After winning the WBC middleweight title from Iran Barkley in February of 1989, Roberto Duran signed to fight Sugar Ray Leonard on December 7th. This would make the third time the two men met, and it would be the first bout at the new Mirage Hotel and Casino on the strip in Las Vegas. That Thursday night in South Jersey was bitter cold, with temperatures around 7 degrees. A friend and I made the 7 mile or so drive to the Pavilion in Cherry Hill to watch the fight on closed-circuit TV, and I wasn’t expecting much from Duran. At 38, he was lucky to still be around, and it wasn’t long before Ray Leonard proved my point. He easily outboxed Duran, won most every round, and even used some of his old tactics from November of 1980 to frustrate Roberto. The only drama of the night occurred at the close of the 10th round, when a big Duran right hand opened a huge gash over Leonard’s eye. Sugar Ray weathered the last two rounds, and had the easy unanimous decision win under his belt.
Amazingly, Duran thought he won the fight. That kind of crap from him is why I never liked him, and the loss to Leonard ended his career for all intensive purposes. Sure he came back after a long layoff, and scored a fight vs. Vinny Pazienza in June of 1994 at super-middleweight. Duran performed fairly well, dropped Pazienza with a sharp right hand, but lost the fight nonetheless. When they had a rematch the following January, Duran did much worse, and lost most every round.
In June of 1996, he lost another decision to the overrated Hector Camacho, but refused to retire. Finally, a three round knockout loss to William Joppy in August of 1998 signaled the end for the 47 year old Duran. Ridiculously, he fought 4 more times, once in 1999, twice in 2000, and for the final time on July 14, 2001, when he lost a rematch with Hector Camacho. At 50 years old, Roberto Duran finally hung up the gloves for good.
History is kind to legends like Duran, who finished his career with a record of 103-16, with 70 knockouts. His best days were at lightweight and welterweight, but he is a 4-time champion in 4 different weight classes, which is a tremendous feat. He was deservedly inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2007, and like him or not, is one of boxing’s all-time greats.
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