Donald Curry

Donald Curry was a Fort Worth fighter, called the 'Lone Star Cobra'. He made the 1980 United States Olympic team, but could not compete, unfortunately, due to the U.S. boycott. He then started his pro career and rose to superstardom rather quickly, putting together an undefeated streak that culminated in a 15-round points win over Joon Sook Hwang[?] of South Korea in 1983, giving Curry the then-vacant WBA welterweight title. He then defended this belt in impressive fashion, mostly by KO[?] or TKO[?], against the likes of Nino LaRocca, Elio Diaz, Roger Stafford (whom he did in within a round), and Colin Jones. Also included in this stretch was a 1984 points win over the wily Marlon Starling to claim the division's new IBF title. Curry was riding on top of the boxing world in December 1985, when he added the WBC title to his chest of laurels by destroying Milton McCrory in the second round. He then defended the undisputed (WBA/WBC/IBF) title once with a second-round stoppage of Eduardo Rodriguez before his hometown fans in March 1986, but his supreme status would last only six more months as Briton Lloyd Honeyghan came to Atlantic City to shock Curry - and the world - by stopping the defending champion on cuts after the sixth round. After winning two fights at junior middleweight against Tony Montgomery and Carlos Santos in early 1987 (both interestingly ending in fifth-round DQ's due to headbutts on the part of Curry's opponents), Curry had a chance to vault himself back into titlist status in July of that year, this time at 154 lbs. His opponent - the quiet, unknown, yet dangerous Mike McCallum, who held the division's WBA crown. Curry had his moments early on, but in the fourth round, a thunderous left cross from McCallum sent Curry reeling to the canvas in scary fashion and into a position where Donald could not muster to beat the 10-count. After a couple more wins, Curry did win another title, the WBC junior middleweight title, in July 1988, stopping Gianfranco Rosi of Italy on cuts in the tenth round. His junior middleweight prestige lasted even shorter than that of his welterweight days, however, when he was shocked by Rene Jacquot of France in February 1989, losing a 12-round decision (and thus the title) in his first defence. He continued to fight, and had two more stabs at a title, but came up on the short end both times (more specifically, by KO). IBF middleweight champion Michael Nunn took him out in the tenth round in Paris in October 1990, and up-and-coming Terry Norris, who defended his WBC junior middleweight title against Curry (yes, the belt Curry once had), KO'd him in eight frames in Palm Springs in June 1991. After that, Curry spent most of his energies training fighters rather than doing it himself.