Hands of Stone - Christian Giudice [66]
Despite the decision loss, the fight proved that Lampkin could compete with the elite in his division, and several months later he got his wish for “even ground” when he fought DeJesus again at New York Felt Forum. “I had inflamed gallstones in this fight,” said Lampkin. “It may sound like excuses, but I shouldn’t even have been fighting. I couldn’t do any roadwork, but their mindset was that I could wait and see a doctor [when I got back to] Oregon. I was like, ‘But I could die now.’”
Lampkin survived the painful disorder, which his doctor would later note as a “miracle.” Once again, however, he lost the decision. “I have respect for every fighter because I don’t want to disrespect anybody,” Lampkin said, “but I still think that I could have beaten Esteban. I was too fast for him, and I could box.
“I was always hoping to meet up with Duran,” Lampkin said. “I figured the longer I stayed up there, one day he would have to fight me. When they finally make the fight, they tell me that I’m going to have to go to Panama. He wouldn’t fight me anywhere else. I told him that I would go straight to his house and fight.”
The match was made for Nuevo Panama, Panama City, on 2 March 1975. Lampkin knew that the man he was facing had more to offer than attack. “People never gave Duran credit for being such a good defensive fighter,” said Lampkin. “Boy, he wasn’t easy to hit.”
To Lampkin, the logic of the fight played out like this: DeJesus beat Duran, Lampkin almost beat DeJesus, therefore Lampkin had a good chance to dethrone Duran. Lampkin didn’t regard Duran as an unstoppable force, even though the champion was coming off a trio of first-round knockouts. “They were trying to make Duran out to be this Superman character,” said Lampkin. “He was human, and when you cut him, he bled, just like I did. They were acting like he couldn’t be beat, and I saw Esteban do it. They tried to intimidate me and tell me that if I beat Duran, I probably wouldn’t leave there alive. I told them that if I die, then I would be a dead champion, because if I beat him they were going to have to kill me.”
Lampkin and his team arrived in Panama on a Friday before the fight on Sunday. “No fight could prepare me for Duran,” Lampkin reminisced. “Duran had his own style, and there wasn’t another fighter who had that same style. My sparring partners, well, none of them could really fight like Duran. Duran’s always looking to punch, and had pretty good speed and power. He also had a good right hand, a weird style and was very hard to hit. I just trained hoping to make him fight my fight. I didn’t worry about his style. I wanted to make him adjust to my style. I figured if I landed everything I wanted to land, he would fall.”
Although lack of conditioning would occasionally blight Duran’s career, as a lightweight he was young, strong and savvy enough to prevail even when his energy ran low. He knew when to clinch or claw, hit low, take needed breaks, go toward the ropes or plant himself in the middle of the ring. It was usually enough to keep him out of trouble or allow him to catch his breath. Despite being able to hide his flaws from certain boxers, others quickly recognized Duran’s mouth agape searching for that second wind, along with a decrease in punches, and then attacked. Duran’s power, for a lightweight, was a hot topic. It was a straight right hand often prefaced by a left hook to the body. If the one punched missed, several were fired from every angle. And with the mind of a crafty veteran, Duran knew that his punches might leave him off balance. So Duran perfected the punch-and-hold tactic that threw off all the challengers who expected the staple bum-rush to leave him vulnerable for counters. Those challengers who ran from Duran were caught in the late rounds. On Panama’s boisterous street corners over dominoes, many wondered aloud how many rounds it would take for Duran to destroy Lampkin.
“They kept him away from me,” Lampkin added. “They knew he would try stuff like that, and