Roberto Duran: Redemption and Legacy

By Randy De La O

Something I learned years ago, both as an old adage and as a life experience is that “To err is human”, and perhaps the best example of this is Roberto Duran's second fight with Sugar Ray Leonard, when he uttered the now infamous words “No Mas!”, literally translated “No More!”

Duran, at his peak, was the epitome of Latin Machismo. Unrelenting, primal and savage. His behavior inside and outside the ring was often times crude. He conceded nothing. Yet, the very second he spoke those words, all that he was, was no more. His career was thought to be over. He was expected to never fight again. For a time, it seemed the entire boxing world; fans, sports writers, contemporary boxers and everyone capable of expressing an opinion, turned their collective backs on Roberto Duran. Even trainer Ray Arcel turned his back on Duran, never again working the corner for Duran. No other fighter in boxing history, to my knowledge, had fallen so far. Even Mike Tyson's biting of Evander Holifield's ear pales by comparison.

We may never really know why Duran quit that night in New Orleans but the fact remains he did and it is beyond dispute. Maybe he needed a bowel movement, or maybe it was just complete frustration, or maybe it was something sinister. I don't know. No one does. Everything is just pure speculation.

What I do know, what I am absolutely certain of, is that Roberto Duran is no coward. This is the man who moved up to welterweight after a seven year reign, as perhaps the greatest lightweight champion that ever lived, to pursue the Welterweight title, beating west coast favorite former welterweight king, Carlos Palomino, and tough Monroe Brookes, before finally securing a title fight with Sugar Ray Leonard, and winning that fight. He had already proven himself countless times.

He would prove himself again, after the second fight with Leonard, but not before being humbled by Wilfredo Benitez and Kirkland Laing. The year immediately following his 1981 loss to Leonard was a dark time for Duran. For Duran 1981 and1982 was a short visit through hell.

After his back to back losses to Benitez and Laing Duran fought and beat Jimmy Batten. His next fight, in January of 1983, would be at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles against legendary puncher and former welterweight champ Pipino Cuevas. Duran stopped Cuevas in four and secured a fight with Junior middleweight champion Davey Moore, stopping Moore in eight rounds, and finding some redemption in the process. The world was ready to forgive and Duran was once again in the business of being Duran. Maybe not the same old Duran of the past, some of the fire was gone but it was enough to take Marvin Hagler, later that same year, to the 15th round and giving him an education in a close losing effort. Cuevas, Moore and Hagler in the same year. It just doesn't get any better than that.

In his next fight, he would be stopped by Tommy Hearns, in what has to be considered the most devastating loss of his career, he would have many more fights before winning the Middleweight title from Iran Barkley. The Barkley fight would be his last hurrah. He would have his last fight at the age of fifty, losing a 12 round unanimous decision against Hector Camacho.

Today boxers are fighting well into their thirties and forties but back in the day, the late twenties were considered old, or at least the beginning of old age for a fighter. That makes the later stages of Duran's career all the more remarkable. At that stage, with no catch weights (unheard of) Duran moved up and fought Carlos Palomino, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Iran Barkley and at an even later stage, Vinnie Pazienza (twice and Hector Camacho (twice).

Yes, quitting is a cardinal sin in boxing and Duran has paid the price. A sin is like a stain on a fine piece of furniture, it can't be rubbed out or sanded out, it cannot be erased, it will always be there. There are some that will see nothing but the stain regardless of the beauty of the furniture and there will be others that will see that fine piece of furniture for what it is, weathered, worn and with a fine patina to it. Hardened by the years Duran has worn that stain like a man.

When I think of Roberto Duran, I don't think about the man that quit in the 8th round of his fight with Sugar Ray Leonard. What I think about is a man who by one single act, destroyed his career and then found it in himself to rise up again, to persevere, shouldering the abandonment of friends and peers and even his country, to fight his way back to the top, stains and all. No fighter ever fell lower and no fighter ever climbed higher. That is his redemption and that is his legacy. Roberto Duran a quitter? You decide.

