Lloyd Honeyghan (born 22 April 1960) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1995. He reigned as the undisputed welterweight champion from 1986 to 1987, and held the WBC, The Ring magazine welterweight titles twice between 1986 and 1989. At regional level he held the British, European and Commonwealth welterweight titles between 1983 and 1985, and the Commonwealth super-welterweight title from 1993 to 1994.
Early life and amateur career Honeyghan was born in Jamaica and spent his early years there living with his grandparents. He came to England at the age of nine to join his parents who had settled in Bermondsey. He took up boxing at the age of 11 with the Fisher Amateur Boxing club. He was a good, rather than an outstanding amateur boxer. He boxed for England but never won an ABA title, being beaten in the English semi-finals by Joey Frost in 1979. In the 1980 ABA championships he was beaten early in the competition on points by Gunther Roomes, at the South East Division of the London championships and decided to turn professional.
Professional career Honeyghan turned professional with Terry Lawless in 1980. He debuted with a six-round points decision victory over fellow novice Mike Sullivan. He won his first 13 fights, including a victory over the tough Kostas Petrou. Before positioning himself for an eliminator against the capable Lloyd Hibbert for the British welterweight title on 18 January 1983. Honeyghan outpointed the future British super-welterweight champion over ten rounds. He followed this by capturing the Southern Area welterweight title with a fourth-round knockout over the dangerous Sid Smith in March 1983.
British welterweight champion Honeyghan captured the British welterweight title via a twelve-round points decision against the tough Cliff Gilpin on 5 April 1983, after suffering the first knockdown of his career in the second round. Honeyghan later stated that Gilpin gave him one of his hardest fights.
He remained busy throughout 1983, travelling to the United States to defeat Kevin Austin, then outpointing US contender Harold Brazier in London before rounding off the year with a clear points victory in a British title rematch with Cliff Gilpin.
In 1984 Honeyghan fought only once, defeating Roberto Mendez. He suffered a broken thumb and had to have a pin inserted into his left hand to keep the bone in place.Jimmy Tibbs "Sparring with life" Trinity Mirror Sport Media 2014
European welterweight champion On 5 January 1985 he captured the European welterweight title with a highly impressive third-round knockout of future two-time super-welterweight world champion Gianfranco Rosi in Perugia, Italy. In sparring preparing for the contest Honeyghan had been knocked out by former ABA champion David Dent, who was not known as a puncher. However, it did not affect his performance as he achieved the rare feat of a foreign fighter obtaining a victory in Italy. Following this, Honeyghan defeated R W Smith (better known as Robert Smith) who is the current General Secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control in six rounds. He kept extremely busy during 1985, defeating three US contenders in world title challenger Roger Stafford, followed by Danny Paul and Ralph Twinning.
Honeyghan and Lawless parted company because Honeyghan believed that Lawless was spending too much time on the career of Frank Bruno and not enough on his career. As such the two could not get on and things came to a head following an altercation between Honeyghan and his trainer Jimmy Tibbs, in the Royal Oak gym run by Lawless. An argument between the two ended up with bystanders having to drag them apart. Following the incident, Lawless banned Honeyghan from his gym; Honeyghan promptly signed with Mickey Duff.Twenty and Out: A Life in Boxing - Mickey Duff
Honeyghan appointed former British featherweight champion Bobby Neill as his new trainer and closed out 1985 with a stoppage victory over fellow world rated Briton and former stablemate Sylvester Mittee, for the British, European, and Commonwealth welterweight titles.
On 20 May 1986 Honeyghan stopped top US contender Horace Shufford in eight rounds in London, earning him a title shot against the unbeaten and undisputed welterweight world champion Donald Curry of the US.
Undisputed welterweight champion
On 27 September 1986, Honeyghan defeated Curry for the undisputed welterweight title. The fight took place in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and was televised by Showtime.
At the time Curry was considered to be one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world with his only possible rival being Marvin Hagler. Honeyghan was given little chance by the majority of the media. However, there were rumours that Curry was having difficulty making the welterweight limit and that this would be his last fight at the weight.
The betting odds prior to the fight were 7.5–1 against Honeyghan. His manager Duff placed a bet of $5,000 on Honeyghan to win. When he told Honeyghan what he had done he said that they could split it down the middle. Duff refused and told him to place his own bets. Honeyghan asked Duff to place a bet of $5,000 on his behalf but when he went back to place the bet the odds had reduced to 6-1 and Duff placed the bet. When he told Honeyghan about the reduced odds he said they could split the difference and again Duff refused.
