Laing V Honeyghan

Another one of those fights that could and should have been made, but due to differing trajectories of their careers never happened. For me this is a really difficult one to call- my heart says Laing, as he was undoubtedly one of my favorite ever fighters, many found his somewhat casual approach to his profession infuriating, but to me it was part of his appeal. I can see Laing landing faster straighter counters through Honeyghans arching hooks, and him slowly busting him up, but that's probably wishful thinking. Lloyd himself, before he wrongly decided he was devasting slugger, possessed good skills, his punches were much better timed than they sometimes appeared to be, and he could be pretty elusive with it. Both men were prone to lapses in concentration, more costly in Laings case, but the purpose of this exercise, lets assume it's the Laing that beat Duran rather than the one that threw it away against Buck, and the Honeyghan that beat Curry, not the one that saw red against Starling. I guess that many would look at what happened to Laing when he fought Jones, and therefore reason that the same could happen against Honeyghan, which I guess is a reasonable assumption, on his night Laing was as skilled a fighter as Britain ever produced and would out box Lloyd, the question being could he keep focussed for 12 rounds?

People tend to forget what a good boxer Honeyghan was, as horizontalhero says. At his best, he never went walkabout in the ring - he was strictly business. Laing did it loads of times; I remember going to a show where he was matched against an American journeyman called Sammy Floyd, scraped an undeserved points win and was booed out of the ring. He just didn't care. He could box brilliantly against great fighters for a few rounds, but you knew that a loss of concentration was on its way at some stage.

It should be remembered as well that the Duran who was beaten by Laing also came quite close to defeat against Jimmy Batten! At that time, the 154 lb Duran was ready for the taking. I don't mean to belittle Kirk, who was a huge talent, but I could never tip him to beat Honeyghan over 12 or 15. Honeyghan may not have punched quite as venomously as Colin Jones, but he hit plenty hard enough (ask Gianfranco Rosi), and I see him already having overcome an early points deficit by the time he nailed Laing to the canvas, somewhere around the tenth or eleventh. Honeyghan was a proper fighter, something that his mystifying later belief that he was a one-punch KO artist shouldn't blind us to.

I agree that the'Raggamuffing Man' was a very underrated boxer and I would blame his managment team for what he became by setting him up a couple of 140 pounders for his first 2 defences and he obliterated them.

Back to questuin in hand. Laing was avery good boxer, but too inconsistent and a majority of the time ill prepared. Laing would have his moments in the first 4 rounds but with Lloyd switchnig between orthodox and southpaw and catching Kirkland with shots up and down; I would expect a stoppage win for honeyghan in 9 rounds. I think a closer fight would have been Slyvester Mittee against Laing and Kirland might have just edged that one.

i'm going with the consensus here, despite what truss would have us believe, prime honey was an excellent all round fighter before he went big time charlie on the party scene and headhunting in the ring. Laing is a classic boxing what if. All the talent in the world, but wasted on weed. Assuming they were both up and motivated, i'd say this would be a great fight for 6-8 rounds, but its hard to see anything other than honey coming on strong, late on. Late stoppage most likely or a clear but close points win for me.

agree with mikey that mittee laing too would have been a good fight... always had a soft spot for mittee, decent fighter and quite a character... touch unlucky to get honey at close to his best.

Laing for me....Honeyghan in his prime couldn't get Blocker out there and he was the same size as Laing without Laing's talent!!!

I guess we are talking about these guys at their best aren't we??

Glad the Captain sees something Starling, Breland, KO and Ring magazines couldn't see...

Jorge Vaca???

Above average Honey..Laing was high end of world class..at his best.

Nonsense, Truss, Blocker was a better fighter than Laing and has the victories to prove it. Take away the Duran win, which you often do by saying that Duran was beaten by every slickster he ever faced, and you're struggling to find anything approaching the standard of Rosi, Curry or Blocker in the Laing W column.

captain carrantuohil wrote:Nonsense, Truss, Blocker was a better fighter than Laing and has the victories to prove it. Take away the Duran win, which you often do by saying that Duran was beaten by every slickster he ever faced, and you're struggling to find anything approaching the standard of Rosi, Curry or Blocker in the Laing W column.

Having the better legacy doesn't mean he is the better fighter.

Didn't have as much talent, I grant you, but Honeyghan was the better fighter. His record says so, the men he beat say so and the men to whom Laing lost also argue that Kirk's level was pretty good, but a notch below the top. You can't go losing to the fringe world-class merchants like Hutchings, Boucher, LaRocca and so on, not to mention get sparked by Jones, and expect to be compared with someone who was damned difficult to beat for the part of his career that counted.

Prime for prime you'd have to fancy Honeyghan he wasn't just a gunslinger as many portray. Laing payed the price against Colin Jones and Honeyghan is much more rounded than Colin, I think Laing would do well to hear the last bell, Honeyghan is just far too rounded.

Laing lacked the application but had the greater skills in my opinion..

Thought Honey was an above average fighter who got lucky..hence the trash opposition he was fed...Bumphus, Hatcher,Vaca etc....

"Honey certainly wasn't a slouch" KO magazine...

"I see a guy with an ok punch but what else does he have" Starling..

"Just a brawler" Breland...


Respect you Captain.... but they kind of backed up everything they said didn't they...

One thing Azumah and I agreed on was Starling smashes the crap out of him anytime, anywhere..as does Curry at 154..

Yung kil chung troubled this guy and Blocker was average.....Laing was better in all departments..

Hey all about opinions though..

