Roberto Duran was the walk out bout on November 12, 1982 at the Orange Bowl in MIami, Florida. He closed the show vs. Jimmy Batten, and won a 10-round decision after Alexis Arguello and Aaron Pryor fought their epic battle on HBO that Friday night. Immediately after, Duran signed with promoter Bob Arum to revive his failing career, and get him better bouts.
On January 29, 1983, Duran met former welterweight champ Pipino Cuevas at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles. Fighting at junior-middleweight, both men were paid $50,000, a far cry from their peak earnings a few years earlier. Duran beat Cuevas up, and stopped him in the fourth round, making him a viable contender again, with just one victory.
Arum knew what he was doing, and on June 16, 1983, Duran was signed to face WBA junior-middleweight champ Davey Moore at the Garden in New York City. The closed-circuit bout was of no interest to me, since I hoped Duran lost every time he stepped into the ring. I did see the replay on CBS a while later, and it was controversial to me. First of all, Davey Moore shouldn’t have even been fighting that night, after having had major dental surgery just before the bout. A thumb in the first round closed Moore’s eye, and hindered him the rest of the night. Duran was also especially dirty the whole night, and fouled at will, making it difficult for me to watch. Moore got dropped in the 8th round, and couldn’t continue, but was a victim of circumstance as much as anything else.
Duran was a world champion again, and had the belt to prove it. His countrymen had forgiven him, and redemption was his after a two and a half year battle.
Whether you liked him or not, Duran was resilient, and now looked for bigger names and bigger paydays in his future.
FOLLOW ME ON TIKTOK AT kensoldtimeboxingchat
LISTEN TO MY PODCAST ON SPOTIFY AT kensoldtimeboxingchat
FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM AT kensoldtimeboxingchat
