Hands of Stone - Christian Giudice [96]
Ray Leonard had clearly made the greater impression. Things would have to change.
ON NOVEMBER 30, 1979, a television audience of millions watched two undefeated prodigies meet in a battle for the WBC welterweight crown and to decide, in effect, who would be Duran’s next great challenge. The preparations of unpredictable genius Wilfred Benitez had hardly been helped when his fiery father, Gregorio, no longer his manager but still his trainer, gave an interview to Ring En Espanol before the bout, saying, “He can’t win this fight … has not listened to anything I have told him and meanwhile Leonard has fought a lot. But Wilfred is a boy who just refuses to listen.” His mother, Clara, also chipped in. “Look at how my son has turned out,” she bewailed. “All he thinks about now are women. And this is no good during fights.”
Some say Benitez had put in only nine full days of preparation before he lost his title to Sugar Ray Leonard when the referee stopped their fifteen-round bout with just six seconds remaining at Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas. Leonard had been ahead on all of the judges’ cards, his harder hitting giving him the edge in a tense battle.
Two months later, twenty-four-year Josef Nsubuga, trained by the veteran Eddie Futch, met the serious version of Duran in Las Vegas. A Ugandan fighting out of Norway, Nsubuga was ranked ninth by the WBC and was considered a dangerous left-hooker. He was announced as the “Ugandan Powerhouse” but later admitted making a major error when he tried to brawl with Duran.
Nsubuga kept cool under pressure in the first round, jabbing and moving, and at one point a frustrated Duran pushed him to the canvas. But by the third the shorter, stockier Hands of Stone was taking charge and rocking back Nsubuga’s head with hooks and uppercuts. The referee took a close look at the inexperienced Ugandan, but he showed grit and composure to fight back in the closing stages of the round.
In the next round Duran simply walked through his opponent’s fading resistance, sometimes grunting as he slammed in shots. With seconds remaining in the fourth round, Duran caught Nsubuga down with a short right hook, and as the Ugandan sagged, Duran shouldered him over, causing him to fall heavily on his back. Nsubuga managed to rise at “eight” and was saved by the bell. He stumbled back to his corner, where the compassionate Eddie Futch pleaded with the fighter’s Norwegian manager to retire his man. After consultation with referee Richard Greene, Nsubuga retired on his stool. “I’m the real world champ,” Duran told reporters afterwards in his Spanish-accented English. “I want Leonard now, and I’ll knock him out.”
It was reported shortly afterwards that Bob Arum had offered Duran $1 million to challenge Ray Leonard that summer. Leonard was said to lean towards Arum while Duran was in the camp of his promotional arch-rival Don King. One magazine reported that an Arum acolyte made a secret mission to Carlos Eleta in Panama City to woo Duran away from Don King to face the winner of Benitez-Leonard. King was tipped off and dispatched his own emissary from JFK Airport to make a counter offer. Leonard, never one to undersell himself, wanted $5 million. “That’s a bad joke,” remarked Don King. “You scare people with talk like that.”
The mind games began. Leonard’s trainer Angelo Dundee made a point of telling reporters that “three things trouble Duran – speed, a left hand and a calculated fight. You need a well regimented fighter to lick him and that’s my guy.” Ray Arcel, however, believed Duran’s experience would be the deciding factor. Duran, well versed in street pyschology, was already winding himself up for the encounter. When he knew that Leonard was watching him work out in the gym one day, he skipped rope in a squatting position.
Nearly a month after the win over Nsubuga, Duran watched helplessly as his record of ten straight knockout title defenses was broken by Puerto Rican featherweight and bantamweight legend Wilfredo Gomez. On February 3, 1980, Gomez knocked out Colombia’s Ruben Valdes.