Hands of Stone - Christian Giudice [164]
In February 1996, a flabby old man outpointed Ray Domenge over ten tepid rounds in front of 1,800 at the Mahi Shrine Temple in Miami. “Once upon a time, Duran generated fear and awe,” said Boxing News. “Now it’s pity … He looked like a ‘weekend’ athlete who should not have been doing anything more demanding than riding an exercise bike.” Vinny Pazienza, at ringside, remarked, “I like Duran, now that we ain’t fighting, but he ought to retire.” Hector “Macho” Camacho, who lined up to fight Duran that summer, was equally scathing.
The decision win over Domenge, and a couple of stoppages of similarly weak opponents, helped prepare Duran for a showdown with Hector “Macho” Camacho, the flashy, loudmouth Puerto Rican southpaw, for the vacant and lightly regarded IBC middleweight title – well above both their natural weights. They fought on 22 June 1996, at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, and it was an indication of their continuing appeal that the bout was screened on US pay-per-view television. Both men traded insults and threw punches at the press conference after Camacho repeatedly made jibes about the no más fight. The promoter, who stood between them, came off worst, though Camacho cut his hand on a ring on Duran’s finger.
Both fighters would have put on a fine display of speed and power in their lightweight primes; now it was a case of who had more left. As 5,200 witnessed in the sold-out Mark Etess Arena in the fight billed “Legend to Legend,” the question would be answered in a surprisingly entertaining twelve-rounder. The bout featured many vintage Duran exchanges. He had gotten down to 157, his lowest weight in seven years, his stamina held up and his punches were crisp and definite. The posturing Camacho brought out the competiitve fire in him, and each right hand that bounced off the Macho Man’s temple brought a glow of satisfaction to the old warhorse.
Camacho created an early lead with his jab but Duran came back at him and in the middle rounds his more accurate and harder shots cut the light-hitting Puerto Rican. Duran talked to Camacho during infighting, let him know who was the boss. He targeted a cut under the Macho Man’s right eye in the fourth and had him desperately clinching in the fifth. For all of Camacho’s flash and braggadocio, his swagger had waned and ability to avoid punches had eluded him over the first half of the fight. That classic right hand was often deposited from various angles, and Duran looked to build an early lead. Would the judges reward speed or strength? Even though Duran had matched Camacho and even bested him during several trade-offs, he had lost steam in the late rounds and couldn’t win over the judges. Camacho ended up winning an unpopular yet unanimous decision. “Why should I quit?” Duran told reporters at the post-fight press conference.
Back in Panama, Duran was pitted in a horribly overmatched bout with Ariel Cruz, who hadn’t won a fight in thirteen contests, that August. Duran disposed of the journeyman in one round, and would head back stateside. Less than a month later at the Mountaineer Race Track in Chester, West Virginia, Duran faced Mike Culbert, a southpaw from Brockton, in front of a crowd of 2,800. He knocked Culbert down three times, opened a sizable gash on the side of his left eye and eventually stopped him in the sixth round. Duran earned $50,000. “‘Old Man’ Scores a TKO” was the headline in the Charleston Daily Mail.
In June 1997, Duran scored his hundredth win and gained revenge over Argentina’s Jorge Castro, the former WBA middleweight champion who had controversially outpointed him in February. On the evening before his forty-sixth birthday, he survived a fierce pummeling from Castro early in round three to take a narrow ten-round decision – 97-95 on all cards – before close to 10,000 spectators in Panama City. Castro’s strong start had petered out in the intense heat and Duran earned a top-ten ranking in the super-middleweight division with the win. Years later, this author sat with Duran watching a tape of one of the Castro fights and he declared