Former undisputed welterweight champion and former junior middleweight champion Donald Curry. Photo courtesy of the International Boxing Hall of Fame
He was a superb boxer and brilliant technical fighter who won titles in two divisions, always facing the best men of his time. 61 years ago today the great Donald Curry was born.
Donald Curry was born on September 7, 1961 in Fort Worth, Texas. According to his own recollections, he claims to have lost just four bouts in more than 400 amateur fights and, although some records differ, the numbers appear to be correct. In 1980, Curry defeated future world champion Davey Moore in the US Olympic Trials, but was unable to compete in the Moscow Olympics due to the US boycott of those games.
He turned pro in 1980 at 19 years of age, earned his first world title belt just 16 fights and three years later with a decision over Jun-Suk Hwang to pick up the WBA welterweight trinket, and made seven defenses of that belt, adding the inaugural IBF belt against Marlon Starling a year later and then unifying those with the WBC belt in a memorable battle against Milton McCrory in 1985.
Two fights later, Curry suffered a major upset against British-Jamaican contender Lloyd Honeyghan, losing his belts in a sixth-round stoppage. Curry immediately moved up in weight, winning a couple of fights before trying and failing to lift a junior middleweight title in a fight against Mike McCallum.
Curry would ultimately win a title in a second division with his victory over Italy’s WBC champion Gianfranco Rossi in 1988, losing it in his first defense against Rene Jacquot the following year.
After two stoppage losses (one in 1990 against Michael Nunn for the IBF middleweight belt and one in 1991 against Terry Norris for the WBC junior middleweight title), Curry announced his retirement. He would add another win and a loss to his record in an ill-advised return to action in 1997, but not before being indicted and later acquitted of all charges in connection with a drug case. He also spent time in jail for failing to pay child support, later claiming that those financial problems forced him to return to boxing prematurely and ultimately unsuccessfully.
He retired with a record of 34-6 with 25 knockouts. In 2019, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Diego M. Morilla has been writing for The Ring since 2013. He has also written for HBO.com, ESPN.com and many other magazines, websites, newspapers and other outlets since 1993. He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and an electing member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He has won two first place awards in the BWAA’s annual writing contest and is the moderator of The Ring’s women’s ratings panel. He served as editor for the second era of The Ring en Español (2018-2020) and is currently a writer and editor for RingTV.com. Follow him on Twitter @MorillaBoxing
