Donald Curry defended his USBA light middleweight title against Carlos Santos
Date: April 4, 1987
Venue: Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
Curry stance: orthodox
Santos stance: southpaw
Donald Curry was an outstanding amateur who was deprived of a chance of Olympics glory by the American boycott of the 1980 games in Moscow. Curry turned pro later that year, and improved steadily. He won the vacant WBA welterweight title in his 16th bout with a points win over Jun-Suk Hwang, Curry's second defence was a rematch with Marlon Starling, and he also acquired the inaugural IBF belt when he won that fight. Five fights later, Curry became the undisputed welterweight champion when he knocked out WBC title holder Milton McCrory in the second round. Later that year, Curry lost everything when he was stopped in the sixth round by Lloyd Honeyghan. Curry moved up to light middleweight and won the USBA title thanks to a fifth round disqualification of Tony Montgomery.
Carlos Santos turned pro in 1975. In 1981 he challenged Wilfred Benitez for his WBC light middleweight title. Santos lost on points. This was the first ever world title bout between two Puerto Ricans. Santos won the WBA light middleweight title in 1984 with a points verdict over Mark Medal. In his second defence, Santos lost to Buster Drayton by split decision in 1986. Three months later, Santos' light middleweight opponent was a no show, so a heavyweight boxer was brought on as a substitute. Santos overcame more than 40lb in weight, plus significant height and reach to knock him out in the first round.
For an in depth look at their respective records, visit:
Donald Curry - https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/612
Carlos Santos - https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/822
