Lloyd Honeyghan is a retired
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
boxerBoxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
. Born in
JamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, he was
WBCThe World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...
/
WBAThe World Boxing Association is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title at the professional level. It was previously known as the National Boxing Association before changing its name in 1962...
&
IBFThe International Boxing Federation or IBF is one of four major organizations recognized by IBHOF which sanction world championship boxing bouts, alongside the WBA, WBC and WBO.- History :...
welterweightWelterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
champion from 1986 to 1987. and
WBCThe World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...
welterweight champion from 1988 to 1989.
Honeyghan stunned the boxing fraternity when he forced super-star
Donald CurryDonald Curry is a retired boxer from Fort Worth, Texas, United States. Nicknamed the "Lone Star Cobra," Curry was the Undisputed World Welterweight Champion and the WBC Super Welterweight Champion.-Amateur career:...
to retire at the end of round six on 27 September of 1986 to win the world Welterweight title. Before the fight Curry dismissed his unknown foreign opponent, asking "Who is this ragamuffin?". Honeyghan adopted the title "ragamuffin" or "Ragamuffin Man" with relish.
The fight had taken place one night after another "expert shocker", when
Edwin RosarioEdwin "El Chapo" Rosario was a Puerto Rican boxer. He was the WBC world lightweight champion from 1983–84 and the WBA world champion in 1986–87 and again in 1989–90...
knocked out
Livingstone BrambleRas-I Alujah Bramble is a boxer. However, Bramble was raised on Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. He became the first world champion from Saint Kitts and Nevis. As of 2005, Bramble is still active in professional boxing...
in two rounds to claim the WBA world Lightweight title, and one week after Honeyghan's win, Ring Magazine mentioned his victory on their "Weekend of shockers!" issue's cover. (Rosario's photo was featured on the cover of that issue).
He then changed his boxer-puncher style to that of more of an out-and-out slugger.In his first defence he caused controversy by racing across the ring and hitting his opponent
Johnny BumphusJohnny 'Bump City' Bumphus , is a former boxer who was world light welterweight champion.-Professional career:...
as soon as the bell sounded at the start of the second round. Bumphus was given time to recover but the fight had been knocked out of him already and he did not last much longer. In his second defence of the title, Honeyghan defeated American
Maurice BlockerMaurice Blocker was a professional boxer in the welterweight division.Blocker turned pro in 1982 and lost his first title shot in 1987 to Lloyd Honeyghan. In 1990 he captured the Lineal and WBC Welterweight Titles from Marlon Starling, but lost them in his next fight to Simon Brown...
on points. He become a crowd pleaser with his all action style of fighting and recorded one of the fastest wins in a world title fight with a 40 second blow-out of former light welterweight champion
Gene HatcherRonald Hatcher Jr. , better known as "Gene Hatcher," is a former boxer who was world light welterweight champion. His nickname was "Mad Dog."-Amateur career:Hatcher was a United States Amateur Champion...
.
He lost his title to
Jorge VacaJorge Vaca Jorge Vaca Jorge Vaca (born December 14, 1959 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, was a professional boxer in the welterweight (147lb) division.Vaca turned pro in 1978 and captured the WBC Welterweight Title by beating Lloyd Honeyghan via 8th round technical decision in 1987, but lost the...
in 1987 when a clash of heads meant that the fight had to be stopped due to a cut sustained by Vaca. The scorecards at the time of the stoppage favoured Vaca.
Honeyghan became only the second British boxer in history to regain a world title when he knocked Vaca out in a return fight, the first being Ted "Kid" Lewis earlier in the 20th century.
Honeyghan disagreed with the WBA's rules that allowed fights to take place in apartheid
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, so he publicly dumped the WBA Welterweight belt into a
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
trash bin soon after winning it, relinquishing the title rather than defending it against South African Harold Volbrecht. This move would prove significant, as soon after, the WBA stopped sanctioning fights held in South Africa.
He had to apologise to the WBA for his previous actions in order to fight for the WBA title in 1990 against
Mark BrelandMark Anthony Breland is a former world champion boxer, who won five New York Golden Gloves Titles and a gold medal at the 1984 Olympics...
. By this time Honeyghan was past his best having lost the WBC title to
Marlon StarlingMarlon "Magic Man" Starling was a two-time US world champion boxer.Starling was born in Hartford, CT in 1959. He turned professional in 1979. After 25 straight wins, he lost his first fight. He lost a 12 round decision to Donald Curry in 1982. Starling had a rematch with Curry in 1984, challenging...
in 1989 and was stopped in 3 rounds after being knocked down 6 times. Honeyghan claimed to be weight-weakened, but was probably suffering from the effects of the punishment he had taken in the Starling fight.
He carried on boxing at light-middleweight and was still good enough to win the Commonwealth title at this weight. He retired after he was stopped by Adrian Dodson in 1995. Following his retirement he tried his hand at boxing promoting but without the contacts did not make much of an impact.
Lloyd once stated before a title fight against Maurice Blocker, that if he couldn't get a bout with Sugar Ray Leonard, he would retire, although his manager and promoter, Mickey Duff, said this was nonsense.
He is a speaker on the after dinner circuit and sometimes can be found ringside at some of the major shows in London.
See also
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