Roberto Durán
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| Roberto Durán | |
| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Real name | Roberto Duran |
| Nickname | Manos de Piedra, El Cholo |
| Weight | Lightweight |
| Nationality |  Panamanian |
| Birth date | June 16, 1951 |
| Birth place | Guararé, Panamá |
| Style | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 119 |
| Wins | 103 |
| Wins by KO | 70 |
| Losses | 16 |
| Draws | 0 |
| No contests | 0 |
Roberto Durán (b. June 16, 1951) is a famous boxer from Guarare, Panamá, and is generally regarded as one of the greatest lightweight boxers of all-time.
In 2002, he was chosen by The Ring Magazine to be the 5th greatest fighter of the last 80 years. He held world titles at four different weights - lightweight (1972-79), welterweight (1980), junior middleweight (1983-84) and middleweight (1989). He was also the only boxer to have fought in five different decades.
He finally retired in January 2002 at age 50 (having previously retired in 1998) following a bad car crash in October 2001, with a professional record of 120 fights, 104 wins with 69 KOs. He was nicknamed Manos de Piedra (Hands of Stone). Up until the second Ray Leonard fight, he was trained by legendary boxing trainer Ray Arcel.
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[edit] History
Born in Guararé, Panamá he had his first professional fight in 1967. After an initial adjustment he won thirty in a row, culminating in his first title bout in June 1972, where he defeated Ken Buchanan at New York's Madison Square Garden for the WBA world lightweight championship. Later that year, in a non-title bout, he lost a ten round decision to Esteban De Jesus. Durán would avenge the loss in 1974 with a brutal eleventh round knock out. Overall Durán made twelve successful defenses of his title (eleven coming by knock out), his last defense coming in 1978 where Durán fought a third fight with De Jesus, a unification match where Durán once again knocked out De Jesus and captured his WBC lightweight belt. Durán would give up the unified lightweight title in February 1979.
Vacating the title was a build up for an attempt at the welterweight title. He fought for the welterweight title in June 1980 and beat Sugar Ray Leonard via a 15-round unanimous decision. In the November re-match, however, Durán shockingly quit. In round 8, Durán turned around, walked to his corner and gave up, supposedly saying the now famous words, "no más." However he really said, "No quiero pelear con el payaso." (Meaning "I do not want to fight with this clown.") Referee Octavio Meyran, perhaps as incredulous as was the rest of the world at what he was seeing, asked Durán if he was sure, and Durán then said, "No más, no más." In violation of what any professional fighter does on the day of a fight, Durán gorged himself after the weigh-in, claimed he quit because he was having stomach cramps.[1] The controversy regarding this bout continues to this day.
He took some time to recover from that fight, gaining even more weight to contend for the WBC world junior middleweight title, but losing in his first attempt at a championship in that division on the January 30 of 1982, against Wilfred Benitez by a 15 round unanimous 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 Pipino Cuevas via a fourth round knock-out, which earned him a second crack at the junior middleweight title, this time against WBA champion Davey Moore on June 16th, 1983. Duran showed his brutal side in this flight by thumbing Moore and trying to deliberately hurt Moore as much as possible by butting, lacing Moore's face with his gloves and smiling every time Moore winced in pain.[citation needed] Finally the fight was stopped in the eighth round as Moore was taking such a horrific beating and Duran won his third world title.
Durán later fought for the World middleweight title, meeting Marvin Hagler in Las Vegas in November 1983, but losing in a competitive fight that went the full fifteen rounds. Despite the loss, Duran was the first fighter to go the full distance with the great middleweight champion in one of his defenses. In June 1984, Duran was stripped of his junior middleweight title when the WBA did not approve of his fight with WBC world champion Thomas "Hitman" Hearns, and took away recognition of Duran as world champion the moment Duran stepped into the ring to box Hearns. Durán lost the fight after a vicious second round knock-out by Hearns.
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. The fight is considered one of Duran's greatest achievements, as the 38 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 won a close decision. The bout was named the 1989 "Fight of the Year" by Ring Magazine. His reign was short lived once again as Duran moved up to super middleweight for a third clash with Sugar Ray Leonard in December (a fight dubbed Uno Más by promoters), but lost in a decision. Duran seemed to be in decline after the fight, he attempted to win further middleweight titles in 1994, 1995 and 1996 (fighting for the minor IBC belt). In 1998, at the age of 47, he challenged 28 year old WBA middleweight champion William Joppy. Joppy, a trim, quick-fisted fighter, battered Duran to defeat in just 3 rounds. It was Duran's most emphatic loss since the Hearns fight, over a decade earlier. Duran then announced his retirement in August 1998, but was back fighting in 1999. In June 2000 he won a minor super middleweight title from Pat Lawlor but quickly lost it to Héctor Camacho.
After splitting fights with Jorge Castro and losing a rematch to Camacho, Durán went to Argentina to promote a Salsa music CD that he had just released. While there, he was involved in a dramatic car crash and required life-saving surgery. After that, he announced his retirement from boxing.
Durán's five world title belts, which he won in four different divisions, were stolen from his house in Panama in 1993 during a robbery allegedly staged by his brother-in-law, who gave them to memorabilia seller Luis González Báez, who will stand trial for trying to sell stolen goods. González Báez allegedly sold the belts to undercover FBI agents. He alleges that Duran authorized the sale of the five belts to him during a time that Duran was facing financial trouble. On September 23, 2003, a federal judge in Florida ordered the five belts returned to Duran.
His 69 wins by knockout place him in an exclusive group of boxers who have won 50 or more fights by knockout.
On October 14th, Roberto was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame of Los Angeles, California. You can find more about this historic date for Roberto Duran reading these articles [[2]] (in Spanish) published and written by Panamanian sports journalist Adán De Gracia E. (Mi Diario newspaper, Panamá)
| Preceded by Ken Buchanan |
WBA Lightweight Champion 26 Jun 1972– Jan 1979 Vacates |
Succeeded by Ernesto España |
| Preceded by Esteban De Jesus |
WBC Lightweight Champion 21 Jan 1978– Jan 1979 Vacates |
Succeeded by Jim Watt |
| Preceded by Sugar Ray Leonard |
WBC Welterweight Champion 20 Jun 1980– 25 Nov 1980 |
Succeeded by Sugar Ray Leonard |
| Preceded by Davey Moore |
WBA Light Middleweight boxing champion 16 Jun 1983– 1984 Stripped |
Succeeded by Mike McCallum |
| Preceded by Iran Barkley |
WBC Middleweight Champion 24 Feb 1989–1990 Vacates |
Succeeded by Julian Jackson |
Durán's daughter, Irichelle, is a professional woman boxer. His son, Roberto Jr., was also a professional at one time. He is also related to up and coming professional wrestler Brad Koonce.
[edit] Trivia
Durán appeared in the 1979 sequel Rocky II as a lightning fast sparring partner for Rocky Balboa.
Legend has it that a 14 year-old Roberto Durán knocked out a horse when he was dared to punch it.
[edit] See also
- List of lightweight boxing champions
- List of male boxers
- List of notable boxing rivalries
- List of WBC world champions
- List of undisputed boxing champions
- Notable boxing families
[edit] External links
