Marlon Starling (born August 29, 1959) is an American former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who competed from 1979 to 1990. He held the WBA

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

title from 1987 to 1988 and the WBC welterweight title from 1989 to 1990.

Professional boxing career

Starling was born in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

in 1959. He got his start with help from coach, Johnny Duke, who helped him train for the national Junior Olympics championship. He turned professional in 1979. After 25 straight wins to start his professional career, he lost his first fight, a 12-round split-decision to

Donald Curry Donald Curry (born September 7, 1961), is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1991, and in 1997. He held the WBA world welterweight title from 1983 to 1986, the undisputed world welterweight title from 1985 to 1986 a ...

in 1982. Starling had a rematch with Curry in 1984, challenging for the WBA and

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

titles. Starling lost by a 15-round decision. Starling's fighting style features what is referred to as a high guard. Starling's second world title fight came in 1987. He knocked out

Mark Breland Mark Anthony Breland (born May 11, 1963) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 1997, and held the WBA welterweight title twice between 1987 and 1990. He later became an actor with a wide range of movie and television ...

in the 11th round to win the WBA welterweight title. In his third title defense, Starling lost the title in controversial fashion to

Tomas Molinares Tomas may refer to: People * Tomás (given name), a Spanish, Portuguese, and Gaelic given name * Tomas (given name), a Swedish, Dutch, and Lithuanian given name * Tomáš, a Czech and Slovak given name * Tomas (surname), a French and Croatian surna ...

. Molinares hit Starling with a punch that was thrown around the same time as the bell sounded to end round six. Starling went down for the only time in his career, and the referee counted him out. Molinares was declared the new champion by knock out. However, the decision was later changed to a no contest but the Colombian kept the title. In 1989, Starling knocked out

Lloyd Honeyghan 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 twic ...

to win the WBC welterweight titles. The following year, Starling challenged

Michael Nunn Michael John Nunn (born April 14, 1963) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2002. He is a two-weight world champion, having held the IBF middleweight title from 1988 to 1991, and the WBA super middleweight title ...

for the

middleweight title, but lost by decision. In his next fight, Starling lost his welterweight titles in a close decision to

Maurice Blocker Maurice Blocker (born May 15, 1963) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1982 to 1995. He was a two-time welterweight world champion, having held the WBC title from 1990 to 1991, and the IBF title from 1991 to 1992. He als ...

. That was Starling's last fight. He retired with a record of 45-6-1-1 (27 KOs).

Professional boxing record

References

External links

*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starling, Marlon 1959 births Living people American male boxers African-American boxers Boxers from Connecticut Sportspeople from Hartford, Connecticut Welterweight boxers World welterweight boxing champions World Boxing Association champions World Boxing Council champions The Ring (magazine) champions

Professional boxing career

Professional boxing record

See also

References

External links