He caused a major upset by dominating the fight, nearly dropping Curry in the second round, before Curry retired at the end of round six. Curry suffered a broken nose along with cuts to his lip and above his eye, which required 20 stitches. As a result of his bet Honeyghan earned an additional $30,000 and Duff relented and split the difference paying him an additional $3,750 because he was the one who had won the fight.McIlvanney On Boxing
At the press conference before the fight Curry had dismissed his little known and lightly taken British opponent, asking "Who is this ragamuffin?" Because Honeyghan had come to the press conference in casual clothes. Honeyghan thereafter adopted the title 'Raggamuffin' with relish. Embracing his Jamaican heritage where a raggamuffin is a streetwise tough guy. Prior to this his ring moniker had been Lloyd 'Honey' Honeyghan.
The fight had taken place one night after another "expert shocker", when Edwin Rosario knocked out Livingstone Bramble in two rounds to claim the WBA 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).
WBA title vacated Honeyghan disagreed with the WBA's rules that allowed fights to take place in apartheid South Africa, so he publicly and controversially dumped the WBA welterweight title into a London trash bin soon after winning it, relinquishing the title rather than defending it against South African Harold Volbrecht. Honeyghan was criticised for showing a lack of respect after dropping the belt in the trash can, especially as Deuk Koo Kim had lost his life in 1982 when fighting Ray Mancini for the WBA Lightweight title. Honeyghan did admit to regretting his actions, which had resulted after he had been prompted to do so by tabloid newspaper photographers. His stance proved significant, as soon after, the WBA stopped sanctioning fights held in South Africa.
Continued title defences After winning the world title he changed his boxer-puncher style to that of more of a brawler. He became known for his full frontal assault on opponents. Most boxers would spend the early rounds boxing cautiously until they had figured out their opponent's style of fighting. Honeyghan went for a knockout from the opening bell. Asked why he had changed his fighting style Honeyghan quipped "You don't get paid for overtime in this business."
In his first defence, after dominating and flooring his opponent in the first round. He caused controversy by (legally at that time) racing across the ring and trying to hit his opponent, former super-lightweight world champion Johnny Bumphus, as soon as the bell sounded to start the second round. Honeyghan threw a left hook which missed but the momentum from his forearm knocked an unsteady Bumphus to the canvas. Honeyghan had a point deducted from his score and Bumphus was given time to recover. However, the fight had already been knocked out of him and he did not last much longer. Asked why he had done this, Honeyghan stated "The bell went ding and I went dong." The rules were changed following this incident so that at the beginning of each round the referee stands in the middle of the ring instead of in a neutral corner, as it had previously been, to prevent punches being thrown until both fighters are ready.
In his second defence of the title, Honeyghan defeated the then unbeaten future world champion Maurice Blocker on points. He became a crowd pleaser with his all action style of fighting and recorded one of the fastest wins in a world title fight with a 45 second blowout of former Super-lightweight champion Gene Hatcher of the US. His manager Duff said after the fight "The best fighter I have been involved with was John Conteh, even though he never reached his full potential. Lloyd is catching him up fast. I've never known a more dedicated fighter."
Losing the titles
He controversially lost his WBC title to Jorge Vaca in 1987 when a clash of heads meant that the fight had to be stopped due to a cut sustained by Vaca. Vaca had come in as a late replacement for Bobby Joe Young who had been deemed an unacceptable opponent by the British Boxing Board of Control. Honeyghan was expected to win the fight as Vaca was a relatively unknown fighter. However, an off form Honeyghan was given plenty of trouble by the heavy-handed Mexican. The WBC implemented their technical decision rule (which has now been withdrawn) and Honeyghan had a point deducted from his score, even though the clash of heads had been deemed accidental and the round had not been completed. Without the point deduction the fight would have been a draw meaning that Honeyghan would have retained his title. After the point deduction the scorecards favoured Vaca and he became the new champion. The fight was not for the IBF title which was declared vacant and was subsequently won by Simon Brown. Many fans said that Vaca had been given the decision because the WBC who are based in Mexico were holding their convention in London during the week of the fight.
Honeyghan became only the second British boxer in history to regain a world title, when he knocked Vaca out with an uppercut to the Solar plexus in a return fight for the WBC title in the third round. The first being Ted "Kid" Lewis earlier in the 20th century. In the post-fight press conference Honeyghan, who could at times be an outspoken character, expressed his views on Mickey Duff, stating "Mickey and I don't mix outside of boxing, he looks at me as a pawn, a commodity. I don't like him." This elicited a memorable response from Duff who stated "There is nothing in our contract that says we have to like each other I will continue to do the best job I can for him."