On November 7, 1988, I was set to fight Donny Lalonde ‘For All the Gold’. I still remember going into that fight and all I ever heard was that Donny was not that great of a fighter. I knew otherwise. It was my first fight since I defeated Marvin Hagler. What was amazing to me though, was the premonition that I had prior to the fight. I had a dream that Donny Lalonde would knock me down in the fight, but when I would rise from the knockdown, I wouldn’t be hurt. I’ve never had a dream like that before. I would never forget it.
November 7, 1988 – Once that bell rang, I was concerned from that first punch that he hit me with. Every punch he hit me with, hurt. I knew all those speculations saying that he wasn’t that great of a fighter weren’t true. He was the ‘Champ’ at the time for a reason. In that fourth round, just like I had dreamt, he had knocked me down. It came to me more of a surprise that it actually came true. Yet, when I rose, I wasn’t hurt. Now he was in trouble. Throughout this whole fight, never once did I ever think this fight was over.
Donny was such a tough fighter. In the 9th round, I finally saw my chance to attack. And when I attacked, I went at him with a vengenace, with fury. In that round, it all started with a body shot I landed on him. Then another left hook to the head, and another body shot. A combination punches followed. Down goes Lalonde. Once the ref, Richard Steele, signaled to continue, I went crazy. Not out of control though, I was a ‘controlled-crazy’. I was being smart. I had him dazed and I had to finish the fight off. I would say that this was my most productive and destructive fight in my career.
Looking back on this fight….this was the one fight that I was so proud of. I came back from a knockdown even stronger against a guy that was taller and heavier than I was. What do you guys remember from this fight?
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