A Tribute To Roberto Duran Who Turns 73 Today

The Panamanian prodigy with “Hands of Stone” was born in 1951 in the slums of El Chorrillo in the district of “La Casa de Piedra” (The House of Stone) within Panama City. Duran began sparring with grown men at the age of eight. He grew up in the tough streets of Panama, and his desire to fight was not only fueled by his lawless actions and mindset but, most of all, the need to survive. He would raid mango plantations daily, swimming two miles across the Panama Canal with a knife held between his teeth. He would sell these mangos to raise money to help his abandoned mother raise him and his eight siblings in the wake of his absent father. Duran would also sing and dance for change and do shoe shining, amongst other things.

At the age of 13, he was expelled from school for punching an older aggressor down a flight of stairs. After a brief amateur career, with an unconfirmed record of 18-3, Duran turned professional at 16. Carlos Eleta was a millionaire racehorse owner who started managing Duran soon after.

Duran was a natural brawler, one-dimensional and very raw. To refine his new prodigy, Eleta lured legendary trainer Ray Arcel out of a long retirement alongside his partner, Freddie Brown. It did not take long for the rough edges to be sharpened, and Duran became a scientific killer—the ultimate combination of savagery and science. Duran became one of the smartest, multi-dimensional technicians in boxing history. Duran’s ability to create and exploit openings whilst slipping and blocking punches was sensational, with his in-fighting and spatial awareness as great as ever.

Manos De Piedras

In the fierce streets of his native Panama, where knife fights were a norm, Duran survived as a youth. In his early years in boxing, he rose through the ranks by fighting in sweltering little arenas in Panama and Mexico. When Duran took the lightweight championship from Ken Buchanan, he battered a great boxer. When he won the welterweight title against Sugar Ray Leonard eight years later, he out-thought and out-fought one of the greatest boxers of all time to produce his greatest performance. It was one of the best in boxing history and became a pugilistic immortal.

Sharing the ring with Duran three times over the course of their careers, Leonard is very familiar with Duran’s brilliance. In The Ring Magazine’s “Best I faced” feature, Leonard said the following about Manos De Piedra: “A smart man. He was elusive. He had good hand speed, and he broke you down. His fights with Esteban De Jesus were prime examples of what he could do. I’d never been hit as hard up to that point. Duran threw punches in bunches and was a technician in the ring. It takes a real technician to win world titles from lightweight to middleweight.”

Few men in ring history are as tough as Duran. His fighting style was savage. His pressure overwhelmed opponents. Duran’s ferocity blinded people to the subtle brilliance of the man. His punching power was devastating in his peak years as a lightweight. After destroying Ray Lampkin in a lightweight title defense and sending him to the hospital, Duran said: “I was not in my best condition. Today, I sent him to the hospital. Next time, I’ll put him in the morgue.”

On his greatest night, when Duran defeated Leonard in their June 1980 encounter in Montreal, Duran rejected their traditional post-fight embrace and instead pushed Leonard and hurled further insults in Leonard’s direction. Typical sportsmanship-like conduct was never Duran’s greatest attribute. However, this is why fight fans grew to love Duran. This is who he was. If humility and kindness had crept into Duran’s psyche and character whilst in the ring, boxing would have been starved of one of its greatest warriors.

A Man of Many Talents

Duran possessed the talent, arrogance, and skill the greatest trainers could never instill into manufactured fighters—the savagery of a predatory animal with the patience and IQ of a chess master. Very few fighters have such instincts and innate abilities.

In his autobiography, “I am Duran,” he said: “I learned to fight inside. It worked in my favor because it reduced the distance between me and my opponent, and I was able to get in powerful combinations. I had power, and I was short. I wasn’t going to jab anybody to death. Not a lot of guys know how to fight inside. They think it’s all going for the knockout bulls***. I learned ring strategy, and I taught myself how to cut off the ring. I learned those skills by myself. They’re not the kind of things someone can pass on to you. You could jab me once, but not twice. You could hit me with a left hook, but not two. You could rock me with a right, but it wouldn’t happen again.”

