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Donny "Golden Boy" Lalonde


BoztheMadman
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In boxing's turbulent history, there are quite many tragic stories and characters. But there are also those who manage to rise above their turbulent and tragic lives to overcome it all in the ring. Such is the case with Donald "Donny" Drew Lalonde aka Golden Boy. One of the most popular and beloved boxing figures Canada ever produced, Lalonde had it all to be a major star and a player in the boxing world: tall, golden haired, handsome, charismatic and mild mannered and on top of it all, he could bang. However, his childhood and teenage years were overshadowed by physical abuse by his violent stepfather and Donny would become very devoted in fighting against child abuse as a boxer. This is the story of Golden Boy of Canada and his rise and untimely fall as a boxer.

 

He was born on 12 March 1960 in Victoria, British Columbia state in Canada. He was one of four children and his troubles in life started when his father left the family when he was only 3. Eventually his mother remarried but his stepfather was an abusive person who regularly hit Donny, even to the point of unconsciousness sometimes. But it was thru him that Donny first got acquainted with his first love in life-boxing. His stepfather was a huge boxing fan and this encouraged Donny to start boxing, which he did at the age of 17. He had an amateur record of 11 wins and 4 losses before he entered the pro ranks in April of 1980, winning his first four fights, all but one by knockout. He possessed a granite chin and a dynamite right hand and at 6'2 was quite tall for a light heavyweight. He lost his fifth fight by UD 6 to Wilbert Johnson but then avenged the loss by TKO 2. He racked up 15 consecutive wins, capturing the Canadian title by TKO 10 over Roddy MacDonald in 1983. In 1985 however he experienced another setback after taking on the tough and hard hitting Willie Edwards and getting stopped by TKO 9 in a fight for the NABF title. It would serve as a useful experience, for Edwards was the first higher class opponent he faced. He posted nine more wins before he challenged the former middleweight contender Mustafa Hamsho for the vacant WBC Continental Americas title in May 1987. Hamsho was known as a dirty fighter and he got two points deducted while Lalonde outboxed him with his height and reach advantage to win by a wide decision. In November same year he got a shot at the vacant WBC title against famous contender Eddie Davis, who had previously challenged Michael Spinks and Dwight Muhammad Qawi, going distance with Spinks and getting stopped in 11 rounds by Qawi. Lalonde had far less trouble with the more experienced Davis and stopped him early in the second round, thus becoming a world champion. His dreams of finding respectability and escaping his dark and troubled life had been realised.

 

He started an organisation to fight against child abuse, both physical and sexual, called No Excuse for Child Abuse. He was also quite frequently featured on Canadian tv shows and commercials. He made his first defense as the WBC champion in Trinidad and Tobago, the same place where he won his belt, against the local fighter Leslie Stewart, who was a former WBA champion. After close couple rounds, he took over and started punishing Stewart, who was his equal in height, eventually stopping him in the fifth round on his feet. And then came that Sugar Ray Leonard fight; he had been working with trainer Teddy Atlas but sometime before the Hamsho fight he parted ways with him because his style and personality didn't suit him. Instead he hired Tommy Gallagher and Bobby Cassidy as his new trainers. When the volatile Atlas found out that Lalonde had gotten a fight with Sugar Ray Leonard for 6 million dollars, he went berserk and went to his apartment with a gun, intending to kill Lalonde because in his mind, he had been cheated of an opportunity to earn big money. However Lalonde was not present when Atlas rang the doorbell, so Atlas went outside to wait for him. In the meanwhile he changed his mind and went home. Thus Lalonde got his life saved by an extraordinary strike of luck. The fight itself was controversial because though it was at super middleweight, Donny's title was still on the line. The fight was held at the Ceasars Palace in Las Vegas, on 8 November 1988. Donny looked very skinny entering the ring and he later said that he wore a robe at the weigh in because he didn't want Leonard and his men to see the shape he was in. He obviously had to struggle to make the weight and as a result he was left weakened. The fight started cautiously for both men as they figured eachother out. In the fourth round, Leonard was suddenly dropped by a right cross but rose unhurt. It was obvious Donny's punches didn't have the same effect as usual. After a close first half, Leonard started taking over the fight with his superior speed, reflexes and boxing iq. As the ninth round began, Lalonde knew he had to take it up a notch. He was behind on two of the scorecards. So he went flying at Leonard and hurt him with a right to the chin. As he went in for the kill, he was then hit with a right and hurt. Leonard drove him to the ropes and unleashed a furious attack. Lalonde got hit in the throat before he went down for the first time from a left hook. He rose on unsteady legs but was then hit with a combination and dropped for the second time and counted out. He was generous to Leonard after the fight but stated that he had been caught off guard by the punch to the throat. Curiously, the referee did nothing to warn Leonard about it, since it was an illegal punch. But this was Sugar Ray Leonard we are talking about.

 

He had now lost his biggest fight in his career but he became the second man to drop the great Sugar Ray. However, the most unjust about all this was that Leonard didn't even want his title, which he had lost in vain, as he vacated it to concentrate on the super middleweight division. He was then scheduled to fight for his stolen title against Dennis Andries in May 1989 but a month before the fight could take place he retired, saying "I can no longer justify hurting people for my own gain". Those were the words of a genuine nice man. However, 2 years later he did return to the ring and registered four knockout wins before taking on the WBA cruiserweight champ Bobby Czyz on 8 May 1992 in Las Vegas. Czyz at 5'10 was four inches shorter but had an aggressive swarming style which took Lalonde off his game and he was knocked down in the first round, in the end losing by unanimous decision. He then retired again before coming back twice, in 1996 and then 2002. In his last fight in 2003, he faced off against another legend, the four time world champion Virgil Hill. It was a cruiserweight fight and took place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Lalonde's adopted home state. However, Donny was now in obvious decline and he went on to be dominated by the technician Hill, who also knocked him down briefly in the first round. He was now 43 and he retired from boxing for good after that. His record is 41(33)-5-1.

 

Donny Lalonde lives in Costa Rica with his family today and has started another project, TKOO (Taking Care of Our Own), which aims at helping boxers lead healthier lives in their golden years. In 1990 he was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. He was a perfect example of a fine fighter whose career rocketed and burned out fast, but he can also be called a victim of the boxing politics of the time, as he entered the fight against Leonard under unfavorable circumstances. He is also a guy whose niceness stood in the way of becoming truly successful in the brutal sport that is boxing.

Edited by BoztheMadman
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