Roberto Durán
.png) Durán before his 1994 fight with Vinny Pazienza | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nicknames |
|
| Born | Roberto Carlos Durán Samaniego June 16, 1951 Guararé, Panama |
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (170 cm)[1] |
| Weight | |
| Boxing career | |
| Reach | 66 in (168 cm)[1] |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 119 |
| Wins | 103 |
| Win by KO | 70 |
| Losses | 16 |
Roberto Carlos Durán Samaniego[2] (born June 16, 1951) is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 2001. He held world championships in four weight classes: lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight. Duran also reigned as the undisputed lightweight champion.[3] He is also the second boxer to have competed over a span of five decades, the first being Jack Johnson. Durán was known as a versatile, technical brawler and pressure fighter, which earned him the nickname "Manos de Piedra" ("Hands of Stone") for his formidable punching power and excellent defense.[4] Durán is regarded by many as one of the greatest boxers of all time, and the greatest Latino boxer of all time.[5][6]
The Sporting News recognized Durán as the Fighter of the Decade for the 1970s.[7] In 2002, Durán was voted by The Ring magazine as the fifth greatest fighter of the last 80 years,[8] while boxing historian Bert Sugar rated him as the eighth greatest fighter of all time. The Associated Press voted him as the best lightweight of the 20th century,[9] with many considering him the greatest lightweight of all time. Durán retired for good in January 2002 at age 50, following a car crash in Argentina in October 2001, after which he had required life saving surgery. He had previously retired in November 1980, June 1984 and August 1998, only to change his mind. Durán ended his career with a professional record of 119 fights, 103 wins, and 70 knockouts. From May 1971 up until his second fight against Sugar Ray Leonard in November 1980, Durán was trained by legendary boxing trainer Ray Arcel.
Durán was known for his aggressive, pressure-oriented style, frequently engaging opponents at close range. He imposed an intimidating presence as well as both physical and psychological intensity in exchanges.[10]
Early life and amateur career
[edit]Roberto Durán was born on June 16, 1951, in Guararé, Panama. His mother, Clara Samaniego, was a native of Guararé and his father, Margarito Duran, an American of Mexican heritage was stationed in Panama for the U.S. Army at the time of Roberto's birth.[11] He was raised in the slums of El Chorrillo in the district "La Casa de Piedra" (The House of Stone), in Panama City. He began sparring with experienced boxers at the Neco de La Guardia gymnasium when he was only eight years old.[12] He had the nickname "Cholo" because of his mixed heritage.[13]
Durán competed as an amateur beginning in February 1965.[14] He compiled a record of 29–3[15] (other sources say 18–3 or 13–3[15][16]), with all 3 losses coming in Durán's first 3 amateur fights.
Professional career
[edit]Lightweight
[edit]Durán made his professional debut in February 1968 at the age of 16.[17] He was given the nickname "Manos de Piedra", "hands of stone," by Panamanian boxing writer Alfonso Castillo, after defeating Benny Huertas on September 13, 1971.[18] Following this bout, he was then trained by Ray Arcel.[19]
Durán won his first 31 consecutive professional fights, and scored knockout victories over future Featherweight Champion Ernesto Marcel and former Super Featherweight Champion Hiroshi Kobayashi.[20] He fought his first title bout in June 1972, where he defeated Ken Buchanan at Madison Square Garden for the WBA Lightweight Championship.[21] Durán, as a 2-to-1 underdog, scored a knockdown against the defending champion just fifteen seconds into the opening round and battered him throughout the bout.[22] He was well ahead on all three cards as the bell rang to end the 13th round, at which time Durán (apparently not hearing the bell) continued to throw a couple of extra punches as Buchanan lay on the ropes. As Durán continued punching, the referee, Johnny LoBianco, grabbed him to pull him away. He pulled down on Durán's arms, which led to a seemingly accidental low blow. Buchanan dropped to the canvas in pain. His trainer Gil Clancy later said he had believed the blow to have been caused by a knee. Durán was not disqualified from the bout; instead, he was deemed as winner by thirteenth-round technical knockout.[23] Columnist Red Smith of The New York Times wrote that LoBianco had to award the victory to Durán, even if the punch was a low blow, as "anything short of pulling a knife is regarded indulgently" in American boxing.[24] Buchanan said he left the fight "with sore balls".[25]
Durán followed up on his title winning performance with several non-title matches. Later that year, in another non-title bout, he lost a ten-round decision to Esteban De Jesús.[26] Durán got back on track with successful title defenses against Jimmy Robertson, Hector Thompson and future Lightweight Champion Guts Ishimatsu.[27] In 1974, Durán avenged his loss to De Jesús with a brutal eleventh round knock out.[28] In 1976, he defeated future Light Welterweight Champion Saoul Mamby.[29] Overall, Durán made twelve successful defenses of his title (eleven coming by knockout) and amassed a record of 62–1. His last defense was in 1978, when Durán fought a third bout with De Jesus in a unification match wherein Durán once again knocked out De Jesus and captured his WBC Lightweight Championship.[30] Durán later visited De Jesús in 1989 when De Jesús was dying of AIDS. “When I see him there so thin, my tears run out because he used to be a muscular guy," Durán said. "I start crying and I hug him, and I kiss him and I tell my daughter to kiss him.” The picture of their embrace was widely distributed, at a time when AIDS patients faced significant stigma.[31]
Durán gave up the Undisputed Lightweight Championship in February 1979.[citation needed]
Welterweight and The Brawl in Montreal
[edit]
Vacating the Lightweight title was a buildup for an attempt at the Welterweight title. Durán earned wins against former WBC Welterweight Champion Carlos Palomino and Zeferino Gonzales, among others.[32] These victories set the stage for a title bout against then-undefeated WBC Welterweight Champion Sugar Ray Leonard. The venue chosen was the Olympic Stadium in Montreal (the same location where Leonard won an Olympic gold medal during the 1976 Summer Olympics). Durán resented the fact that he was getting only one-fifth of the money that Leonard was getting, despite the fact that Durán was entering the bout with an incredible 71–1 record and seen by many as the best boxer of the decade of the 1970s.[33] To the surprise of Leonard and his camp, who had expected a warm homecoming from the place where Leonard had won Olympic gold, Leonard only got a mixed reception in Montreal, while Durán was incredibly popular with the crowd, with Leonard later admitting that Durán's popularity in Canada "threw me for a loop". On June 20, 1980, Durán captured the WBC Welterweight title by defeating Leonard via a 15-round unanimous decision (145–144, 148–147, 146–144), although it was incorrectly announced as a majority decision in the ring with the 148–147 scorecard being incorrectly announced as 147–147.[34] The fight became known as "The Brawl in Montreal".