Roberto Duran and Julio Cesar Chavez: Silver Age Legends

Roberto Duran and Julio Cesar Chavez

By Randy De La O

Roberto Duran and Julio Cesar Chavez, two fighters that moved me every time they stepped into the ring. Like every fighter before them, their time has come and gone. Their careers are part of sports history now. We don't like our sports heroes to get old, especially our fighters. We want them to keep hitting home runs, getting a touchdown or keep on knocking out their opponents. we don't want it to end! But it does.

Looking back, getting together with friends and family, eating some good food and drinking some cold beer, losing some money and watching guys like Duran and Chavez fight was like a slice of heaven to me. I think we all knew we were in a special era in boxing.

I mean, it wasn't just Duran and Chavez, but Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Sanchez,Ramos, Lopez (Little Red), Chacon, Arguello, Olivares, Pryor, Holmes, Foreman and Ali and Frazier, just too, too many to list here. 

Duran was way past his prime by the time Chavez was hitting his stride. They never fought each other. It's my belief that Duran would have beaten Chavez. I don't think he would have knocked him out. Chavez at his peak had a cast iron chin and an immovable will. But when Duran was Duran, he was a wild, feral, unconscionable animal. A savage, if you will. I would like to believe, that had they fought it would have been one for the books. This is one of my favorite 'What if" fights. 

If the 30's, 40's and 50's were the "Golden Age of Boxing" than the 60's, 70's and 80's have to be considered the "Silver Age". I miss those days!

Another True Roberto Duran Story

From my friend Ray Maynez

Roberto Duran

"I beat the great Roberto Duran"

By Ray Maynez

Shortly after the Famous "No Mas" fight between Roberto Duran, & "Sugar" Ray Leonard, I was watching television late at night when the sportscaster came on. After giving all the scores of the various sports of that day. He mentioned that Roberto Duran, was in town, and that he would be working out at the Broadway Gym, in L.A. the next day at 1:00 pm.

I had a 8X10 glossy picture of Duran, that I had for quite some time. I called up my friend Eddie B. I asked him if he wanted to go with me to see Roberto Duran, workout? Maybe I could get him to sign my picture. He said sure. The next day I showed up at the gym. There seemed to be only a few people there. One person I recognized was Richard Steele, the referee. I walk over to a gentleman I recognized as being in Duran's corner occasionally. I asked him "is Roberto Duran, supposed to be here today? because I have this picture I would like to have him sign for me. He stated "Yes" but he's in a very bad mood! so you better ask him before he gets into the ring. Just as he said that Duran, walks right behind him and jumped into the ring, and proceeded to shadow box. I said to my friend 'Shit".LOL.

As he worked out I stood right up to the ring, holding the picture, so he could plainly see what i wanted. After shadow boxing for about 20, minutes, he asked his trainer for a towel. He looked at me and gestured to me to come over. I handed him the picture, and told him my name was Ray! He smiled. I wonder why. "Ray??. After about 5 minutes he hands it back to me. I thought "Wow" he must of wrote something long. It said Roberto Duran. I thanked him. Then he walked over to a table that had a checkers board game on it. Again he motioned to me to sit down. At this point everyone in the gym came over to watch us play checkers. I was so much in awe! I really couldn't concentrate. He won a few games, & I won a few games. I will never forget the day I beat the great Roberto Duran at Checkers. The Picture, here on this post is the one he signed.

Rick Farris on Sparring With a Legend

Roberto Duran and the Horseshoe

By Rick Farris

In March of 1973, Roberto Duran, Lightweight Champion of the World, came to Los Angeles to fight Mexican champ Javiar Ayala in a ten round non-title fight. The match was on the same card with the WBC Lightweight Championship bout between title holder Rudolfo Gonzales and challenger Ruben Navarro.

Navarro and I were stablemates and would often spar together. However, for this match Ruben had a group of sparring partners whose styles were more like Gonzales than mine. Two years previous, Ruben came close to upsetting then lightweight champ Ken Buchanan but lost a close decision. This would be another opportunity to win a version of the world title and he was taking no chances.

