Donald Curry(400-4 como amateur)

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Donald Curry


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Donald Curry


Statistics


Real name
Donald Sample

Nickname(s)
Lone Star Cobra

Rated at
Welterweight

Height
5 ft 9.5 in (176.5 cm)

Nationality
USA

Born
September 7, 1961 (age 51)
Fort Worth, Texas

Stance
orthodox

Boxing record


Total fights
40

Wins
34

Wins by KO
25

Losses
6

Draws
0

No contests
0

Donald Curry (born September 7, 1961) is a retired boxer from Fort Worth, Texas, United States. Nicknamed the "Lone Star Cobra," Curry was the undisputed world welterweight champion and the WBC super welterweight champion.



Contents
[hide] 1 Amateur career 1.1 Amateur achievements

2 Early professional career
3 World welterweight champion
4 Fall from grace
5 Legal troubles
6 Return to boxing
7 Honors
8 Professional boxing record
9 See also
10 External links
11 References


[edit] Amateur career

Curry's amateur record has been listed as 400-4 and 400-6. Curry thinks he might have had more than 404 bouts, but he is sure he had only four losses.[1]

[edit] Amateur achievements
1977 National Junior Olympics Champion (132 lbs)
1978 National AAU Champion (139 lbs)
1979 National AAU Champion (147 lbs)
1980 National Golden Gloves Champion (147 lbs)
1980 World Cup Champion (147 lbs)
1980 U.S. Olympic Team Member (147 lbs). Curry defeated Davey Moore at the U.S. Olympic Trials, but didn't get to compete at the 1980 Olympics due to the U.S. boycott.[2]

[edit] Early professional career

Curry turned professional on December 26, 1980, knocking out Mario Tineo in the first round. On May 5, 1982, with a record of 11-0, Curry knocked out Bruce Finch in three rounds to win the NABF welterweight title. He fought Marlon Starling, the USBA welterweight champion, on October 24, 1982. Curry bruised his ribs during training and also had a lot of trouble making weight: He reportedly was nine pounds over the welterweight limit less than a week before the fight. Despite these problems, Curry won by a twelve-round split decision.[3]

[edit] World welterweight champion

On February 13, 1983, Curry fought Jun-Suk Hwang for the WBA welterweight championship, which had become vacant after the retirement of Sugar Ray Leonard. Curry suffered a flash knockdown in the seventh round but otherwise dominated the fight and won by a lopsided fifteen-round unanimous decision. Three months later, Curry's older brother, Bruce, won the WBC super lightweight title. They were the first pair of brothers to hold world titles simultaneously.[4]

After making his first title defense, a first-round knockout of Roger Stafford, Curry had a rematch with Starling. Curry, mixing up punches to the body and head, stayed on top of Starling and pounded out a fifteen-round unanimous decision to retain the titles of the WBA and the newly formed IBF, which elected to recognize Curry as their champion before the fight.[5]

Curry's next three fights were successful title defenses. He stopped Elio Diaz in eight, Nino LaRocca in six, and Colin Jones in four. His next two fights were non-title fights at junior middleweight. He stopped James "Hard Rock" Green in two and Pablo Baez in six.

On December 6, 1985, Curry fought Milton McCrory, the undefeated WBC welterweight champion, to unify the welterweight titles. In the second round, Curry slipped a McCrory left jab and countered with a left hook to the chin that sent McCrory down. McCrory struggled to rise. When he did, Curry dropped him again with a solid right cross. Referee Mills Lane counted him out. Curry became the first undisputed welterweight champion since Sugar Ray Leonard.[6]

Curry's first defense of the Undisputed Championship was in his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas. His opponent was Eduardo Rodriguez, whom he knocked out in the second round with a crashing left-right combination.[7] Curry was 25-0 with 20 knockouts, and many boxing experts considered him to be the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.[8]

[edit] Fall from grace

Curry's next defense of the title was against London-based Jamaican Lloyd Honeyghan on September 27, 1986 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Honeyghan was 27-0 and ranked #1 by the WBC.

Curry's training was disrupted by managerial issues. His managerial contract with David Gorman was to expire on September 30, 1986, and Curry announced that Akbar Muhammad would become his new manager. Muhammad said he wanted Gorman to remain a part of Curry's team, but Gorman said he wouldn't accept a position as co-manager and that Curry would not work out of his gym if he was not Curry's manager. Curry told Gorman to stay away from his training camp, but shortly before the fight, Curry asked him to work in his corner for the fight and Gorman agreed.[9][10] [11]

Curry was such a prohibitive favorite that there wasn't a betting line on the fight, but Honeyghan came into the fight with great confidence. He easily won the opening two rounds, pressuring Curry and rocking him badly in the second round. Curry came back to win the next two rounds, but after that, he had little left. Curry had difficulty making weight. "I was weak and sluggish," Curry said. "I had no strength in my legs, and my timing just wasn't there. I wasn't myself." Honeyghan manhandled Curry in rounds five and six. Late in the sixth, an accidental headbutt opened a bad cut over Curry's left eye. Two ringside physicians examined the cut after the sixth round and told the referee to stop the fight, giving Honeyghan a TKO victory. The fight was The Ring magazine Upset of the Year.[12][13]

In his next fight, Curry defeated Tony Montgomery to win the USBA light middleweight title. Montgomery was disqualified in the fifth round for intentional headbutts. Curry's next opponent, Carlos Santos, was also disqualified in the fifth round for intentional headbutts.

