THE 100 GREATEST BOXERS OF ALL TIME #9: ROBERTO DURAN
“HANDS OF STONE”
103 WINS (70 BY KO), 16 LOSSES
World Lightweight Champion 1972–1979
World Welterweight Champion 1980
WBA Super Middleweight Titlist 1983
WBC Middleweight Titlist 1989
International Boxing Hall of Fame Inductee 2007
Machismo. noun.
1: a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity
2: an exaggerated or exhilarating sense of power or strength
…or so say the good folks at Merriam-Webster, anyway. Panama’s Roberto Duran defined the word just as thoroughly, only in a different manner. He etched his definition into the skulls and abdomens of his opponents with his “Hands of Stone.” In Latin America, one need only utter the name “Duran” as a perfect synonym for machismo.
Raised in the El Chorillo barrio of Panama City, Duran grew up poor. Not American poor. Third-world poor. As an adult, he would charge out of his corner with a vengeful fury, treating each opponent as though that man were the only thing standing between Duran and a return to poverty. He had little to no regard for social graces in the ring or out, winning the world's lightweight championship in 1972 by crashing home a direct hit haymaker to Ken Buchanan’s groin. A few years later, as paramedics carted challenger Ray Lampkin to the hospital, the knockout victim’s life apparently hanging in the balance, a foolish reporter put a microphone in front of Duran and asked him if he felt any remorse for treating Lampkin so rudely. “Next time I’ll put him in the morgue,” was the unabashed response. You might care to know that Lampkin survived, even if it clearly mattered little to Duran.
Backed by Ray Arcel, arguably the very best trainer-manager of them all (A man who had worked the corners of Benny Leonard, Jim Braddock, Barney Ross, Tony Zale, Ezzard Charles, and many other legends), Duran put together a division record twelve consecutive championship defenses over seven years, eleven of them by knockout. By June 1980, his record stood at 71 victories (56 by KO) against just one defeat (to Esteban De Jesus, a loss he later avenged twice by knockout).
Having established himself as arguably the best lightweight ever, he jumped up two weight classes looking for new worlds to conquer, and challenged Sugar Ray Leonard in a battle of superstars for the welterweight laurels on June 20, 1980, at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Using intimidation and bullying tactics before the fight, Duran was able to psyche the undefeated Leonard into a fifteen-round trip through Hell. The quick and proud Leonard did well, but the challenger’s furious fists simply overwhelmed him. A deserved unanimous decision gave Duran the defining victory of his illustrious career. In celebration, he leaped around the ring pounding his chest with his gloves and yelling profanities at Leonard, the crowd, and anyone else he could find. Even in victory, bitter anger for his childhood hardships remained a scorching hot flame inside him.
He lost the rematch and championship to a wiser Leonard later that year, infuriating his fans by uttering the forbidden words, “No mas” in the eighth round. It was an inconceivably meek surrendering of all things machismo in the face of adversity, and Duran was written off as a coward by the press, boxing insiders, and especially his fans throughout Latin America, who felt that he had betrayed their deep cultural investment in him as an idol of Latino pride.
It was a long way back for Duran, one that lead him through defeats to Wilfred Benitez and Kirkland Laing before he finally recovered his old ferocity and thrashed undefeated junior middleweight Davey Moore for a belt (not the lineal title) on his thirty-second birthday, June 16, 1983. Six years later, he was again thought washed up when he knocked down Iran Barkley and took a twelve-round decision and a belt in a fourth division, middleweight (again, not lineal), displaying superb boxing skill along with his trademark aggression.
The Barkley win proved to be the last great hurrah of the aging warrior, but he fought on until a car accident forced his retirement in 2001 at age 50. He is one of only two men in the top 100 list to have fought in five separate decades (the 1960s through the 2000s), and one of the few in that period to collect more than 100 wins.
Roberto Duran’s Record vs. Hall of Famers & lineal world champions:
10/16/1971 — W (KO) 7 — Hiroshi Kobayashi
6/26/1972 — W (TKO) 13 — Ken Buchanan
6/22/1979 — W 10 — Carlos Palomino
6/20/1980 — W 15 — Ray Leonard
11/25/1980 — L (TKO) 6 — Ray Leonard
1/30/1982 — L 15 — Wilfred Benitez
1/29/1983 — W (TKO) 4 — Pipino Cuevas
11/10/1983 — L 15 — Marvin Hagler
6/15/1986 — L (TKO) 2 — Thomas Hearns
12/7/1989 — L 12 — Ray Leonard
6/22/1996 — L 12 — Hector Camacho
7/14/2001 — L 12 — Hector Camacho
