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By Root 1274 0

Rican. Contracts were signed for a title contest to take place at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas, on 30 January 1982. In the pre-fight interviews, Benitez showed more of a willingness to speak in English, while Duran used Luis Henriquez and other translators as his mouthpieces. Duran understood most of what was being said in English but did not feel confident enough to speak it; he was never going to sit still long enough to perfect a foreign language. Benitez’s co-manager Jimmy Jacobs – who bought his contract for $75,000 from Gregorio – admitted that his boxer also unintentionally alienated the American audience by not conversing in English “but when he tries to express himself in English, so many thoughts are misunderstood and misrepresented. But it’s a calculated risk to communicate in English when he’s infinitely more superior in another language.” The refusal of Duran to learn English meant he was unable to market himself effectively to the U.S. public and probably cost him millions in endorsements.

To make certain that his fighter arrived in prime fighting condition, Eleta sent him to training camp on the penal island of Coiba, off the coast of Panama. A kind of open Alcatraz, Coiba housed Panama’s worst criminals, on a godforsaken island surrounded by strong currents and shark-infested waters. Duran was permitted only to fish, eat, train and rest. “Wow,” Duran told Sports Illustrated. “I was a prisoner among prisoners. To make a telephone call you had to climb a mountain. You called by shortwave radio. There were many murderers there; not many thieves, mostly pure murderers. I was scared. The prisoners walked around with machetes because they used them for work in the mountains. Whenever I went into the streets, I had a guard with me. At three a.m. roosters would be crowing. I couldn’t get any sleep. I was pulling my hair out. That was a disgrace. It was a big mistake, a bad decision to go there.”

Eleta wanted Duran’s trip to be so dull and lonely that all he had to think about was destroying the young Puerto Rican who had often badmouthed him. It was also the only way to ensure that the hangers-on would stay away and Duran would stay faithful to his training regimen. No women, no beer, just steak, water and sweat. Eleta wouldn’t let Duran and new trainer Panama Lewis off the island until he got down from 167 pounds to 156. The strategy seemed to work as Duran had no trouble getting to the 154-pound limit by fight time. Even Ray Arcel, drafted in by Eleta as an “adviser” for the bout, claimed, “He’s in the best shape, physically and mentally, that I’ve seen him since he knocked out DeJesus four years ago.” Arcel also complimented Benitez, whom he said knew everything there was to know about the ring.

Before traveling to Vegas, Duran visited the grave of Torrijos, pledging to bring back the WBC junior middleweight for the late dictator. But Benitez, who was set to make nearly $1.5 million to Duran’s $750,000, was the 9–5 favorite, The Puerto Rican favorite. Duran was now thirty, seven years older than Benitez. Benitez was coming in at 43-1-1, with 26 knockouts, while Duran was 74-2, with losses to Leonard and DeJesus. Benitez stepped off the scale at 152¼ pounds to Duran’s 152½. Despite how hard Duran had trained, he couldn’t change the reality that the bigger Benitez was coming down in weight and that he would be punching up at the five-foot-ten Puerto Rican. How would Duran handle the counterpuncher when he sat on the ropes and waited? Would he come at him or cut off the ring? Would Benitez be able to take a punch from Hands of Stone?

There were hints on the eve of the showdown that Benitez had matured. His father talked before the bout about his son’s focus and even praised his training methods. Benitez admitted that he couldn’t return to his country without the belt. “It’s not so much the title that is motivating Wilfred,” said Jim Jacobs. “He knows about Duran as a legend, and now Wilfred wants the glory and the recognition as the greatest Latin fighter.”

Although Gregorio and Jacobs (co-manager with Bill Cayton)