One day I arrived at the Main Street Gym shortly after Duran and Navarro had completed their workouts. I talked to Ruben in the dressing room as I laced up my boxing shoes. That day, Navarro had sparred with Duran and he seemed a little different than usual.

"This guy hits harder than anybody", Navarro said. "He hit me high on the forehead with a spent jab and it shook me all the way down my back to my toes". I had known Ruben for quite a few years and never heard him express respect for another fighter as he was Duran. It was almost as if he was intimidated, not in a cowardly sense, but in a way that caught me off guard. Navarro had fought and beaten some of the best lightweights and Jr. lightweights in the world during his career, so I had to believe what he was saying.

A few days later, I was in the gym at the same time as Duran and it was fascinating watching him train. He skipped rope like nobody I'd ever seen, including the great Sugar Ray Robinson. Duran could do things with a jump rope that made for quite a show. However, the most entertaining of all (aside from his sparring) was watching Roberto hit the speed bag with his head. I don't mean just banging it back and forth, Duran could make the bag dance with his head as well as most boxers do with their hands.

However, watching Duran spar was the real show. In fact, Duran didn't just spar, he fought all out regardless of who he was in the ring with and it was common for a sparring partner to hit the canvas and be out cold. When
Roberto would launch a body attack he'd fire vicious shots that would land with a thud. He'd let out a "yelp" as the punch was delivered. The high pitched noise coming from Duran's mouth would punctuate each blow and had an eerie effect. I was impressed, to say the least, and privately thought to myself, "Glad I'm a featherweight and won't have to fight this guy".

Little did I know that my manager had been talking with Duran's trainer, Freddie Brown, and had agreed to let me spar with Duran. It wasn't something I had a great desire to do, but a fighter doesn't show his feelings so when I got the news I just acted like it was no big deal. I was told that the only reason I'd be working with the larger Duran was for speed. I had fast hands and would provide quickness for Duran. Brown had assured my manager, Johnny Flores, that Duran would work lightly and not cut down on me.

Somebody must have forgot to tell Roberto the plan and about midway thru the opening round I found myself sitting on the canvas. I got up quickly and was OK but it occurred to me that I might be fighting for life. When the sparring resumed I understood what Navarro had meant when describing Duran's power. It was awesome, and even punches that most would consider average shots had something I'd never felt before. It was like being hit with baseball bat. Duran had 16 ounce training gloves on that looked to be padded, but it didn't feel like they were. This was before Roberto had been tagged "Manos de Piedra" or "Hands of Stone" in English. I can personally verify that this is more than just a nick name, it's a fact!

Duran is a guy who considers the ring his personal domain and anybody who stepped in with him was treated as if they were caught breaking into his home. The ring was Duran's office and he'd establish this immediately with anybody who entered, including me.

After the three rounds of torture with Duran, I punched the heavy bag. The champ finished sparring with two other boxers, a lightweight and a welterweight who was beaten so badly he left the ring trembling. After Duran stepped out of the ring Freddie Brown untied the champs gloves and pulled them off. I was resting between rounds on the heavy bag and moved closer to Duran to get a look at his hands. There had to be something harder than a fist inside the gloves and I wanted to see what it was.

Brown glanced over at me and said something to Duran in Spanish and the two began to laugh. I asked Brown "What did you say to him"? Brown just looked at me with a smile and answered, "I told him you were looking for the horseshoe".

I had to laugh, but honestly, that's exactly what I was doing. However, The only thing I found in Duran's gloves were his fists. Or as they would later be known, "Hands of Stone".

About a week later, at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, my friend and stablemate Ruben Navarro was stopped by Rudolfo Gonzalez in his last attempt to win a world title. In the fight before the title match, the real lightweight king Roberto Duran battered Javiar Ayala savagely and won a unanimous ten round decision.

