There were so many “legends of boxing” that came out of the Golden Age of Boxing from 1964 to 1995….plus there were also a plethora of “really good to truly great“ boxers that also fought during this historical era of the sport of boxing….and the truth be known, many of the fighters in that group of “really good to truly great” are not even on the radar of boxing today in 2018….much less being remembered….as they deserve to be…..for Tommy Ayers and Marlon Starling are two of those.
Tommy Ayers was one of those “really good” fighters that fought as a welterweight from 1980 to 1990….while compiling a career record of 38 wins and 4 losses with 32 knockouts in his 42 fight….pretty impressive in this lil ole chiweenie Sportsphile’s opinion….and certainly deserving of his place in history….as he fought Marlon Starling for the NABF and USBA welterweight title in 1983….as seen in these highlights in the video herewith….in which he lost on majority decision….simply meaning it was a really close fight. Ayers would win the NABF welterweight title with a TKO of Luis Sanchez in 1987.
Marlon “Magic Man” Starling (born August 29, 1959) is a retired American world champion professional boxer….who held the WBA, WBC, and Lineal Welterweight World Championships during his career. After 25 straight wins to start his professional career….Magic Man lost his first fight….which was a 12-round split-decision to Donald Curry in 1982….and then lost a 15 round split decision in a rematch with Curry in 1984….while challenging for the WBA and IBF welterweight titles. Starling’s 3rd world title fight came in 1987….when he knocked out Mark Breland in the 11th round to win the WBA welterweight title…..and then lost is title In his third title defense in controversial fashion to Tomas Molinares….when Molinares hit Starling with a punch that was thrown around the same time as the bell sounded to end round six….whereby Starling went down for the 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 welterweight titles. The following year, Starling challenged Michael Nunn for the IBF middleweight title…but lost by decision. In his next fight, Starling lost his welterweight titles 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)….and any way you cut the pie….Marlon Magic Man Starling was a “truly great” boxer during the Golden Age of Boxing….and we at ImaSportsphile are more than happy at having a place for him in our library of video history.
