A Boxing Memory: Lloyd Honeyghan
It was a seismic upset. Donald Curry, the undefeated and undisputed welterweight champion of the world, was seemingly on another level to his brash but unheralded British challenger. There was little interest in the fight. Even the British press largely stayed at home. Curry was heading towards supposed immortality. His opponent was heading to a painful, one-sided defeat. Marvelous Marvin Hagler was looming. But Lloyd Honeyghan upset a lot of plans and ruined a career. But he made his.
It was the one-sided demolition most predicted. But nobody predicted the owner of the fists that were handing down the savage beating. There were excuses from the Curry camp. In truth, they had a ring of truth. But the performance of Honeyghan should not be dismissed. Or forgotten. He was inspired. He was quite brilliant. Curry quit on his stool after six brutal rounds, and Britain had itself an undisputed world welterweight champion.
Before that famous night in Atlantic City, the life of Lloyd Honeyghan started in Jamaica in 1960, and when he was nine, he joined his family and settled in Bermondsey. Two years later, his life in boxing started at the Fisher Amateur Boxing Club.
Despite never winning an ABA title, Honeyghan was an excellent amateur, although Mickey Duff said, 'He was nothing special.' But as a professional, special he most certainly was. An England International in the unpaid ranks, he reached the semi-finals of the 1979 ABA's, but after an early exit the following year, Honeyghan decided to turn professional in 1980 under Terry Lawless.
A six-round points win over Mike Sullivan started the professional journey. Honeyghan stayed unbeaten, winning against the likes of Kostas Petrou and Lloyd Hibbert, and in 1983, he got up off the canvas in the second round to beat Cliff Gilpin to lift the British welterweight title. In early 1985, Honeyghan travelled to Italy and knocked out hometown hero and future two-time world champion Gianfranco Rosi in three rounds. A performance that has aged extremely well. Duff said it was the fight that told them just how good a prospect they had on their hands.
But Honeyghan and Lawless split soon after the impressive win over Rossi. There were internal tensions with Honeyghan believing Lawless was spending too much time with his heavyweight prospect, Frank Bruno. The split wasn't pretty, and Lawless apparently threw Honeyghan out of the gym. There was always a hint of controversy about the future world champion.
The British fighter kept his winning run going beating the likes of Robert Smith and Roger Stafford. A repeat win over Gilpin also followed, and he claimed the Commonwealth title by stopping Sylvester Mittee in 1985. Honeyghan then moved up to world level and stopped the American Horrace Shufford at Wembley and was now in prime position to face the supposedly unbeatable Donald Curry. In his autobiography, Mickey Duff referenced the incredible self-belief of Honeyghan and said the fighter couldn't see him losing to anybody. An attitude he certainly needed against Curry. If one win ever made a career, it was that one. Despite all the weight-making woes of Curry, and trust me, they were genuine, Honeyghan who was 26, and unbeaten in twenty-seven fights at the time, deserves all the plaudits for possibly the best-ever win on American soil by a British fighter. Honeyghan and his trainer Bobby Neill devised a masterplan, with the intent being to repeatedly back Curry up. From the opening seconds, that is exactly what he did.
The undisputed tag didn't last for long. At the height of apartheid, the WBA wanted Honeyghan to fight the South African fighter, Harold Volbrecht. Honeyghan dropped the title on principle. In truth, he dropped the belt in a dustbin for a distasteful publicity shot.
Honeyghan made three successful defences of his remaining titles. The excellent American Maurice Blocker was outpointed in a tough fight in 1987. But on either side of the win over Blocker, Honeyghan blasted out former world champions Johnny Bumphus and Gene Hatcher.
But there were rumours of personal problems and ongoing issues with his brittle hands, and Honeyghan didn't seem himself when he lost his WBC title to the strong but limited Mexican Jorge Vaca. The IBF bauble wasn't on the line but was subsequently declared vacant as a result of Honeyghan losing in London. An accidental headbutt left Vaca unable to continue. It was ruled an accident, but it still cost Honeyghan a point and his world titles. The one-point penalty was the difference. It went to the cards, and Honeyghan was now an ex-champion. It not only cost Honeyghan his precious belts but also a lucrative deal with HBO.
They rematched the following March, and this time, Honeyghan was inspired. Vaca was paid handsomely, but this time, he met a Honeyghan who was in the mood for revenge. Honeyghan gambled everything on an early finish, including his career. And it came. Vaca was dispatched in three rounds. Honeyghan became the first British fighter to regain a world title since 1917, when Ted 'Kid' Lewis regained his world welterweight title from regular opponent Jack Britton in Cincinnati.
There was another stoppage victory when Young Kil Jung didn't recover from a low blow, and the fight was called off after five rounds. Honeyghan had retained his title, but the end was coming. In early 1989, Marlon Starling brutally ended the world title days of Honeyghan. After a decent enough start, Honeyghan was outclassed, and it was thankfully called off after nine savage rounds. The British fighter wasn't helped by a grotesque swelling on his face. "A nerve went every time Starling caught me. It was like putting a knife in. I can't remember exactly when it started, the fourth I think, but from then on, it was murder," Honeyghan said of his injury. That loss took away plenty from Honeyghan.
Honeyghan had one final chance to reclaim past glories the following year. But the Wembley Arena faithful were in no mood for remembrance when Breland blew Honeyghan away in three desperately sad rounds. Honeyghan was the recipient of unfair boos. He deserved better. It was a sad night in many ways. Honeyghan offered only feeble resistance, and he looked like a shot fighter.
It looked like the end, but Honeyghan moved up a weight, strung a series of wins together, and managed to win the Commonwealth light-middleweight title courtesy of a 5th-round victory over Mickey Hughes in 1993. But the Indian Summer of his career ended with two defeats in his final four fights. Vinnie Pazienza stopped him in ten rounds in Atlantic City, and in his final fight in 1995, Adrian Dodson was far too much for him and put the final nail in the career of Honeyghan after three rounds.
Much of his prime was taken away by his ongoing battle with his damaged hands, and the fearful beating Honeyghan received at the hands of Starling, and one that took something away that couldn't be put back. Honeyghan always skirted with controversy, he practically embraced it. Always vocal and often outspoken. He was most certainly a required taste. But he could fight, of that there is no doubt. The relationship with Duff was always seemingly fractured, but it worked. Duff famously once said after a typical Honeyghan outburst, "There is nothing in our contract that says we have to like each other. I will continue to do the best job I can for him."
But in that way too short period when Honeyghan was on top of the boxing world, the "Ragamuffin Man" was at that time, simply the man. He was pure box office. Love or hate, you watched.
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