With the feel of those rock hard fists still fresh in my mind, I knew that Javiar Ayala discovered the same thing that Navarro and I had just days before. The horseshoe had nothing on "Hands of Stone"

Roberto Duran Turns 60 Today

Happy Birthday to my all time favorite fighter; Roberto Duran. Hard to believe he turned 60 today. Duran, at his peak was one of the most intimidating fighters to step into the ring.  He had a Hall of Fame career and would have been right at home in any of boxing's great decades. There will never be another like him, as far as I'm concerned. Thanks for the memories Roberto! All the best to you.

Photo by Chris Cozzone- Courtesy of Fightnews.com

What If: Roberto Duran vs Aaron Pryor

By Randy De La O

Debunking a common fallacy…………..

Almost without fail, whenever the subject of both Roberto Duran and Aaron Pryor comes up, Duran is almost always accused of purposely passing over the junior welterweights in order to avoid a showdown with Aaron Pryor. But the truth is when Roberto Duran moved up in weight to fight Edwin Viruet in April of 1978, it was Antonio Cervantes who held the junior welterweight title. Pryor would eventually challenge Cervantes for that title in August of 1980, almost two and a half years after the Duran vs. Viruet fight, stopping Cervantes in the 4th round.

Aaron Pryor vs Alexis Arguello 1982

Prior (no pun intended) to winning the title against Cervantes, Aaron Pryor had not fought anyone of any real consequence and certainly no one of Duran’s caliber. At the time of the Duran vs Viruet fight, Aaron Pryor was undefeated in 12 fights with 10 KO’s to his name. A fine record for an up and coming fighter but hardly someone deserving of a fight with Roberto Duran, at least not in that era. Even with an amateur win over Detroit’s Tommy Hearns in 1976, Pryor would not even be an after thought as an opponent for Duran. Pryor’s claim to fame was his 14th round KO over three time champ Alexis Arguello in November of 1982. He would fight Arguello the following year stopping him in the 10th round.

Pryor, a fine fighter with an exciting style peaked with the Arguello fight and never in his career came close to being the type of fighter that Duran was. Pryor had six more fights after the second Arguello fight, all of them against mediocre to average competition.

Roberto Duran was the reigning lightweight champ for almost seven years before moving up in weight and setting his sights on the welterweight crown. Duran ended the 70’s with fights against Viruet, Ezequiel Obando, Monroe Brooks, Jimmy Heair, Carlos Palomino and Zeffie Gonzalez. In the case of Viruet, Heair and Brooks, Duran was fighting better than average competition, and in Palomino’s case he was fighting an outstanding former welterweight champion. In his previous fight earlier that year, Palomino lost the welterweight title to the great Wilfredo Benitez by a 15 round split decision. It was Duran’s win over Carlos Palomino that showed he was a real threat to the welterweights.

So the question remains, who would win?

Roberto Duran vs Sugar Ray Leonard I 1980

Physically, they match up well, Pryor standing 5’6” ½ , Duran at 5”7’ a ½ inch taller, but for me this is a no brainer. Duran, a natural lightweight might have lost some of his KO power when he moved up in weight, especially when he moved up to the middleweights, but he would have been right at home as a junior welterweight. Pryor was street tough and aggressive. Duran was feral, savage and primal in his approach. Both fighters could be relentless but Duran had bigger arsenal to draw from. Overall Roberto Duran was a fundamentally better fighter.

Duran was no one hit wonder and his career record will back me up. He is in the top five of almost anyone’s all time great list and certainly in the top ten. Counter punching was the key to defeating Pryor and Duran was a great albeit vastly underrated counter puncher. Duran had angles and was great on the inside. He had too much experience for Pryor. Duran was a well schooled fighter with perhaps the greatest cornermen of all time working in his corner, Ray Arcel and Freddie Brown, Panama Lewis would be in Pryor’s corner. There is no such thing as a sure thing, I know that but I believe Duran had too much going for him.

