Marlon Starling
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Marlon "Magic Man" Starling was a world champion boxer. He was born in Hartford, CT on August 29, 1959.
Starling turned professional in 1979. After 25 straight wins, he lost his first fight. He lost a 12 round decision to Donald Curry in 1982. Starling had a rematch with Curry in 1984, challenging for the WBA and IBF World Welterweight Titles. Starling lost by a 15 round decision.
Starling's second world title fight came in 1987. He knocked out Mark Breland in the 11th round to win the WBA World Welterweight Title. In his third title defense, Starling lost the title in controversial fashion to Tomas Molinares. Molinares hit Starling with a punch that was clearly thrown after the bell. Starling went down for the first and 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 to win the WBC World Welterweight Championship. The following year, Starling challenged Michael Nunn for the IBF World Middleweight Championship, but lost by decision. In his next fight, Starling lost his welterweight title on a close decision to Maurice Blocker. That was Starling's last fight. He retired with a record of 45-6-1-1 (27 KOs).
| Preceded by Mark Breland |
WBA Welterweight Champion 22 August 1987– 29 July 1988 |
Succeeded by Tomas Molinares |
| Preceded by Lloyd Honeyghan |
WBC Welterweight Champion 4 February 1989– 19 August 1990 |
Succeeded by Maurice Blocker |
