Hands of Stone - Christian Giudice [163]
During the postponement, Duran ran for political office for the Arnulfista Party, which was traditionally strong in the rural interior. Elections were being held that summer. “My mother asked me to run for the Senate, to run for the people of Panama,” said Duran to a local reporter, a former boxing champion in four weight classes. “I know the people, know what it is to be poor. The people need me, they need somebody just like them.” Duran would miss being elected in a close race.
Despite the fact that corruption was still rife in Panamanian society and politics, the environment was noticeably less hostile. “Indisputably the country is better off,” wrote reporter Alma Guillermoprieto in The Heart That Bleeds: Latin America Now. “With occasional lapses, there is press freedom, in which any number of dreadful tabloids revel. The National Assembly has approved, in record time, a package of sensible changes in the Constitution. The oppressive atmosphere of the final days of the Noriega era is gone …”
Training in Diamondhead, Mississippi, Duran had his usual entourage of friends, hangers-on and backslappers, but was now a very different person to the wired teenager who bragged about putting people in hospital. On December 14, Duran (90-9) knocked down the twenty-one-year-old Tony Menefee in round five with a straight right over a weak jab and dominated his brave opponent until the bout was stopped in the eighth. When the end came, with Menefee struggling to rise after another knockdown, Duran actually gestured to referee Elmo Adolph to stop the fight. “I didn’t want to kill him,” he said later. “I signaled to the referee because he’s a young fighter, an up-and-coming guy, and I didn’t want to hurt him.” How times had changed.
A month after the Menefee beating, Duran stopped Terry Thomas at Casino Magic. Duran broke Thomas’s nose midway through the third, the popping sound being heard by ringsiders. Thomas courageously continued but the fight was stopped in the fourth round.
Next was his most meaningful opponent since Leonard. On June 25, 1994, Duran dropped former champion Vinny Pazienza in the fifth round on his way to a close twelve-round decision loss for something called the IBC super middleweight title. The IBC, or International Boxing Council, was yet another unnecessary “governing body” in a sport already plagued by confusion and politics. But Duran and the colorful Pazienza, known as the “Pazmanian Devil,” were still a draw and over 10,000 spectators packed the MGM Grand Garden in Vegas to see the former champs battle it out at a contracted 165 pounds.
Before the fight Duran sneered at Pazienza’s usual outrageous macho act: “He thinks he’s the mother of Tarzan.” And the sight of Pazienza on the canvas in the fifth round from a perfectly executed right-hand counter sent the crowd into a frenzy. The three judges, astonishingly, were much less impressed and all scored the round a 10-10 draw. A clash of heads brought blood flowing and Duran continued to punish Pazienza, opening a cut on his face and denting his pride. He couldn’t keep up the pace, though, and let Pazienza back into the fight. The Pazman won the last five rounds on every scorecard and the unanimous decision. “I outpunched him,” Duran claimed afterwards. “If this kid is so tough, look at his face and look at mine. What did he do? He slapped the whole night. Everybody thought I was old but it was the other guy who fought like an old man. I didn’t lose the fight.”
He set his sights on a rematch with Pazienza, first stopping Heath Todd in what amounted to a tune-up at Casino Magic. But when he met Pazienza again for the same title on January 14, 1995, in the Atlantic City Convention Hall, he was never in it and lost a lopsided decision. On some cards, Pazienza won every round. Duran took his best shots and remained standing but couldn’t shake off the rust of the years.