Roberto Duran will live forever in boxing history, as his 103-16 career has made him a fan favorite and marvel to watch over the years.
Roberto Duran was beaten by 11 men, but also holds wins of his own over four of them.
Duran faced the likes of Thomas Hearns, Marvin Hagler, Vinny Pazienza, and Wilfred Benitez.
But he had a special trilogy with one man in particular – Sugar Ray Leonard.
Roberto Duran raised concerns in promotional exhibition ahead of final chapter of Sugar Ray Leonard trilogy
Duran, Mike Tyson‘s favorite boxer, defeated Sugar Ray Leonard in June 1980 by unanimous decision.
Duran took home Leonard’s WBC title, and, according to BoxRec, said the following of Leonard: “He is the best I have fought.”
Leonard, who KO’d a waiter once, echoed this sentiment saying: “I have to give Duran a lot of credit. He is the toughest man I’ve ever fought.”
The pair rematched later that year, in a fight where Leonard produced one of those most iconic moments in boxing history when he made Duran quit with the infamous phrase ‘No mas’.
The two fighters were one apiece and a third fight nine years later was to settle it all. Ahead of the fight, Duran fought an exhibition against Danny Morgan, in which commentators expressed concern over Duran’s weight:
“Probably one of Roberto Duran’s biggest problems is he always tends to blow up a bit. […] You may say to yourself ‘Now how in the world is he going to get that weight down by December 7th?’ The amazing thing is he always seems to do it.”
The commentator continued: “What toll does that take on him? I don’t know. Only he can tell for sure.”
Mike Tyson on why Roberto Duran is his favorite fighter
Speaking on his podcast, ‘Hotboxin”, Tyson said of Duran, who named Ken Buchanan as his toughest foe:
“When I first saw Ali I said ‘Yeah that’s who I wanna be like’, I know I wanted to be a fighter but then I saw Roberto Duran and said ‘That’s who the f— I wanna be.’ I said ‘That’s who I wanna be.’ A mean motherf—– coz people scared to look at him. The devil.”
Tyson then told of one of his favorite moments of Duran’s:
“This guy was giving Duran a tough fight so in the fourteenth round Duran knocked him out. Boom he’s in a coma, he’s in a f—— chair, he’s f—– up right?
And then everybody’s sad and when they said ‘Duran what do you feel? He’s in a coma, there’s a possibility he may not live’, Duran said ‘Next time I’ll be in shape. He won’t go to the hospital, he’ll go to the f—— morgue.”