During his professional career, he defeated the likes of Evander Holyfield, Jeremy Williams, Bert Cooper, Tim Witherspoon, and Ross Puritty.

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.

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.

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.