On April 6, 1987, the day Sugar Ray Leonard defeated Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Curry filed a million dollar lawsuit against Leonard and his attorney Mike Trainer. Curry claimed that he asked Leonard and Trainer for advice concerning his future, and they advised him to stay at welterweight and not to move up in weight to fight junior middleweight champion Mike McCallum or middleweight champion Hagler.

Curry was going to face McCallum on June 23, 1986 but decided to back out and stay at welterweight.[14] Several weeks later, Leonard announced that he was coming out of retirement to fight Hagler. Curry claimed that Leonard and Trainer took "undue and unconscionable advantage of Curry" through fraud, conspiracy, and breach of financial responsibilities.[15]

Curry fought Mike McCallum on July 18, 1987 for the WBA junior middleweight champion. The fight was televised live on HBO. Curry tried to have Sugar Ray Leonard, who worked for HBO as a commentator, removed from the broadcast team. However, HBO decided to include Leonard as part of the telecast.[16]

McCallum, 31-0 with 28 knockouts, was boxing's longest reigning champion. Curry boxed well and was leading on all three scorecards after four rounds. In the fifth, McCallum caught Curry on the chin with a left hook, putting down for the count. "I don't know what he hit me with," Curry said forty minutes after the fight. "I don't know what happened."[17]

HBO commentator Barry Tompkins told his broadcasting partner Sugar Ray Leonard, "You settled a case out of court here."

Curry got another title shot on July 8, 1988. He traveled to Italy to fight Gianfranco Rosi for the WBC super welterweight title. Curry put him down five times, and Rosi retired on his stool after the ninth round.[18] Curry was once again a champion, but his reign didn't last very long. He lost the title in his first defense, dropping a twelve-round unanimous decision to Rene Jacquot on February 11, 1989 in France. Curry built an early lead, but Jacquot came on late. "I just got tired. I just got tired," Curry kept repeating afterward. The fight that was named The Ring magazine Upset of the Year.[19]

He went back to France to fight IBF middleweight champion Michael Nunn on October 18, 1990. Nunn stopped him in ten rounds.[20] Curry's next fight was another title fight. He went back to junior middleweight to fight Terry Norris for the WBC title. The fight took place June 1, 1991 in Palm Springs, California. It was a rough and competitive fight for seven rounds. In the eighth, Norris put Curry down for the count with a series of right hands. Curry retired after the fight.[21]

[edit] Legal troubles

In April 1994, Curry, along with Darrell Chambers and William Longstreet, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Detroit on drug conspiracy charges. The ten-count indictment charged them with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, money laundering and being part of a continuing criminal enterprise. "My God, I don't know anything about this," Curry said. "I'm guilty by association. I've never, never ever had anything to do with drugs. I knew Stanley Longstreet and Darrell Chambers as boxers. I know nothing about any drug ring. I'm stunned."[22]

In January 1995, Curry was acquitted on all charges, Chambers was found guilty and Longstreet took a plea deal. "I have been systematically...lynched and then castrated by, first, the news media, and then by the criminal justice system," Curry said afterward. He also said paying for his legal defense destroyed him financially.[23]

In March 1996, Curry was jailed for failing to pay child support. He won work release soon afterward, but that was revoked after he again failed to make support payments. He served six weeks of a six-month sentence.[24]

[edit] Return to boxing

In need of money, Curry returned to boxing. "This comeback is about a lot of things, but the bottom line is money," he said. "I wouldn't do this if I didn't need the money."[25] Curry's first comeback fight was in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on February 20, 1997. He knocked out Gary Jones in four rounds.

Curry's next fight was against Emmett Linton, who was one of the boxers Curry trained after he retired from boxing. The Linton fight wasn't just about money: It was personal.

Curry had been Linton's manager and trainer. The two had a falling out in 1993. Linton said he didn't like the way Curry was handling his career. Their feud really erupted when Curry accused Linton of giving information to the mother of one of his children about his finances, which Linton denied. The two got into a fight and guns were drawn but not used. Curry filed charges, but they were later dropped. Shortly afterward, Curry went to jail for failure to pay child support.

When Curry started his comeback, he asked promoter Bob Arum to get him a fight with Linton. Knowing that a good feud can sell a fight, Arum made the match. The fight took place at The Aladdin in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 9, 1997.[26][27]

Curry was no match for Linton. He was dropped in the first round and took a beating over the next six. Referee Richard Steele stopped the fight in the seventh round. "I just didn't have it," Curry said. "I'm finished. I'll never box again."[28] He retired with a record of 34-6 with 25 knockouts.

During this comeback, Curry did not realize he had undiagnosed kidney failure and pancreatitis.

[edit] Honors

Named The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year for 1985 (along with Marvin Hagler).