Roberto Duran
Roberto Duran (b. June 16, 1951) is a famous boxer from Panama. 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 (having previously retired in 1998) following a bad car crash in October 2001, aged 52 with a professional record of 120 fights, 104 wins with 69 KOs. He was nicknamed Manos de Piedra (Hands of Stone).Born in Guarare, Panama he had his first professional fight in 1967. After a initial adjustment he won thirty in a row, culminating in his first title bout in June 1972, beating Ken Buchanan in New York for the World and WBA lightweight belts. He made twelve successful defences of his title before giving the belt up in February 1979. He then built up for an attempt at the welterweight title, he fought and beat Sugar Ray Leonard in June 1980 to win the title but in a re-match in November he shockingly quit in the eighth round (No Mas). He took some time to recover from that fight, gaining more mass to contend for the WBC junior middleweight title, losing in his first effort at a championship in that division on the 30th of January of 1982, against Wilfredo Benitez by a 15 round unanimous decision.After being relegated to a 10 round walk out win over tough Englishman Jimmy Batten[?] at The Battle Of The Champions[?] in Miami, he signed with promoter Bob Arum. This marked the beginning of a comeback in which he destroyed former world champion and now hall of famer Pipino Cuevas, knocked out in 4 rounds, earning his second crack at the Jr Middleweight[?] title, this time against WBA champion Davey Moore. Duran conquered his third title on his birthday, June 16th, 1983, totally dominating the unexperienced champion Moore, giving him a dangerous beating before the fight was stopped in the 8th.Duran later tried to take the World middleweight title, he met Marvin Hagler in Las Vegas in November 1983 and and he lost over fifteen rounds. in June 1984 he lost his junior middleweight title to Thomas "Hitman" Hearns. He did not contend another title fight until 1989, he won the WBC middleweight title from Iran Barkley in February but lost it and a chance to win the super middleweight title in a disappointing clash with "Sugar" Ray Leonard in December. Although clearly in decline he tried to win further middleweight titles in 1994, 1995 and 1996 (IBC[?]), and 1998 (WBA). After a bad defeat to William Joppy in three rounds in 1998 he announced his retirement in August 1998, but was back fighting in 1999. In June 2000 he won a super middleweight title from Pat Lawlor. He lost that title when he was beaten by Hector Camacho
After splitting fights with Jorge Castro and losing a rematch to Camacho, Duran went to Argentina to promote a Salsa music cd of his 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.
with comfortable chairs, sofas, and tables loaded with flowers, or
function the musical program is given and cakes and ices are served;
in pretty divided skirts, worn for convenience in riding astride,--
the natives.
"The comfort and luxury of such an apartment, especially at a
across it, heavy with the fragrance of jasmine and gardenia, and
rugged mountains, their summits veiled in clouds, of purple sea with
the yellow sunlight or the magical moonlight of the tropics."
There: rugs, ices, pictures, lanais, worldly books, sinful bric-a-brac
changes, indeed. In my time the native women rode astride, but the white.html">white
seldom seen in Honolulu. It sometimes came in sailing vessels from New
port and balls and suppers raging by consequence, the ballast was worth
the ice.html">ice-machine has traveled all over the world.html">world.html">world, now, and brought ice
ice in our day, except the bears and the walruses.
The bicycle is not mentioned. It was not necessary. We know that it is
never have had summer homes on the summit of Mont Blanc; before its day,
capital learned too late the right way to occupy a horse--too late to get
everywhere in the world. In Honolulu a few years from now he will be
forsook the world and went to the leper.html">leper island of Molokai to labor among
misery, for death to cone and release them from their troubles; and we
that he became a leper himself, and died of that horrible disease. There
"Billy" Ragsdale, interpreter to the Parliament in my time--a half-white.
would have been hard to match anywhere. He used to stand up in the
.
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