Roberto Durán is a Panamanian former professional boxer, widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time. Let’s see some amazing facts and trivia about him!
1.His full name is Roberto Durán Samaniego.
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2. He was born June 16, 1951
3. He e was nicknamed “Manos de Piedra” (“Hands of Stone”) during his career due to his devastating punching power.
4. Roberto Duran was born in Guarare, Panama.
5. His mother, Clara Samaniego, was a native of Guararé, Panama, and his father, Margarito Durán Sánchez, was from Arizona, United States of Mexican descent.
6. He was raised in the slums of El Chorrillo in the district “La Casa de Piedra” (The House of Stone) Panama.
7. He began sparring with experienced boxers at the Neco de La Guardia gymnasium when he was only eight years old.
8. He made his professional debut in 1968 at the age of 16.
9. In 2002, Durán was voted by The Ring magazine as the fifth greatest fighter of the last 80 years.
10. Boxing historian Bert Sugar rated him as the eighth greatest fighter of all time.
11. The Associated Press voted him as the #1 lightweight of the 20th century, with many considering him the greatest lightweight of all time.
12. Robert Durán held world titles in four different weight classes: lightweight (1972–79), welterweight (1980), light middleweight (1983–84) and middleweight (1989).
13. He was the second boxer to have fought a span of five decades, the first being Jack Johnson.
14. However, Durán is most infamous for abruptly forfeiting his welterweight title in the middle of his 1980 rematch with challenger Sugar Ray Leonard.
15. He finally retired in January 2002 at age 50 (having previously retired in 1998) following a bad car crash in October 2001, with a professional record of 119 fights, 103 wins with 69 knockouts.
16. On June 26, 1972, he scored a 13-round TKO of Scotsman Ken Buchanan to claim the WBA lightweight championship. He suffered his first loss against 31 wins in a non-title light welterweight fight against Esteban de Jesús that November, but later avenged that defeat by knocking out de Jesús en route to another 41 consecutive victories.
17. After defeating de Jesús again to add the WBC lightweight title to his collection, Durán abdicated his belts in 1979 to move up to the welterweight class, where he quickly proved he could handle bigger opponents with a win over former champion Carlos Palomino.
18. The pinnacle of his career came on June 20, 1980, the “Brawl in Montreal” at Olympic Stadium. Facing the undefeated Sugar Ray Leonard, Durán battered the former Olympic gold medalist over 15 rounds to win the WBC welterweight championship.
19. Their rematch on Nov. 25, at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, concluded in bizarre fashion; the normally relentless Durán suddenly quit near the end of the eighth round, allowing Leonard to regain his title.
20. The enduring legend is that Durán begged out of the fight by repeating “no más” (no more), though the boxer insists he never said those words.
21. Durán moved up another weight class, and on June 16, 1983—his 32nd birthday—he stopped Davey Moore in eight rounds to win the WBA light middleweight title.
22. He packed on more pounds to fight undefeated middleweight champion Marvin Hagler in November, earning praise for pushing the champ a full 15 rounds before taking the loss.
23. However, there were fewer positive reviews after a subsequent defeat, a brutal second-round knockout at the hands of Thomas “Hitman” Hearns the following June.
24. Roberto Durán returned to prominence later in the decade, outlasting Iran Barkley in 12 rounds to win the WBC middleweight title on February 24, 1989.
25. He lost a second time to Sugar Ray Leonard in a match for the WBC super middleweight title later that year, and remained a game, yet diminished contender over the next several years.
26. At age 49, Durán won a 12-round decision over Pat Lawlor to claim the super middleweight title from the fringe NBA organization. He lost the belt to Héctor Camacho on July 14, 2001, in what turned out to be his final fight.
27. He was in Argentina also to promote a salsa music CD that he had just released.
28. While there, he was involved in a car crash and required life-saving surgery.
29. Roberto Durán suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung and officially retired in January 2002.
30. His career record is 103-16-0 and 70 knockouts.
31. He is one of the few boxers to win sanctioned championships in four weight classes and compete professionally across five decades.
29. Announcing his retirement, Durán cited the weight issues of his friend, Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona, as motivation for getting back in shape, stating: “As of now, I am exercising so that when the [retirement] honors arrive the people will see me in shape. I don’t want to [look] like Maradona did, all fat.
30. Durán’s five world title belts, which he won in four different divisions, were stolen from his house in Panama in 1993 during a robbery allegedly staged by his brother-in-law.
31. He gave the belts to memorabilia seller Luis González Báez, who will stand trial for trying to sell stolen goods.
32. González Báez allegedly sold the belts to undercover FBI agent.
33. He alleges that Durán authorized the sale of the five belts to him during a time that Roberto Durán was facing financial trouble.
34. On September 23, 2003, a federal judge in Florida ordered the five belts returned to Roberto Durán.
35. Today he is the brand ambassador of Panama Blue, Panamas premium bottled water.
36. Duran is a licensed ultralight aircraft pilot in Panama. He flew a Quick Silver MX model.
37. Durán’s first appearance in a movie was in the 1979 film Rocky II as a lightning-fast sparring partner for Rocky Balboa. Outside of this, Durán had minor roles in Harlem Nights.
38. Durán’s life and boxing career are told in the documentary Los puños de una nación (“The Fists of a Nation”) by Panamanian filmmaker Pituka Ortega-Heilbron.
39. Roberto Durán also appears very briefly during an interview for the documentary The Panama Deception (1992), in which he recounts his experience during the United States invasion of Panama.
40. The biopic Hands of Stone stars Édgar Ramírez as Durán, Robert De Niro as Ray Arcel and Usher as Sugar Ray Leonard, and was released on August 26, 2016
41. Roberto Durán played the drug lord Jesus Maroto in Miami Vice season two, episode 19.
42. In the fourth episode of the second season of the hit American crime drama CSI: NY, Durán is mentioned by the medical examiner while discussing a dead man found to have metal screws put in his hands to boost his punching power.
43. The song “The Eyes of Roberto Durán” by Tom Russell is featured on the album The Long Way Around, and contains the lyric, “Panama City it’s three in the morning, they’re talking ’bout the Hands of Stone.”
44. Roberto Durán is mentioned in the third verse of Nas’ original demo for It Ain’t Hard to Tell in the line: “Metaphors of murder man, hittin’ like Roberto Durán, hold the mic in my hand, my lifespan.”
45. The musician Jackie Leven recorded a song (“Museum of Childhood”) that explores the events of the second world title fight between Durán and Sugar Ray Leonard.
46. Jazz musician Miles Davis, an avid boxing fan, recorded a tribute to Roberto Durán titled, “Duran”.
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