Hands of Stone - Christian Giudice [103]
Duran arrived in New York on April 13 to begin training at Grossinger’s. People knew he was serious when he was nowhere to be found on the club circuit. When his mind was on the job, his training sessions, including a spectacular rope-jumping routine, could be eerily intense. “And all throughout the workout, in the ring and on the bag and rope, he emitted strange shrill cries,” wrote John Schulian. “They were not snorts and grunts many boxers make when punching. They were oohs and aahs, wailed in a sharp, high-pitched staccato, like cries of birds, and seemed to strike an emphasis, set a rhythm or express exuberance.”
Still, the training regimen came with the usual minor crises. “I was running up a hill with boots and when I stretched out I messed up my back,” said Duran. “I’m still suffering from that pain today. Eleta sent a doctor from Panama because he thought I was lying. I couldn’t even sit down. The doctor is observing me and he would look at me with the corner of his eye, but my back really hurt. When we go to Montreal, they take me to a clinic and it was the first time they ever took the pain away with lasers. They take me into an operating room and there’s a thing that looks like a barrel and they shoot this laser. The pain is gone, but I ended up feeling very weak. When I started to train very hard, Leonard and all his people were very afraid.”
Days before the fight, a routine medical indicated that Duran had an irregular heartbeat and might not be allowed in the ring. The media went into a minor frenzy of speculation. Duran, who thought the whole thing was a conspiracy, had to undergo further electrocardiogram tests at Montreal’s Institute of Cardiology before he was cleared to fight. “Everybody there liked me and I won the public over when I trained really hard, and I went on the microphone and said, ‘Bonjour madam, bonjour,’” said Duran. “They all fell in love with me, especially when I started jumping rope. The Leonard team got scared and wanted to bring the fight back to New York and made up a story about me having heart conditions. They said that three of the chambers of my heart were bad and they said that they pulled two tumors out of my head and that’s how sick I was.”
Despite the suspicion in Duran’s camp, they had to be cautious. “I sent my own physician down there when I heard about the problem,” said Eleta. “There was nothing wrong with Roberto. When the doctor looked at him they said he was strong as a horse.” Ray Arcel, always good for a quote, quipped, “They took him to the hospital to check out his heart. But everyone knows that Roberto Duran hasn’t got a heart.”
“His weight fluctuates so much,” said Dundee in a New York Times interview before the fight. “Who knows what he’s going to be like next year? He gets as big as a house between fights.” The war of words had begun. Arcel understood the ramifications of each insult and action but didn’t let it worry his guy. From the first time he saw the Panamanian against Lloyd Marshall, Arcel was adamant about not changing his style. It was a sign of his deep knowledge of boxers, of what worked and what didn’t. Throughout the eight years they’d been side by side, Duran had gone from a wild puncher to a patient stalker, but Arcel and Brown had never sought to temper his naked aggression.
“In the past, Duran has developed a dislike for a guy and when that happened, he really became intent on destroying him and always did,” Arcel told the New York Times reporter on the day of the fight. “The one thing I fear and dread is if the ref doesn’t let Duran fight inside. If that happens, Duran won’t be able to fight his fight. But as long as Duran can fight his fight, he’s going to hit Leonard and he’s going to drain him … the big question then will be Leonard’s stamina and endurance after the sixth and seventh round. That’s when Duran gets his second wind and he’s all over the other guy.” Duran’s camp bemoaned the choice of Filipino referee Carlos Padilla, who had an undeserved reputation for not allowing in-fighting.
The universal