Marlon Starling

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. Starling won his next six fights and then had a rematch with Curry. This time, they fought 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 decison was later changed to a no decision.

In 1989, Starling knocked out Lloyd Honeygahn 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 45-7-1 (27 KOs).