Hands of Stone - Christian Giudice [54]
But still enjoying his emotional championship victory over Buchanan, Duran had been criticized in the local press for over-celebrating and constant partying. He also had a complicated personal life. Despite his relationship with Felicidad, he had another gilfriend, Silvia, who would bear him a daughter called Dalia. She lived in the town of Puerto Armuelles, though she would later move to Miami, and Duran would drive over every weekend to see her. Two months before the DeJesus bout, he was driving his Volkwagen through the hills of Chiriqui when a rainstorm came down.
“I couldn’t see the road and either way there are hills,” remembered Duran. “I’m going really slow in the car, and I’m scared as hell. All of a sudden the lights come on and I step on the brakes. I’m going downhill. I picked up a hitchhiker on the way, going downhill and the car hits something, and I hit the steering wheel and I split my lip in two parts. The other guy hit the windshield. I get out of the car, I’m dizzy and my lip is open in two pieces.
“When I look up, I told the guy we have to get out of here, and I look down and I have a hole in my elbow. So I have a hole in my elbow and a split lip, and it takes five minutes to walk up the hill. When we get to the top of the hill, it stops raining. A car is coming, and it stops to ask me, ‘Duran what happened?’ I tell him what happened, and we go to a town called San Felix. And the doctor checks me and gives me stitches. His hand is shaking as he gives me stitches. I say, ‘Why is your hand shaking?’ And he said, ‘I’m afraid that you’re going to die here on me.’ By that time, people had heard that I had an accident and the hospital was full. He sews my elbow up. A friend of mine who was a major in David comes and picks me up. The doctor said I could have a couple drinks. When I get the drink, all the stitches break open again. I cover it up, and I went to New York to go fight with Esteban DeJesus.”
“Duran Injured in Car Mishap” announced the headline of an Associated Press report on September 15, 1972. “World lightweight champ Roberto Duran escaped serious injury in an automobile accident,” read the report. “Duran’s Volkswagen overturned. He was forced to brake suddenly when the car ahead of him slowed down without warning. Duran suffered a slight cut on his right elbow and lacerations of the face.” The report named Mariano Ramirez as the passenger.
“After the accident I go to New York because we took the fight with DeJesus,” said Duran. “I still have my open wound on my elbow. Carlos Eleta shouldn’t have sent me. He sent me up there to train for a month. If you really look at the fight the only thing that DeJesus did was knock me down in the first round. The only thing he did was hit me with that left hook. He never beat me. I saw the fight; he didn’t beat me. Remember he’s Puerto Rican, and lived between New York and Puerto Rico. Remember he’s always there, so to the Americans it was always more convenient to have him win there than a Panamanian who’s in Panama.”
Featherweight legends Willie Pep and Sandy Saddler were introduced before the fight, a premonitory meeting of two of the great rivals in boxing. As they stood toe-to-toe for the introductions, DeJesus, 138, in blue trunks and white stripes, settled in at eye level to the five-foot-seven, 137½lb Duran. They were to compete over ten rounds, without the title at stake, on November 17, 1972.
Neither Duran nor DeJesus was willing to look at the other for more than a split second; their eyes focused on the canvas until they touched eight-ounce gloves to initiate battle. Puerto Rico had a history of great boxers and DeJesus wouldn’t always get the respect he deserved for his skills. “I was very surprised at the trouble that DeJesus gave Duran because I didn’t think he was a great fighter,” said fellow countryman Carlos Ortiz. “But when he fought Duran, he did a great