Time flies and it’s now virtually a decade since Britain’s Kell Brook tried to shake up the boxing world by difficult feared knockout puncher Gennady Golovkin at The O2 Enviornment in London. Brook was an enormous underdog as he moved from welterweight within the hopes of conquering the Kazakh beast, and within the pre-fight build-up his ballsy problem of one of many battle sport’s most revered skills had pundits recalling different “giant-killers” from the UK, in addition to enormous “shockers” from the previous. However whereas Brook did not shock Golovkin and was stopped in spherical 5, it was in truth a British fighter who, on this date again in 1986, scored one of many greatest ever upsets in boxing historical past.
When Lloyd Honeyghan traveled throughout the pond three many years in the past to problem undisputed welterweight champion Donald Curry, he too was a large underdog. Curry, aka “The Cobra,” was thought of one of many prime pound-for-pound skills, having claimed all of the welterweight belts whereas amassing a glittering 25-0 file. He had demonstrated spectacular talent and punching energy, and was so extremely regarded that previous to his title protection towards Honeyghan there was discuss of a possible superfight with middleweight kingpin Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Thus the end result of Curry vs Honeyghan got here as a large shock to battle followers in every single place.
No upset in sports activities ever happens accidentally; there are at all times the reason why David topples Goliath. Curry vs Honeyghan was no completely different, as there have been plenty of pre-fight elements influencing the end result. Aside from the distractions of getting turn out to be one of many sport’s latest stars, Curry struggled to make weight within the days main as much as the bout. And having logged simply 4 rounds of motion in over a yr, the champion additionally had some critical points when it comes to ring rust. In the meantime, if the Brit was a big underdog, he occurred to even be an undefeated fighter with boundless confidence.
And it was evident from the opening bell that Honeyghan was, not like Curry, primed, ready and prepared for fight. He attacked from the opening bell, winging laborious energy photographs and never exhibiting an oz. of trepidation. And whereas his his bombs weren’t touchdown but, the ferociousness of his assault made it abundantly clear he had no respect for the esteemed champion. In reality, the authority and velocity of Curry’s punches paled compared to these of his rival, because the champion appeared listless and hesitant by comparability. Whereas neither combatant landed any blows of consequence within the first spherical, the Honeyghan took it on sheer aggression.
The brash challenger’s unceasing efforts to land a crushing shot paid off within the second when a lead proper over Curry’s low left rocked “The Lone Star Cobra.” By the remainder of the spherical it was clear who held the benefit as Honeyghan outmuscled Curry to land laborious, energy-sapping physique photographs because the Britisher punctuated the spherical by touchdown one other looping proper. Within the third Honeyghan continued the place he left off, bullying the champion and ripping hooks to the physique at each alternative. Curry lastly confirmed some life, getting residence a tough left hook to the liver adopted by a stable proper to the pinnacle that acquired the Lloyd’s consideration, however the challenger then got here again with a heavy left hook of his personal, decided as he was to maintain his momentum and hold the higher hand.
Early in spherical 5, Honeyghan broke by means of once more to land a vicious left jab-straight proper mixture that severely damage Curry and turned his legs to spaghetti. The champion appeared to recuperate however then halfway by means of the spherical discovered himself once more in serious trouble as he was blinded by Honeyghan’s jab and nailed by one other heavy proper. Ringside commentator Gil Clancy summed up the motion completely: “Honeyghan is just too fast for him … out and in, nailing him with punches and getting again out … simply too fast and too lively.”
Midway by means of spherical six, a foul minimize opened above Curry’s left eye and the match was now a one-sided beating. Honeyghan continued to unload heavy photographs and a right-left-right mixture shocked Curry and buckled his legs once more. It was one other huge spherical for the challenger and it could be the final as shortly after it ended the ringside physician deemed Curry’s minimize too harmful to permit the match to proceed. Followers appeared on in shock as Lloyd Honeyghan celebrated one of many sport’s all-time greatest upsets, an inspiring story from boxing historical past for all of the scrappy underdogs on the market who dream of stunning the world. — Jamie Rebner
