Hit Man - Brian Hughes [53]
Roberto Duran was born in utter poverty in a Panama slum, the product of a liaison between a US serviceman and a local girl. He fought for pennies on street corners and trailed his brother down to the nearest boxing gym when he was only eight years old. He was a natural fighter, with boundless energy, aggression and power. His big break came when he was spotted by Carlos Eleta, a millionaire businessman with an interest in sports. Eleta took over the young urchin’s management and soon he was cutting a swathe though the lightweight division. He captured the world title in 1972 and defended it a dozen times before moving up in weight to challenge the unbeaten welterweight champion, Ray Leonard. In one of the great fights of the era, Duran sensationally outpointed Leonard over fifteen bruising rounds. He was generally acknowledged as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.
Yet glory was followed by disgrace. In a rematch five months later, Duran stalked while Leonard danced. Neither fighter inflicted significant damage on the other, but Duran grew increasingly frustrated at his inability to catch his elusive foe. In round eight, out of the blue, Duran turned away and shook his glove to signify that he was quitting. He later claimed stomach cramps, but it was an unconvincing explanation, and the “no mas” fight secured him a place in ring infamy.
Duran’s weight ballooned between fights, and in 1982, he suffered further losses, to Wilfred Benitez and England’s Kirkland Laing in Detroit. Carlos Eleta was so disgusted with him that he vowed to annul their contract and regular promoter Don King also washed his hands of the fighter, while the boxing world speculated that he was finished and even his fanatically loyal Panamanian following began to turn against him. It was the spur for one of the most remarkable comebacks in ring history. Duran punched out former welterweight king Pipino Cuevas, butchered light-middleweight champion Davey Moore, and then gave the mighty Marvin Hagler all he could handle in losing a close decision for the middleweight title in November 1983.
Even as he turned thirty-three years old, Duran was still a daunting prospect, but to take on an opponent of the Hit Man’s stature after seven months out of the ring and without a tune-up fight was rash. And for his part, Hearns felt he had Duran’s number. Even years earlier he had referred to him as “little Duran.” It was not that he did not respect the Panamanian, simply that he felt his style was made for him. During one meeting he had playfully pulled Duran’s hat down over his eyes. This normally would have provoked a mini-explosion, but Duran did nothing. “Tommy always intimidated Roberto,” Emanuel Steward told Duran’s biographer, Christian Giudice. “Even when Tommy was like twenty years old and he was at a fight with Roberto in Las Vegas. I’ll never forget because Roberto was talking to someone and Tommy went up and tapped him on the shoulder. Roberto quickly backed away when he saw Tommy. It was like he saw a ghost or an evil spirit.”
In the build-up to the fight, Steward was distracted by dissent within his usually stable set-up. The source was his number one rated light-middleweight, Mike “The Body Snatcher” McCallum, who announced that he would be parting company from his mentor. McCallum should in fact have been fighting Duran, but Stone Hands had chosen to fight Hearns for a reported $3 million instead rather than make a mandatory defence against McCallum. Instead McCallum was offered $250,000 to fight Sean Mannion for the vacant WBA light-middleweight title forfeited by Duran. McCallum turned it down, feeling cheated out of a big payday and resentful that his stablemate’s interests seemed to have been put before his. Steward told his colleagues that McCallum wouldn’t accept that Duran’s reluctance to fight him was because it wasn’t as lucrative