
Happy seventieth birthday “Manos de Piedra”
It is written in stone, that Roberto Duran was born on June 16, 1951, in the neighborhood of Chorrillo, Panama.
Passionate about sport since his childhood, aged just sixteen, Roberto made his pro debut in 1967.
Possessor of phenomenal crunching granite punching power, “Hards of Stone” pressured, harried and stunned rivals, often cutting off the ring and trapping them on the ropes, where he ruthlessly applied “The finishing touches.”
With an almost perfect timing, up came the opportunity to fight for the WBC lightweight title against Esteban De Jesus, who in a previous fight had sent him to the canvas, defeating Roberto on points, when he was out of sorts, recovering from flu. This time Roberto totally overwhelmed and stopped Esteban.
On June 20, 1980, and after defeating former welterweight champion Carlos Palomino, on that golden night Duran had dreamed of, finally arrived. He was fighting Sugar Ray Leonard for the WBC welterweight title.
Roberto became the new champion; nevertheless, months later, Leonard recovered the title.
On February 24, 1989, in a rugged encounter, Roberto won the WBC middleweight championship against American Iran Barkley, in Atlantic City. Before that he had won the super welterweight title.
Throughout his fabulous career Roberto Duran faced rivals and tore into them. The red badge of courage roll call of honor includes Hector “Macho” Camacho, Sugar Ray Leornard, Thomas Hearns, Wilfredo Benitez, Pipino Cuevas, among many others.
His last fight was against Hector Camacho on July 14, 2001. He had won 4 world crowns in five divisions!
Happy birthday dear champ!
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