Hands of Stone - Christian Giudice [62]
Duran fought his best when he had something to prove, never more so than in the return bout with DeJesus. He wanted DeJesus with a passion, while lesser opponents were merely a break in his carousing. DeJesus had to be taken seriously; Duran knew this much. This was the guy who floored him in their first fight, whose left hook was the hot topic in pre-fight interviews, who cursed Duran in public and challenged him during press conferences.
Weeks before the fight Duran told a local reporter, “I wake up with DeJesus. I breakfast with DeJesus. I lunch with DeJesus. And I go to sleep with DeJesus. There is not a moment that I don’t think about him. I have no fear. In the first fight, I was not in good physical condition. This time I am in better condition than I was when I massacred Buchanan. I hope that DeJesus doesn’t run like a coward.” On March 15, a photo in La Critica showed Duran holding up six fingers to signify the round he would knock out his opponent.
He further elaborated in a radio interview with journalist Tomy Cupas.
“How do you feel about the fight?” asked Cupas.
“I am in perfect condition and DeJesus is covered in shit,” said Duran.
“Listen, champ, we are on air …”
“Excuse me, but I will take him out at all costs.”
Ray Arcel arrived on March 9 to train Duran in a gym in the interior in Veraguas, Santiago, while DeJesus stayed in Panama City and trained at Juan Demostenes Arosemena. There were rumors that Duran hurt his hand in sparring, while DeJesus, whose sparring partners were the Puerto Rican Benitez brothers, allegedly suffered a cut days before the fight. Trainer Gregorio Benitez complained about the training conditions and tried to postpone the fight a week, though this may have been because DeJesus was struggling to get down to the weight.
It was also the hot season, when humidity became almost unbearable, hardly the best time for anyone to step into the ring against the local hero.
“Duran didn’t have trouble with guys who moved. He had trouble with a guy who was a good fighter,” said Gil Clancy. “And DeJesus was a guy who could fight. What you are looking for is to see the effect of when a guy lands a punch, to see how well the other guy stands up.”
DeJesus also had one weapon that no mortal man could counter without help: magic. He brought with him his brujos, the shamanic wizards or witch doctors in whose magic many black and native Americans believed. Brujos are respected and feared from Mexico to Chile. They can cast a spell on enemies, cure ills and stop a straying husband. In Chile they believed that to become a brujo one must perform evil acts, even killing a family member to acquire magical powers. According to some legends, brujos can fly when wearing a vest made from the skin of a virgin worn inside out.
Newspapers referred to DeJesus as “the sorcerer from Puerto Rico.” Clara Samaniego prayed to Virgen del Carmen, patron saint of the mestizo population, for her son’s safety but also took measures to counter his opponent’s dark magic. “Esteban DeJesus did not know me at that time,” said Clara. “He came to Panama, and said that anyone who wanted to meet him could go visit him. I went to see him, and I immediately saw the African brujos. I sensed this was not going to be a good thing for my son during the fight the following day. So I sent Roberto [a religious object] so that he did not fall on the first round. But Roberto threw away what I had given him.
“When I arrived I said I wanted to talk to a lieutenant, and I asked him to take me to see Roberto, for I was his mother. When Roberto saw me, crying, I told him to hook him up from downwards and upwards, combining them. I then claimed for the help of my late mother,