Were these fighters overshadowed in the 80's?

[elgigante]

Donald Curry
Marlon Starling
Mike Mc Callum

I think if they had fought today they would get more recognition. I was going to say Mark Breland too but he got plenty of hype being part of that 84 olympic class. I think these guys would have been much more well remebered in casual boxing circles if not for the Duran/Hearns/Leonard/Hagler foursome. Am i grasping at straws here or does anyone agree? They were a pretty talented group

[Sharkey]

Donald Curry
Marlon Starling
Mike Mc Callum

I think if they had fought today they would get more recognition. I was going to say Mark Breland too but he got plenty of hype being part of that 84 olympic class. I think these guys would have been much more well remebered in casual boxing circles if not for the Duran/Hearns/Leonard/Hagler foursome. Am i grasping at straws here or does anyone agree? They were a pretty talented group

Curry recieved plenty of recognition during his time as Welterweight champion, as he was considered one of the two best fighters in the sport when he was at the peak of his career (along with Hagler), and was thought to be an all-time great in the making...

And I don't know about you, El G, but I've grown a little bit sick of seeing McCallum constantly being mentioned in those "most underrated fighters of all-time" threads that you see on various boxing forums. Sure he was probably a little underrated during his time, but he's getting plenty of attention nowadays for what he did during his career (some give him too much credit, I think).

Starling though...yeah you don't see his name pop up too often and I think he'd be the one guy out of the ones you names that may be mostly forgotten by modern-day fans. He wasn't an all-time great obviously, but the guy was an excellant and very talented Welterweight during his day...Quick and elusive, defensive fighter, who would throw a lot of punches and of course had those excellant left hooks of his.

Umm? I'm not so sure that the fab four that you mentioned didn't help out the Welterweights of the mid/late 80's in some way, as far as the amount of attention they recieved. Curry and Breland both recieved plenty of press during that time (often comparisions to the greats from earlier in the decade), as did the Welterweight division as a whole during the mid/late 80's (with the likes of McCrory, Jones, Starling, LaRocca, Brown, Honeyghan, Blocker, Trice, etc.). From my memory of the boxing mags of the time, it seems that was a division that recieved as much press as any during the late 80's. The division was interesting and it did have some good depth to it...but maybe the attention it recieved had much to do with the earlier success of Leonard, Hearns, Duran, Cuevas, and Benitez?

But anyways, yeah I think Marlon Starling and even Simon Brown deserve to be remembered more nowadays than they actually are (or in the case of Brown, being remembered for something other than the KO loss to Pettway). A couple of very good fighters who'd be right near (or at) the very top of the Welterweight rankings if they were fighting today.

[Tam-Tam]

Simon Brown - Tryone Trice I = absolute classic fight.
Simon Brown - Jorge Vaca = absolute classic slaughter

[Sharkey]

Simon Brown - Tryone Trice I = absolute classic fight.
Simon Brown - Jorge Vaca = absolute classic slaughter

Don't remember seeing Brown/Vaca, but yeah, Brown/Trice I was friggin excellant!

Simon Brown - Shawn O'Sullivan = you'd think I'd have something against Brown, but for some reason I always liked the guy.

But your "classic fight" and "classic slaughter" comments remind me of a fight that I would've LOVED to have seen back in them days, and I think it would've fit both of those comments to an extent (with the "slaughter" part coming at around the midway point in a 15 round fight)...

Simon Brown vs. Lloyd Honeyghan

[Tam-Tam]

Brown-Honeyghan would indeed have been something. Lloyd could box, but he liked to slu a little more....and quite frankly, I don't see Lloyd quite having the firepower to take Brown out (If Brown could take the shellacking he received early from Trice I dunno if Honeyghan could do it)....hence, its the reverse happening.

Brown KO Late, ugly.

[Sharkey]

Brown-Honeyghan would indeed have been something. Lloyd could box, but he liked to slu a little more....and quite frankly, I don't see Lloyd quite having the firepower to take Brown out (If Brown could take the shellacking he received early from Trice I dunno if Honeyghan could do it)....hence, its the reverse happening.

Brown KO Late, ugly.

Yep, that's pretty much the way I see it hapening...Like you said, Lloyd could box behind the jab and had some pretty good defensive skills when in that mode. But the guy was never shy about engaging in the exciting punchups and matching firepower with his opponents, which he did in practically every fight that I can remember from him...

I can easily see Honeyghan jumping out to an early lead while he's in the boxing mode (Brown was very ordinary when an opponent would box him from the outside), but eventually and as was his custom, he's going to stand down and try to exchange with Simon...and when that happens, he's playing right into Brown's game and he's going to pay dearly for that. Heavy left hooks and right hands from Brown, and down goes Honeyghan...again and again over a couple/few rounds, until the fight is finally stopped or Lloyd doesn't get up.

Of course after the fight, Honeyghan will come up with yet another one of his excuses as to why he lost.

[elgigante]

I think Simon Brown is remembered mainly for his win over Terry Norris. And that is a shame considering his overall body of work