Hands of Stone - Christian Giudice [84]
Duran’s friend and longtime aide-de-camp Luis Henriquez related the story of a meeting Duran had had a couple of years before with General Torrijos. The Central American strongman wanted Duran to pose for a joke photograph while stretched on the floor, to look as though the general had kayoed him. Duran politely refused. Lying down was one thing he wouldn’t do in jest, even for the dictator. “He seems to look on the arena as a place to kill or be killed,” added Henriquez, “and he is not about to get killed.” Life had made Duran that way. In classic Duran style, he told a reporter that if DeJesus got up this time, he would send him right back down. He meant it.
First, though, he had to deal with the brujos again. Duran’s fear of witches and wizards had been instilled by his mother, who would suggest her own counter-measures to evil spells. “We’re standing in the ring before the fight trying to choose a corner,” said Eleta. “There were lights in the one corner and it would have made Roberto too hot during the fight, so we picked the other one. But that was not good for Roberto because ‘the brujos told him to change corners.’ I told him that I talked with the witches and they said it was okay. He believed in that stuff. That was Roberto.”
The Caesar’s Palace Sports Pavilion sold out for the fight, which was telecast by CBS. On January 21, 1978, the Hollywood stars came out. In one ringside seat was Sylvester Stallone, while not far away was the Chairman of the Board himself, Frank Sinatra. “Sinatra used to invite him to his suite at the end of the matches,” said Plomo. “There were many movie actors that used to invite him. Had Duran been a North American boxer, he would still be a rich man. Americans know how to value what is worth giving value.” Sinatra wasn’t a Duran favorite; he once gave the legendary crooner a pair of gloves and Sinatra looked at them and just threw them to one side. Olympic gold medalist Sugar Ray Leonard was also at ringside, already assessing Duran as a future opponent.
DeJesus trained until the final day before the fight due to weight problems. Duran made $250,000 to DeJesus’s $150,000. For bettors, Duran went from a 2-1 to a 7-5 favorite before the fight. Both fighters struggled to make the lightweight limit, though DeJesus finally came in a full pound under it. They clashed at the weigh-in, with DeJesus jibing in Spanish, “You’re too weak at that weight. I’m going to murder you.” Scuffling broke out between their handlers and Don King’s frustrations rose to his hair’s height.
“With the Puerto Ricans we started a great fight,” said Plomo. “An uncle of Duran’s, a very heavy man, a logger [fought]. It was a very big fight, and four Puerto Ricans fell down. Esteban tried to deceive Duran, but Duran reacted at once and only touched him, and Esteban fell on a chair. Duran told him he’d rather restrain them, for he was going to get him that night during the fight. The only person who got hurt was Duran’s uncle, who was beaten by four of them. Duran told him that he was going to beat him badly that night, and it was not a lie.”
In the six years since he lost that first fight to DeJesus, Duran had convinced himself that no one would beat him. Consequently, no one did. “I didn’t respect anybody,” Duran said. “Boxing to me was a joke, I didn’t give a damn about boxing. The third time I fought with DeJesus, I caught him and began to understand his style. I learned it when DeJesus fought Antonio Cervantes. When Pambele boxed DeJesus he didn’t know what to do. A lot of Panamanians were in favor of DeJesus and I was even in his corner. When I saw that Pambele started to box him, I said, ‘Look, there is DeJesus’ defect.’ He lost, time goes by and then he wins the title from Ishimatsu.
“I find him in Miami training for a fight and he is putting wraps on his hand. You could tell he was having trouble with the weight, to the point where he didn’t even want to talk. He was having a terrible time. When a man’s hungry he doesn’t have any strength. I tell