Nikolai Valuev vs Larry Donald | 01 Oct 05 | |||||
Larry Ali Donald (born January 6, 1967) is an American former professional boxer. As an amateur he won a bronze medal in the super heavyweight division at the 1991 World Championships and won a gold medal at the 1992 World Championship Challenge and becoming amateur world Super heavyweight champion going into the 1992 Olympic Games represented the United States at the 1992 Olympics. During his professional career, he defeated the likes of Evander Holyfield, Jeremy Williams, Bert Cooper, Tim Witherspoon, and Ross Puritty.
Larry "The Legend" Donald turned pro on January 3, 1993, earning a technical knockout against Craig Brinson. In 1994 he beat fellow undefeated prospect Jeremy Williams, and Bert Cooper, but suffered his first defeat when losing widely to ex-champ Riddick Bowe, who had infamously sucker punched Donald twice at the pre-fight press conference.
He resurfaced in late 1997 outpointing ex-champ Tim Witherspoon, but spent many years fighting low profile on Don King under cards, unpopular with fans and the press for his negative, ultra-defensive and extremely unentertaining style.
In July 2001 he had a high-profile world title eliminator with Kirk Johnson, 31–0–1, but lost a close decision.
In 2002 he traveled to Germany to face Vitali Klitschko. Even at the age of 35, Donald was considered one of the most durable fighters in the world, but the heavy hitting Klitschko surprisingly stopped the veteran, decking him three times in the 10th round.
Although things looked over, Donald seemingly reinvented himself in November 2004 with an upset win over the legendary Evander Holyfield, winning nearly every round against the Hall of Famer ex-champ for the NABC World Champion Title.
In 2005, Donald controversially lost a title eliminator bout to giant-sized Russian Nicolay Valuev which would have earned him the right to fight John Ruiz for the WBA belt.
On July 30, 2007, Donald returned to ring to face Alexander Povetkin, and lost a lopsided decision.
1993-2007 |