Duran beat Ken Buchanan to win the WBA World Lightweight Championship at the Madison Square Garden in New York in 1972. In 1980, at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Quebec Duran lifted the welterweight crown from Sugar Ray Leonard in a hard fought and exciting 15 rounds unanimous decision. After the disastrous rematch with Leonard (I can hardly utter the words) and following a dark period in his career, including a 15 round unanimous decision loss to Wilfredo Benitez, Duran rebounded with a win over Pipino Cuevas, winning by a 4th round KO and securing a title fight with junior middleweight Davey Moore. Duran would outclass and out fight the game but overmatched champion Davey Moore in 8 rounds.

Later that year, 1983, Duran would face Marvelous Marvin Hagler for the middleweight title, losing a closer than expected unanimous 12 round decision. It was a fight that brought out all of Duran’s crafty experience. Duran would be knocked out the following year for the first time in his career by fellow legendary fighter Tommy “Hit man” Hearns. For the next several years Duran would have inconsistent success against mostly inferior opponents, including a split decision loss to Marvin Hagler’s half brother Robbie Simms.

In 1989 Duran would once again fight for a world title, facing the ever tough fighter from the Bronx, New York, Iran Barkley in Atlantic City, New Jersey for the WBC Middleweight title. It was a close back and forth fight that saw Duran enduring some great punching by Barkley and drawing upon his experience to knockdown Barkley in the 11th round and securing a split decision win from the judges. This would be Duran’s last great fight.

Aaron Pryor would beat both Antonio Cervantes and Alexis Arguello. The first fight with Arguello was named the fight of the decade by Ring Magazine and is considered one of the classic fights of the 1980’s. Despite fighting many good fighters during his career, in 40 fights in a 14 year career these are the only truly meaningful names on his resume. One, Cervantes, a near great, the other, Arguello, an all time great champion. Juxtaposed against Roberto Duran, whose career records reads like a classic boxing hall of fame roster, Pryor pales in comparison. It’s true that anything can happen in boxing and on any given night any fighter can win or lose, that’s been proven again and again over the years. Still if I had to pick a winner between Duran and Pryor, on their best night, I would pick Duran. When Duran was Duran he was unbeatable.


Roberto Duran's Career Record

Aaron Pryor's Career Record

Duran: Another Perspective by Roger Esty

Roberto Duran by Roger Esty

Roberto Duran by Roger Esty
My all time favorite fighter

Tommy Hearns vs Roberto Duran

By Randy De La O

This fight has always been painful for me to watch. This and Duran v Leonard II are difficult for me. Hearns was at the top of his game that night. This is the fight that convinced Hearns and his people that they could beat Marvin Hagler and maybe on another night he might have beaten him but on the night they fought, Hagler was too much for Hearns plus he was spurred on by the cut. He was afraid the fight might be stopped and it might have. He took matters into his own hands and gave us a classic, both of them did.

Even with his losses and the flaws in his career Roberto Duran is my favorite fighter. Leonard, Hagler and Hearns got him past his best. Duran, a natural lightweight took on the Welters and Middleweights and did pretty damned good all things considered. As far as I'm concerned he's right there with Robinson as the greatest fighter that ever lived. As a lightweight maybe he was the very best. As good as Manny Paquiao seems to be, there is no Leonard, Hagler or Hearns on his resume or in his future. Duran was special.

Exclusive Interview With "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler

This interview is from ESPN. Marvin Hagler reflects on his November 10, 1983 title fight with Roberto Duran. Hagler was defending his middleweight title. Roberto Duran was and is my favorite fighter. Hagler is also one of my favorites and this was probably the only time I was looking for Hagler to lose. This was a great technical fight won by Hagler. I also posted a video of the fight in it's entirty. The 1980's was a great era for boxing, especially the middleweights, which, in addition to Hagler and Duran (Duran was actually a lightweight), included Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns, former champions Vito Antuofermo and Alan Minter, and to a lesser degree but still hard fighting guys like John "The Beast' Mugabi, Mustafa Hamsho and Juan Roldan. It was a great time to be a boxing fan.