"No Más" in New Orleans
[edit]After defeating Leonard in Montreal, Durán gained iconic status in his home country, Panama.[35] Leonard initiated the rematch clause and asked for the fight to be the following November. In their second fight, Leonard successfully changed his tactics, using more footwork and movement than he had in their first fight, and Durán was unable to get Leonard against the ropes. During the seventh round, after Leonard had gained a slight lead on the scorecards, he began taunting and mocking Durán. Towards the end of the eighth round, Durán suddenly stopped fighting, and according to referee Octavio Meyran and ABC commentator Howard Cosell, Durán repeatedly said "No más" ("no more"), which was denied by Durán, his cornermen Ray Arcel and Freddie Brown, and his manager Carlos Eleta, with Durán claiming he had said "No quiero pelear con el payaso" ("I do not want to fight with this clown [Leonard]").[36] According to Meyran, in addition to saying "No más", Durán also said in broken English "I don't box anymore".[37][38] In a 2016 interview, Durán claimed that what he actually said was, "No sigo" ("I won't go on"). For a brief time after the "No más" debacle, Durán retired from boxing, but soon changed his mind, not wanting to end his career on such a bad note.[39]
Light middleweight and middleweight
[edit]He took some time to recover from that fight and gained even more weight to contend for the WBC Light Middleweight title, but losing in his first attempt at a championship in that division on January 30, 1982, against Wilfred Benítez by a 15-round unanimous decision;[40] this after having defeated Nino Gonzalez and Luigi Minchillo, two rated Light Middleweights, both by ten-round decisions in non-title bouts. Durán was also to lose his comeback fight in September 1982 in Detroit. Kirkland Laing, from London, shocked the boxing world, producing the type of display his talents promised yet he so rarely produced, taking the split decision. After being relegated to a 10-round walk out win over Englishman Jimmy Batten at The Battle of The Champions in Miami, Durán signed with promoter Bob Arum. This marked the beginning of a comeback in which he beat former world champion and now hall of famer José Cuevas via a fourth round knock-out, which earned him a second crack at the light middleweight title, this time against WBA Champion Davey Moore.
The WBA title bout took place at Madison Square Garden on June 16, 1983, which also happened to be Durán's 32nd birthday. The still inexperienced Moore (12–0) was game through the first three rounds, but by the 4th, Durán said he knew Moore couldn't hurt him, and an onslaught began.[41] The pro-Durán crowd at ringside cheered as Durán relentlessly punished Moore. By the end of the sixth round, Moore's eye had swollen shut and he was floored near the end of the seventh. Finally the fight was stopped in the eighth round as Moore was taking a horrific beating and Durán won his third world title.[42] After the victory, Durán was hoisted up in the air as the crowd sang "Happy Birthday" to a sobbing Durán.[43]
Durán later fought for the World Middleweight Championship, meeting Marvelous Marvin Hagler in Las Vegas on November 10, 1983.[44] During the fight, Duran broke his hand and lost in a very competitive fight that went the full fifteen rounds. After 13 rounds, two of the judges had Durán one point ahead, and the other judge had it even. Hagler fought tenaciously to win the final two rounds and get a unanimous decision victory. The judges' scores were 144–142, 144–143, and 146–145.[45] Despite the loss, Durán became the second man to take Hagler to a fifteen-round decision (Vito Antuofermo was the other) and the only one to do so while Hagler was the world champion.
In June 1984, Durán was stripped of his Light Middleweight title when the WBA did not approve of his fight with WBC Champion Thomas "Hitman" Hearns and took away recognition of Durán as world champion the moment Durán stepped into the ring to box Hearns.[46] Hearns dropped Durán twice in the first round and as he rose to his feet after the second knockdown, which ended the round, the former champion did not know where his corner was. Hearns went on to knock Durán down a third time in the second round and the fight was stopped, marking the first time in his career that Durán had been knocked out in a fight (the "No Más" fight was officially recorded as a technical knockout, because Durán quit).[47] Durán then retired for a second time, but changed his mind over a year later, and was back fighting in early 1986.[48]
Durán did not contend another title fight until 1989, but made the shot count when he won the WBC Middleweight title from Iran Barkley in February.[49] The fight is considered one of Durán's greatest achievements, as the 37-year-old former lightweight champion took the middleweight crown, his fourth title. In a tough, back-and-forth fight, Durán knocked Barkley down in the eleventh round and Durán won a split decision (118–112, 116–112, 113–116). The bout was named the 1989 "Fight of the Year" by The Ring.
Super middleweight
[edit]Duran moved up to super middleweight for a third fight with