Duran was ten days into the age of 21 when he challenged Ken Buchanan, making his third defense, for the lightweight title. Duran started as an underdog, but he confidently put it on Buchanan immediately from the opening bell and dropped the Scot in the opening seconds with a right hand. After that, Buchanan struggled to stop Duran’s pressure as the challenger ground away, round after round. Then, after the bell signaled the end of the 13th round, the pair continued to exchange punches, and Duran cracked Buchanan with a low shot, which ended up being the winning blow. One thing that is clear is that Duran was winning at the time of the stoppage against the reigning champion Buchanan, who became one of Britain’s greatest-ever fighters.

After Duran aggressively snatched the lightweight championship from Buchanan, he went on a rampant 12-title defenses over six enthralling years. After establishing himself as arguably the greatest lightweight ever, he jumped two weight classes, looking for new worlds to conquer. On that night in Montreal against Leonard, he sure did so. As Duran approached the twilight of his sensational career, the wiser, albeit slower, Duran won versions of the super welterweight and middleweight titles against hardened young fighters in Davey Moore and Iran Barkley. On his 32nd birthday, Duran took Moore’s WBA super welterweight title with an 8th-round TKO. Such was the brutal punishment dished out by Duran amid the constant calls to put a halt to the beating, Davey’s mother and girlfriend had fainted at ringside.

Duran next challenged the great Marvelous Marvin Hagler for the middleweight championship in 1983. This was Hagler’s eighth title defense, his seven previous defenses all ending in stoppage wins. Duran came just short, losing a close unanimous decision, with Hagler, who appeared the more intimidated, cautiously boxing his way to a narrow win. Duran displayed his grit and veteran abilities, lasting the distance against the powerful, undisputed middleweight champion at the peak of his powers. Past his prime against one of the greatest middleweight champions ever, Duran used his vast toolbox to confound Hagler for large portions of this fight.

No Mas

Duran’s inner demons and short fuse added another layer to a fascinating character and career. In his rematch with Leonard, Duran signaled surrender in the eighth round, shaking his head and fists. Whether he genuinely uttered the words “No Mas” (“No More”) or not, it was clear Duran wanted no more. It was a shockingly captivating moment in a man’s career who always left everything in the ring, aside from this one glaring exception.

This almost destroyed the reputation of the Panamanian legend, but he didn’t quit because of any lack of heart or fortitude. Duran came to fight, as he always did, whilst a motivated Leonard was ready to use everything in his arsenal to prevail, including mind games. With his taunts and theatrical winding up of punches, drawing constant noise and cheers from the crowd, Leonard entered the mind of the macho warrior. It was too much to bear for the proud Panamanian, who probably thought he did not want to engage any further in the pantomime.

This incident hurt Arcel and marked the split-up of the long-time great trainer-fighter relationship between Arcel and Duran. Arcel reportedly told life-long friend and writer Jerry Izenberg: “I don’t know what happened tonight. I have never felt so hurt.”Duran’s heart and reputation as a fierce warrior can never be doubted. He was simply ill-prepared and not a man with any interest in games. When he fought Leonard for the first time, some of Durán’s intimidating predecessors had become captivated by his aura. Joe Frazier, the former world heavyweight champion who had fought three savage battles against Muhammad Ali, stared at Durán.

“Does he remind you of anyone?” Frazier was asked at ringside. “Yeah,” the old heavyweight said, thinking of a mass murderer. “Charles Manson.”

Duran’s fight against WBC middleweight king Iran Barkley was one last glorious comeback that only the greatest in history could conjure. Duran entered in top shape, fighting vigorously for a 37-year-old veteran over 12 rounds, dropping the 28-year-old Barkley en route to a split decision win. Barkley felt Duran’s warrior spirit, against all odds, when many felt this would be the final nail in Duran’s coffin. Barkley said in the aftermath: “It was his heart. It just wouldn’t go.”

Simply The Best

Duran fought across four decades against the best available competition and did not always emerge victorious, but he was always ready to throw down. Such a man perfectly embodies the term “Pound for pound great.” His boxing skills defied weight classes, developing the wily tricks of the trade that only the most intelligent veterans can, to go along with his natural power, speed, tenacity, and chin. With some of the most underrated defensive skills in history, always in a position to throw his shots whilst taking much less punishment than his opponents in his prime, Duran really was the complete package.

The man universally viewed as the greatest Latin fighter ever is a living, pugilistic immortal.