Curry Stops San Diego’s Lopez in Fourth Round

Donald Curry moved a step closer to regaining a title, knocking out Rigo Lopez in the fourth round of a scheduled 10-round junior middleweight bout Tuesday night at Reseda Country Club.

Curry, of Fort Worth, Tex., improved to 28-2 with 20 knockouts. He is scheduled to meet former junior middleweight champion Lupe Aquino Jan. 3 in Italy for a title unification fight. Lopez, of San Diego, fell to 19-6. Each fighter weighed 155 pounds.

Curry, 26, dominated the first three rounds with body punches and floored Lopez with a short left midway through the fourth. Lopez got up at the count of six, but Curry delivered a left to the body that sent Lopez to the canvas again. Referee John Thomas then stopped the fight at 1:54 of the round.

Once considered one of the finest fighters in the world, Curry received only $10,000 for the fight held at the 1,000-seat club in Reseda.

Curry’s fall from grace began in September 1986, when he suffered his first pro defeat, losing his World Boxing Council welterweight title to Britain’s Lloyd Honeyghan.

Curry then beat two opponents who were disqualified for butting, but was knocked out by Mike McCallum last July 18 in the fifth round after looking very impressive against the Jamaican.

Curry said before the fight that he has learned not to take any opponent lightly.

“You believe what you hear. You believe that you are invincible and that you can just go out there against anyone and win easily,” he said. “I learned the hard way that this isn’t reality. Reality in boxing is that you’re always one punch away from disaster.”