Honeyghan was way past it against Starling, but I agree Marlon gives Honeyghan fits anytime.

You're forgetting one thing Laing is no Starling not half as cute, you don't become the one belt holder in a premier division by being average.

Paul Ingle said Billy Hardy was the hardest puncher he ever faced, doesn't mean much, usually fighters talk a load of hyperbole just to make the media

You're forgetting one thing Laing is no Starling........

No, really??

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:You're forgetting one thing Laing is no Starling........

No, really??

Made more sense than your argument.

such and such said this, such and such said that. The record book don't lie, Honeyghan was better than Laing.

Oh okay.......

Guess mosley was better than Forrest then huh!!! according to the record book....better record an all that.

dumbass.

mikeymax71 wrote:I think a closer fight would have been Slyvester Mittee against Laing and Kirland might have just edged that one.

Laing and Mittee did fight, Laing won it in 5.

Guys I'm commenting on who would win a perspective fight..

Record book shows that Curry is a better fighter than Honey....that Norris is a better fighter than Jackson..Ali-Norton, Robbo-Turpin etc etc etc..

Means zilcho................

My quotes are from guys that pointed out Honey's limitations and showed them up.....

Much better case in my opinion...

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Oh okay.......

Guess mosley was better than Forrest then huh!!! according to the record book....better record an all that.

dumbass.

Dumbass ?

Oh lordy lord, have we a 15 year old teenage girl let loose tonight?

Please refrain from silly insults sir, if you're going to be taken seriously, momma ought to taught you about manners.

I guess you're the type of fella whose not gonna give credit to Honeyghan for beating Curry ?

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:Guys I'm commenting on who would win a perspective fight..

Record book shows that Curry is a better fighter than Honey....that Norris is a better fighter than Jackson..Ali-Norton, Robbo-Turpin etc etc etc..

Means zilcho................

My quotes are from guys that pointed out Honey's limitations and showed them up.....

Much better case in my opinion...

Okay then Laing loses to Jones who loses to Curry who loses to Honey.

Your argument is as weak as that.

You said he had the better record as a reason he wins!!! and I put Mosley/Forrest up as rebuttal..

Yep I'm a 15 yr old girl who seems to be able toconstruct an argument better than you can...

Say's a lot about you doesn't it!!! ..now p**s off with your insults.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:You said he had the better record as a reason he wins!!! and I put Mosley/Forrest up as rebuttal..

Yep I'm a 15 yr old girl who seems to be able toconstruct an argument better than you can...

Say's a lot about you doesn't it!!! ..now p**s off with your insults.

Your argument hasn't convinced anyone else bar yourself, I don't intend to be insulting can't see your problem

However anybody who uses dumbass should have the keyboard taken away from them, it's something I'd hear in saved by the bell.

Have a pleasant evening

I think I'll quit while I'm ahead..

That's what Curry said, Truss.

Very good....

superflyweight wrote:That's what Curry said, Truss.

Superb, If I had an ounce of wit I would've said that.

Hats off sir!

Despite Truss' forceful comments, still can't see Laing getting the better Lloyd and I would also say that by the Starling fight, for me Lloyd was not even world class anymore. However, I do agree that Starling would always have been wrong for Lloyd. Defensively sound and great skillset.

Lloyd Honeyghan was a decent world champion and beats Kirkland Lang quite easily, although Lang was very skillful no way he would have enough to win over a world class all round fighter like Honeyghan.

Atila wrote:

mikeymax71 wrote:I think a closer fight would have been Slyvester Mittee against Laing and Kirland might have just edged that one.

Laing and Mittee did fight, Laing won it in 5.

this morning, i couldn't find my keys, lost my mobile phone, and left a pitching wedge by the 7th green of my local golf course. I realise i can now add, completely forgetting about a fight i watched. Old age is a terrible thing.

maybe that senility is why i still think leonard beat hagler!

milkyboy wrote:

Atila wrote:

mikeymax71 wrote:I think a closer fight would have been Slyvester Mittee against Laing and Kirland might have just edged that one.

Laing and Mittee did fight, Laing won it in 5.

this morning, i couldn't find my keys, lost my mobile phone, and left a pitching wedge by the 7th green of my local golf course. I realise i can now add, completely forgetting about a fight i watched. Old age is a terrible thing.

maybe that senility is why i still think leonard beat hagler!

You're still twisting that knife in my back.

good article, first thought was that Laing would be too much.however, Honey at his peak was defo a proper bona fide champ,something Laing never achieved.Got to go with Honeyghan.

Haven't seen enough of Laing to make a call on a fight between these two, but what's been troubling me for some time is, outside the Curry win, where else is there to be found a genuinely world class performance on Honey's resume?

Herman Frotchlinger wrote:Haven't seen enough of Laing to make a call on a fight between these two, but what's been troubling me for some time is, outside the Curry win, where else is there to be found a genuinely world class performance on Honey's resume?

He KO'd Rossi, who went on to win a world light middle weight title, outpointed Maurice Blocker, who subsequently won a portion of the title, beat vaca in the rematch, who would continue to feature on the fringes of world class level, so there are a few, but not beating Starling, Breland or fighting Brown means there are no other wins over anyone that you would class as being the elite of the division at the time.

Herman Frotchlinger wrote:Haven't seen enough of Laing to make a call on a fight between these two, but what's been troubling me for some time is, outside the Curry win, where else is there to be found a genuinely world class performance on Honey's resume?

This could be said about virtually all of Britain's world champs, so I do not know why you find it troubling in regards to Honeyghan.

Honeyghan's opponents when he was champ were not that bad.