Roberto Duran
Mano de Piedra-Rated at Lightweight -Nationality: Panamanian
Birth date June 16, 1951 (1951-06-16) (age 56) -Birth place Guararé, Panamá
Boxing record -Total fights 119 -Wins 103 -Wins by KO 70 -Losses 16 Draws 0 -No contests 0
Roberto Duran was born in Guararé, Panamá and started his professional boxing career in 1967. He won thirty fights in a row, culminating in his first title bout in June 1972, where he beat Ken Buchanan for the WBA world lightweight championship. Later the following year he lost a ten round decision to Esteban De Jesus. Duran would make up for the loss in 1974 with a barberic 11th round knockout. Overall Duran achieved 12 successful defenses of his title, 11 coming from KO. Durán fought a third fight with De Jesus, a unification match where Durán once again knocked out De Jesus and got back his WBC lightweight belt. Durán would give up the unified lightweight title in February 1979.
He fought for the welterweight title in June 1980 and defeated Sugar Ray Leonard via a 15-round split decision. However in the November rematch Duran made a horrible error. The frustrated Duran walked to his corner during his fight with Leonard and said "No quiero pelear con el payaso." (Meaning "I do not want to fight with this clown.") Thats how the embarrassing term "No mas, No Mas" term people use to insult Duran was born.
He took some time to recover from the humiliating loss of that fight and gained even more weight to contend for the WBC world junior middleweight title. But he lost his first attempt at the championship in that division on the January 30 of 1982, against Wilfredo Benitez. 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 was the best thing Duran could have done and it marked the begining of a new path to successful boxing. He beat former world champ Pipino Cuevas via a fourth round knock-out, which earned him a second chance at the junior middleweight title, this time against WBA champ Davey Moore. Duran showed his most aggressive persona in this fight by thumbing Moore and trying to hurt Moore as much as possible by butting, lacing Moore's face with his gloves and smiling every time Moore winced in pain. The fight was stopped due to Moore's brutal injuries and Duran won his third world title.
Duran last great performance was his bout against WBC Middleweight champion Iran Barkley, a fight that Duran described as “the greatest of my life.” It was a truly outstanding performance by a 37-year- old veteran master against a much bigger, stronger and more powerful champion. Barkley was fresh off his devastating title winning performance against Thomas Hearns; the only man to ever knockout the real Duran back in 1984. Duran used boxing skill, slick defense, and clever inside fighting to offset Barkley’s greater size and power. Gil Clancy commenting at ringside said, “Duran just slipped 6 punches in a row” to which Al Bernstein, replied, “Duran has always been the master of defense that is one of his trademarks.” In the 7th round Barkley nailed Duran with his best double hook to the chin. Duran was hurt but forced a clinch. In the eighth Barkley nailed Duran hard again with a powerful left hook that caused Roberto to spin from the force of the blow, but he fought back. “It was his heart,” Barkley said later, “It just wouldn’t go.” Duran’s punches were doing damage as well; by the 9th round Barkley’s left eye was swelling from Duran’s right hand counters. Duran said, “Barkley was paying for every punch he threw.” The last rounds were all Duran as he boxed beautifully inside. In the 11th Duran landed one of the best combinations of his career, a smashing right counter, followed by a hammering left hook, another right, then he feinted a left hook and hammered a pile driver right that sent Barkley crashing to the canvas. Barkley survived and they fought evenly in the last round. It was a tough, great fight but Duran won a deserved split-decision and the 160-pound title.
Even at an old age, well into his 40’s, Duran was still smart enough as a boxer to give all but the topnotch fighters a lot of trouble. He lost controversial decisions to Vinny Pazienza in their first fight, flooring him in the process and to Hector Camacho Sr. in their first fight, a decision so bad that Sugar Ray Leonard called it “an early Christmas gift.”
QUOTES
"Getting hit motivates me. It makes me punish the guy more. A fighter takes a punch, hits back with three punches."
-- Roberto Duran
"There's only one legend. That's me."-- Roberto Duran
"My experience won this fight…. I knew I was in control. I was not scared. He was not hitting me with anything that was hurting me. "
-- Roberto Duran after defeating P.J. Goosen on August 12, 2000
"I realized that my body can give me so much more."
-- Roberto Duran, on his decision to continue fighting
"I am not an animal in my personal life. But in the ring there is an animal inside me. Sometimes it roars when the first bell rights. Sometimes it springs out later in a fight. But i can always feel it there, driving me and pushing me forward. It is what makes me win. It makes me enjoy fighting."
-- Roberto Duran
