Donald Curry held the WBA world welterweight title from 1983 to 1986, the undisputed world welterweight title from 1985 to 1986 and the WBC light middleweight title from 1988 to 1989, and challenged once for the IBF middleweight title in 1990.
38 Facts About Donald Curry
1.
2.
Donald Curry thinks he might have had more than 404 bouts, but he is sure he had only four losses.
3.
Donald Curry was originally trained by Wesley Gale Parker out of Fort Worth, Texas.
4.
Donald Curry reportedly was nine pounds over the 147-pound welterweight limit less than a week before the fight.
5.
On February 13,1983, Donald Curry fought Jun-Suk Hwang for the WBA welterweight championship, which had become vacant after the retirement of Sugar Ray Leonard.
6.
Donald Curry suffered a flash knockdown in the seventh round but otherwise dominated the fight and won by a lopsided fifteen-round unanimous decision.
7.
Donald 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 Donald Curry as their champion before the fight.
8.
Donald Curry stopped Elio Diaz in eight rounds, Nino LaRocca in six, and Colin Jones in four.
9.
Donald Curry stopped James "Hard Rock" Green in two and Pablo Baez in six.
10.
On December 6,1985, Donald Curry fought Milton McCrory, the undefeated WBC welterweight champion, to unify the welterweight titles.
11.
When he did, Donald Curry dropped him again with a solid right cross.
12.
Donald Curry became the first undisputed welterweight champion since Sugar Ray Leonard retired in 1982.
13.
Donald Curry's opponent was Eduardo Rodriguez, whom he knocked out in the second round with a left-right combination to the head.
14.
Donald Curry told Gorman to stay away from his training camp, but shortly before the fight, Donald Curry asked him to work in his corner for the fight and Gorman agreed.
15.
Honeyghan easily won the opening two rounds, pressuring Donald Curry and rocking him badly in the second round.
16.
Donald Curry came back to win the next two rounds, but he had little left after that.
17.
Donald Curry was drained from struggling to make weight, having to lose 11 pounds three days before the fight.
18.
Akbar Muhammad said Donald Curry weighed 168 pounds six and a half weeks prior to the fight, before he went to New Orleans to train.
19.
Donald Curry told me, 'I don't think I can make the weight.
20.
Donald Curry defeated Tony Montgomery to win the USBA light middleweight title on February 7,1987.
21.
Donald Curry said 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 WBA light middleweight champion Mike McCallum or middleweight champion Hagler.
22.
Donald Curry was going to face McCallum on June 23,1986, but he decided to back out and stay at welterweight.
23.
Donald Curry fought Mike McCallum on July 18,1987, for the WBA light middleweight championship.
24.
Donald Curry tried to have Sugar Ray Leonard, who worked for HBO as a commentator, removed from the broadcast team, but HBO decided to include Leonard as part of the telecast.
25.
Donald Curry traveled to Italy to fight Gianfranco Rosi for the WBC light middleweight title on July 8,1988.
26.
Donald Curry put him down five times, and Rosi retired on his stool after the ninth round.
27.
Donald Curry was a champion, but his reign didn't last very long.
28.
Donald Curry lost the title in his first defense, dropping a twelve-round unanimous decision to the lightly regarded Rene Jacquot on February 11,1989, in France.
29.
Donald Curry built an early lead, but Jacquot came on in the second half of the fight.
30.
In January 1995, Donald Curry was acquitted on all charges, Chambers was found guilty and Longstreet took a plea deal.
31.
Donald Curry said paying for his legal defense destroyed him financially.
32.
In March 1996, Donald Curry was jailed for failing to pay child support.
33.
Donald Curry won work release soon afterward, but that was revoked after he again failed to make support payments.
34.
Donald Curry's next fight was against Emmett Linton, who was one of the boxers Donald Curry trained after he retired from boxing.
35.
Linton said he didn't like the way Donald Curry was handling his career.
36.
Shortly afterward, Donald Curry went to jail for failure to pay child support.
37.
When Donald Curry started his comeback, he asked promoter Bob Arum to get him a fight with Linton.
38.
Donald Curry was dropped in the first round and took a beating over the next six.