After quitting against Sugar Ray Leonard on November 25, 1980 in New Orleans, Roberto went home to Panama as a disgrace to his country. His macho image had been shattered, and he withdrew to himself for months, without a word being heard from him. By the summer of 1981, he talked of a comeback at 154 lbs., and signed to face Nino Gonzalez in Cleveland. I watched the bout from Ohio on CBS Sports, and figured Duran looked as good as could be expected after such a layoff. He won a 10 round decision, and had the comeback win he needed to try and restore his name to the boxing public.
Six weeks later, Duran was back in the ring, this time against a guy Luigi Minchillo at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. I didn’t see the bout live, but read about it in the newspaper the next day. Another 10 round unanimous decision put Duran in line for a shot at Wilfred Benitez’s 154 WBC Super-Welterweight title. The fight was set for January 30, 1982 in the Sports Pavilion at Caesar’s Palace, and would be broadcast on HBO.
We didn’t even have cable TV in our house at the time, let alone HBO, so I had no chance at all to see the fight live. I was working at my airline job at the time, and was on second shift, so it really didn’t matter. I’d have to rely on newspaper clippings in the sports page, as was the case for a lot of big fights then.
When I learned that Wilfred Benitez had won a rather easy unanimous decision, and had totally outboxed Duran, I was hardly upset. I was happy in fact, and hoped Duran would retire, so I’d never have to see his face again. Another huge loss in a 15 month time frame, had left his career on life-support, and many figured he would retire, and never fight again.
Duran took some time off, and did in fact return to action on September 4, 1982 to fight somebody named Kirkland Laing in Detroit. Shockingly, the British boxer Laing upset Duran via a 10-round split-decision. Personally, I couldn’t believe it, and had to figure Duran would quit. However, it being boxing, and with most fighters in need of money, Duran did in fact continue his career, and returned to action two months later in Miami.
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