Hands of Stone - Christian Giudice [57]
Robertson went four more rounds minus his teeth. In the third, he was drawn into a perfect overhand right that left him on one knee, although he gamely bounced back up and managed to survive the follow-up onslaught. Duran would comment on his opponent’s bravery after the fight. In Spanish, a fighter of Robertson’s mold is referred to as bastante duro or very tough. And in the fourth round, as Robertson was bounced along the ropes by triple right hands, it was clear that he deserved the compliment and had earned respect from the partisan crowd. Unfortunately that meant nothing in the middle of the ring.
Robertson rolled along the ropes during the fifth, his body movement disappeared and his face left wide open for a right and left hook. Without warning, his legs gave way like a fast-collapsing table. The young fighter had met another straight right hand. Now, he was on the canvas leaning on his right hand, trying to decide what his next move would be.
“One, two, three, four, five, six …”
Robertson could hear the count clearly and he would redirect his body weight so he was now on one knee.
“… seven, eight, nine, ten!”
After surveying the scene, Robertson understood the gap between possible gain and permanent injury and elected to fight another day.
The clean-shaven Duran laughed with reporters after the fight, acknowledged that Robertson had the edge in the second round and that he was “feeling weak.” Meanwhile a Panamanian journalist practicing his English had wandered over to speak to the loser.
“Jimmy, I am very, very, sorry that you lost the fight. You did a good fight.”
“Thank you,” said the beaten fighter.
“What is your opinion about Duran? He punch too hard?”
“Yes, he is very strong and hard to fight.”
“Duran said you got him in the second round and that he felt weak, did you notice this?” asked the reporter.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Did you lose teeth, tooth?”
“One tooth.”
“OK, Jimmy I am very sorry that you lost today,” said the reporter.
Robertson trudged back to the dressing room.
“Now, bring me to Esteban DeJesus,” said the champion. Toti remembers that his brother began to be called “El Dentista” for his power punching.
THE WBC LIGHTWEIGHT champion, Rodolfo “Gato” Gonzalez, was based on the West Coast, where he was popular among the large Mexican community. With his champion banned from New York, Eleta decided to establish him in California too, and Duran’s next two bouts took place in Los Angeles.
First, he stopped southpaw Juan Medina in seven rounds on February 23, 1973, in a non-title fight. For Medina “just going the distance would be a victory,” recalled promoter Don Chargin from ringside, and he tried all he could to stay away from his pursuer, but eventually Duran caught up and stopped him in the seventh round. Finding his opponent in the ring strictly to survive was something Duran would have to get used to.
The West Coast trip was more important to Duran for events outside the ring. “I went to train in the Olympic Auditorium with Luis Spada behind the Hotel Alejandria,” he said. “I was twenty-one at the time and waiting to fight Medina. Three people came to me and said that I had the same face as Margarito [his father]. They were my aunts and uncles. They said my father was coming to see me and that’s also when I met my uncle, Roberto, whose name was given to me because my father loved him so much. I went to the hotel and after a couple of hours my father came to see me. I knew it was him after he told me who he knew in my town in Panama.”
Margarito had failed for two decades to even ask about him, and had never even sent money. Suspicious and resentful of his father’s timing, Roberto saw someone looking for a handout. “He is a very sensitive person and would always complain about not having lived with his father,” said Plomo. “He used to tell me he wanted to find out about him, to know what he was like, and I remember he once said he had left Germany and was living in Arizona. At that time he had already fought in the USA, and had turned world champion, but he still did not