Stracey traveled to Mexico City on December 6, 1975, to challenge Nápoles inside a bullring more than 7,000 feet above sea level. Nápoles had held the championship for most of the previous six years and made 10 successful defenses during his second reign.
The night almost ended immediately. A left hook dropped Stracey in the opening round, and Nápoles attacked in search of a quick finish. Stracey survived, settled himself and began driving his jab into the champion’s face.
That preparation was not accidental. Stracey spent a month in Mexico adjusting to the altitude and had sparred with Nápoles in London several years earlier. He knew the champion’s habits and understood that his jab was the weapon that would change the fight.
By the sixth, Nápoles was badly cut and trapped against the ropes. Referee Octavio Meyran stopped the punishment with approximately 30 seconds remaining. Stracey had dethroned one of the finest welterweights in boxing history after climbing off the canvas in the champion’s country. Nápoles never fought again.
Lloyd Honeyghan faced an even more frightening task against Donald Curry in Atlantic City on September 27, 1986.
Curry was 25-0 with 20 knockouts and regarded by many as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. Nine months earlier, he had demolished Milton McCrory in two rounds to become the undisputed welterweight champion.
Honeyghan was known in Britain but received little respect in America. The Guardian dismissed him as a no-hope, bookmakers installed him as a 7-to-1 underdog, and Curry insulted his casual clothing by asking, “Who is this ragamuffin?”
Six rounds later, Curry had his answer. Honeyghan attacked him without reverence, roughed him up, and turned the presumed mismatch into a beating. With Curry’s face cut and swollen, his corner stopped the fight before the seventh round. Honeyghan then adopted “Ragamuffin Man” as his nickname.
That was not a popular fighter defeating another attraction in a lucrative Las Vegas event. It was a largely dismissed challenger dismantling the boxer considered the best in the world.
Ryan gives Benn a dangerous fight. His left hook, hand speed and counterpunching can punish Benn if the British fighter charges forward without protecting himself. A Benn win would also be commercially enormous and place his name in the WBC record book beside Stracey and Honeyghan. It would not be the same class of victory.
Ryan has never established himself as the leading welterweight in boxing. He brings a massive following, highlight-reel speed, and the kind of celebrity that sells an event before either man throws a punch. That is very different from Nápoles’ long championship reign or Curry’s position at the top of the sport.
This is where the historical sales pitch gets carried away. Winning the same green belt does not make every achievement equal. Stracey conquered altitude, recovered from a knockdown and retired a great champion. Honeyghan crossed the Atlantic as a 7-to-1 underdog and battered the world’s leading fighter.
Benn can create his own moment on Saturday. He does not need promoters to dress Ryan up as Donald Curry to make it meaningful.
