Donald Curry vs Lloyd Honeyghan

Lloyd Honeyghan sprung one of the biggest upsets in boxing when he forced Donald Curry to retire after six rounds at Caesars Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City on September 27, 1986. Curry, unbeaten in 25 contests and widely regarded as one of the finest fighters in the world, surrendered the WBA, WBC and IBF welterweight championships after being outpunched, hurt repeatedly and cut badly around the left eye. The official result was a retirement at the end of the sixth round of a contest scheduled for 15.

The setting was the comparatively small Circus Maximus showroom, where approximately 1,000 spectators watched what had been widely regarded as a routine defence. Curry had unified the division by stopping Milton McCrory in two rounds and had won seven consecutive contests inside the distance. Honeyghan was also unbeaten, with 27 victories, but was little known in the United States despite holding the British, Commonwealth and European championships. His eighth-round stoppage of Horace Shufford had earned him the position of mandatory challenger. Some bookmakers considered the contest so one-sided that they declined to offer odds, although Honeyghan’s manager, Mickey Duff, backed his boxer with $5,000 at odds reported between five and seven to one. Curry received $300,000 and Honeyghan $162,750. Both weighed 146½ pounds.

Honeyghan and trainer Bobby Neill had decided that Curry must be made to retreat. The challenger carried out that instruction from the opening bell, advancing quickly and throwing punches from several angles. Curry preferred to measure an opponent, establish his jab and then deliver his short, precise combinations, but Honeyghan gave him neither the time nor the room. The Londoner’s early punches did not all land cleanly, but his activity and physical strength helped him take the first round. Curry appeared unusually slow and passive, while Honeyghan showed no respect for the champion’s reputation or punching power.

The first serious damage came early in the second round. Honeyghan drove a straight right over Curry’s low left hand and caught him flush on the head. Curry’s knees buckled, and the force of the blow sent him stumbling across the ring. He immediately clinched and held until his senses cleared. Honeyghan continued to press, working at the body and pushing the champion backwards in the close exchanges. Curry was bleeding from the mouth before the round ended, and another right hand caught him late. The challenger had established that he could hurt Curry and, equally important, impose himself physically.

Curry summoned a response in the third. He steadied his feet, began timing Honeyghan’s advances and landed a left hook to the body followed by a right to the head. Honeyghan was briefly checked and obliged to hold, but he recovered quickly and finished the round moving forward. Curry also had his best sustained period in the fourth. His punches were more compact, and he found the target often enough to slow the challenger’s rushes. The round was closer than the third, however, and Honeyghan continued to contest the centre of the ring. Curry was boxing better, but he had not regained the authority expected of an undisputed champion who had entered with seven consecutive stoppage victories.

Honeyghan decisively recovered the initiative in the fifth. A jab brought Curry’s guard out of position, and a heavy right hand landed on the jaw, leaving the champion unsteady. Curry moved away and attempted to hold, but Honeyghan followed him and struck again with the right. In the clinch, the challenger proved the stronger man, pushing Curry back and making him work when he wanted respite. Curry’s lower lip was damaged and bleeding, while Honeyghan returned to his corner with swelling on his right cheek. The difference was that Honeyghan remained energetic and purposeful, whereas Curry appeared increasingly drained.

In the sixth, Honeyghan commanded the centre and continued landing to the head and body. A left uppercut and right hook caught Curry as the champion attempted to defend at close range. Midway through the round, the fighters’ heads came together, opening a deep and irregular gash beneath Curry’s left eyebrow. Referee Octavio Meyran inspected the wound, wiped away the blood and allowed the action to continue. Although some immediate reports said Meyran attributed the damage to a punch, later accounts identified an accidental collision of heads as the original cause. Honeyghan then worsened the injury with further clean blows. A right-left-right combination shook Curry, whose legs again gave way beneath him, although he remained upright until the bell.

Curry walked slowly to his corner, shaking his head as blood ran down the left side of his face. He was heard to tell his handlers that he was through. Ringside physicians Frank Doggett and Paul Williams examined the cut and advised that he should not continue. The bout was consequently recorded as a retirement at 3 minutes of the sixth round rather than a stoppage during the action. Curry was taken to hospital, where approximately 20 stitches were required around the eye and another in his lower lip. He was also reported to have suffered a broken nose.

There was no question that Honeyghan was leading when the contest ended. Judges Charlie Spina and Larry O’Connell each had him ahead by 58–56, while Jose Juan Guerra scored 59–56. All three gave Honeyghan the opening two rounds, Curry the third, and the challenger the fifth and sixth. O’Connell awarded Curry the fourth, while Spina and Guerra called it even. The cut supplied the official reason for the finish, but it did not rescue Honeyghan from a contest he was losing. By the end of the sixth, Curry was being beaten in speed, strength and determination.

Curry’s preparation had been troubled. He had considered leaving the welterweight division and was reported to have weighed as much as 168 pounds six weeks before the contest. He later acknowledged that he had been 158 pounds ten days beforehand and had been obliged to reduce heavily to make the limit. Managerial disagreements and the death of his grandfather during training camp also played a role. Those difficulties explained his flatness, but they did not diminish Honeyghan’s performance. The challenger recognised Curry’s condition, denied him the measured pace he required and attacked before the champion could settle.

The victory made Honeyghan Britain’s undisputed world welterweight champion and was named The Ring magazine’s Upset of the Year. Curry immediately announced that he would not box at welterweight again. Honeyghan later relinquished the WBA portion of the championship rather than defend against South African contender Harold Volbrecht, protesting apartheid and the organisation’s continued recognition of South African boxing. On the night itself, however, the matter was settled entirely inside the ropes. Honeyghan had travelled as a disregarded challenger and returned as champion because he forced one of boxing’s most highly rated men to fight at a pace and in a manner he could not withstand.

This was one of the greatest wins in British boxing history. Outside Britain, hardly anyone knew who Lloyd Honeyghan was, let alone gave him a chance. Curry was unbeaten, undisputed and being discussed alongside the finest pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. When he came to Britain and dealt with the dangerous Colin Jones in four rounds, he looked like a man who was going to take some beating.

Honeyghan ignored all of that. From the first bell he pushed Curry backwards, denying him the measured pace he needed to set his feet and deliver those sharp, compact combinations. The right hand in the second buckled Curry’s legs and changed the entire feeling of the contest. Curry rallied in the third and fourth, but Honeyghan remained the hunter. By the fifth, he was outworking, outmuscling and hurting the champion.

Curry had struggled terribly to make welterweight, and clearly entered the ring depleted. But I won’t use that to take anything from Lloyd. A fighter still has to recognise weakness and exploit it. Honeyghan made Curry uncomfortable immediately and never allowed him to recover his rhythm or confidence.

The cut in the sixth came from a clash of heads, but Curry was already being beaten. When he told his corner he was finished, the fight had gone out of him. Honeyghan did not nick the championship through an injury; he went abroad and took it from a supposedly unbeatable fighter. British boxing has produced few better upsets.