Lloyd Honeyghan carries a low profile these days. The former welterweight king who lit up the 147 pound division in one huge way back in the 1980s, his all-action style along with his bad boy image thrilling fans, suffered some heart problems a few years back, but he is thankfully very much still with us. Indeed, Honeyghan celebrates his 65th birthday today. Honeyghan will of course always, always be best remembered for one fight, for one huge upset: the TKO win he scored over Donald Curry in September of 1986. To this day, plenty of fight fans refer to the win Honeyghan pulled off as THE biggest upset ever scored by a British boxer when fighting away from home.
Honeyghan really was a relentless fighting machine the night he smashed his way through Curry. Honeyghan never allowed Curry, a quite meticulous fighter, to get set, to get into any kind of a rhythm that night. Honeyghan battered the fight clean out of Curry, eventually forcing “The Lone Star Cobra” to quit on his stool after six brutal rounds. It was an unthinkable upset. Or at least it had been.
And Honeyghan he was a welterweight champion to stay. In fact, the Jamaican-born warrior became a two-time welterweight champion. Honeyghan, a perfect 27-0 when challenging the likewise unbeaten Curry, who was 25-0, had won the British, the Commonwealth and the European titles. Having earned his stripes in some tough or potentially tough fights – against the likes of Harold Brazier, Gianfranco Rossi and Sylvester Mittee – Honeyghan was a pretty seasoned fighter at the age of 26. That said, not too many Curry supporters had heard too much about Honeyghan. How Lloyd would tear up the script.
Honeyghan, who reportedly bet a ton of money on himself to stop Curry, set about proving his own greatness. Wins over Johnny Bumphus, Maurice Blocker and Gene Hatcher followed the Curry shocker, before Honeyghan himself fell victim to a big upset. The largely unheralded yet tough (and dirty) Jorge Vaca won a TD victory over Honeyghan in October of 1987 (Vaca cut from a head-clash, ahead on points at the time, getting the win). Honeyghan destroyed Vaca in the rematch, becoming a two-time champ.
One retention followed, against Yung-Kil Chung, before Honeyghan met the classy and underrated Marlon Starling. The ruthless beating “The Magic Man” gave Honeyghan all but ended Lloyd’s time as anything like an elite fighter. Starling and Honeyghan had some seriously bad blood and Starling punished his rival; Starling stopping a busted up Honeyghan in the ninth round.
By the time he fought Mark Breland (for the WBA belt he himself had binned after the Curry win, this due to his political beliefs), 30 year old Honeyghan was every bit a shot fighter. Blasted to defeat inside three rounds, Honeyghan appeared to having no punch resistance left at all. Still, Honeyghan fought on. A few low-key wins came up at 154 pounds, before Honeyghan beat Mickey Hughes to win the Commonwealth belt. Then came a big fight with Vinny Paz, which Honeyghan lost via 10th round TKO. Just three fights more, two wins and a loss, and Honeyghan was done.
Exiting with a good 43-5(30) record, Honeyghan is very much remembered, revered even, even if he is scarcely seen in public these days. Whatever he is doing, and wherever he is, let’s hope “The Ragamuffin Man” has himself a great 65th birthday today.