Tyson put his special brand of violent celebrity pathology on the front page day for night and night for day. Yes, Mike Tyson was a tabloid fever dream. Between lawsuits, street fights, car crashes, sex scandals, failed suicides, hotel trashings, and a silent scream Barbara Walters interview, Tyson made sure his extracurricular activities were not for the squeamish. But for five years “Kid Dynamite” sauntered to the ring with no socks, his head shaved ala Jack Dempsey, wearing a ratty towel-poncho combo he might have swiped from the Sunshine Hotel on the Bowery. It was Battling Nelson, Ad Wolgast, and “The Manassa Mauler” all over again, embodied in the hulking 5’10 physique of a sociopath who believed in hell on earth played out under lights. Tyson bounced his chubby peers around the ring like so many fifty-cent Spaldings. And then, in the blink of a bloodshot eye, it was over, like Molly Ringwald or the Sugar Hill Gang. The “Bed-Stuy, Do or Die” juvenile delinquent with a neck like a howitzer shell imploded during the final days of the “Me Decade” while training for a heavyweight journeyman named Buster Douglas. The end of the world as boxing knew it during the 1980s was here.

Few more:

http://thelivingdaylights.co/2012/08/06/jagged-edge-when-iran-barkley-and-michael-olajide-waged-war-in-nyc/

http://thelivingdaylights.co/2012/08/04/some-kind-of-wonderful-the-title-reign-of-marvelous-marvin-hagler/


http://thelivingdaylights.co/2012/08/24/something-wild-the-hectic-days-nights-of-hector-macho-camacho/

I guess 2nd round of a much awaited unification fight, you can understand him wanting to give mcrory every chance... But given he was completely gone, it was very poor from lane.

Not many people I'd fancy against hearns at light middle at that time... But curry had the speed and power to have a chance... He might win 1 in 3 or 4 but think he'd struggle to get past Tommy's jab if hearns boxed... Or, as is more likely at that time, disappear under a deluge of leather.

Curry vs Hearns? That would be an intersting match up. Best for best, I'd go for Hearns, but would be salivating waiting for that fight! Curry at his best would have a chance against anyone

Quiet, shy, and unassuming, Curry was not only a skilled technician and one of the most accurate punchers I ever saw, but he was also the inspiration for my teenage hairstyle—a regrettable mini-shag, not the full-blown Lionel Richie bush, but a more manageable variant, although no less embarrassing for that.


I wonder if Truss still has his mini-shag.

milkyboy wrote:Not many people I'd fancy against hearns at light middle at that time... But curry had the speed and power to have a chance... He might win 1 in 3 or 4 but think he'd struggle to get past Tommy's jab if hearns boxed... Or, as is more likely at that time, disappear under a deluge of leather.

Wouldn't you have given McCallum a chance of beating Hearns at light middle?

Yep he'd be one I'd give a chance to, as I never really saw him hurt. Think hearns would outbox him if he chose to fight that way, though you'd give Mccallum a chance of wearing him down in the later rounds. I tommy came to brawl, as was his wont at light middle, then it would be down to whether mike could take the onslaught. If he could then you'd give him a decent chance of stoping hearns