By Gianluca (Rio) Di Caro - The cruiserweight division is 30 years old this year. Historically the class has failed to receive the attention it deserves, seemingly looked upon by many, fighters and fans alike, as a stepping stone for boxers from lighter divisions in their quest for fame, glory, and huge paydays in the heavyweight class or a home for those that just can’t cut it up with the ‘big boys.’ This perception may have been true a few years ago, but these days the cruiserweight contenders are just that, they are not wannabe heavyweights or chubby light heavyweights, they are cruiserweights by choice.

Over the years the cruiserweight division has also suffered with the confusion caused by its positioning between heavyweight and light heavyweight. One suggestion floated to rectify this is to revert to its original title, junior heavyweight. Another suggestion is to rebrand it as heavyweight with the current class carrying that moniker redefined as, more appropriately these days, super heavyweight.

That aside, cruiserweight contests have been gaining in popularity recently with the media and boxing fans alike, many claiming their preference for exciting cruiserweight action over the grossly hyped yet oh so boring heavyweight division.

This newly found popularity has been attributed by many in the know to the magnificent Steve ‘USS’ Cunningham vs Tomasz ‘Goral’ Adamek IBF championship bout which took place in December 2008 and was shown live on network television by Versus.

Whilst this may be true, if the television networks had shown more of the superb cruiserweight battles of the past the fans would have been hooked far sooner. Way back in 1986, Holyfield-Qawi, which stands alongside Cunningham-Adamek as one of the greatest cruiserweight fights, if not fights, of all-time, showed the boxing public just how great this division can be. It had it all, but still the class remained ignored.

Jirov-Toney in 2003 was another magnificent battle. I could name many more but they are all covered in detail later. They didn’t and it was their, and our, loss. We can only hope that the networks have learned from their past mistakes and show more cruiserweight battles.

OK, enough on that, this article is about the history of the cruiserweight division so without further ado here we go.

Part 1 – The 1980s

In 1979 the cruiserweight division was inaugurated by the (World Boxing Council) WBC to create a 190 lbs (later increased to 200 lbs) limit class created to bridge the ever widening gap between the light heavyweights and the heaviest of the heavyweights. This is a decision that makes even more sense today. Can you image how suicidal it would be for someone weighing between 176 and 200 lbs getting in the ring to fight one of the Klitschko brothers, who regularly weigh-in around 240-250 lbs?

The only other major sanctioning body of the time, the World Boxing Association (WBA), followed suit in 1982.

Whilst the division was created in 1979 there was no champion in the first year as the first championship title fight, which took place in Split, Croatia, between Mate Parlov and Marvin Camel ended in a draw.

 

Marvin Camel (WBC) : March 31, 1980 - November 25, 1980

Marvin Camel was the inaugural cruiserweight world champion, becoming the first holder of the World Boxing Council belt in March of 1980 in Las Vegas, Nevada, by defeating Yugoslavia’s Mate Parlov via unanimous decision (144-141, 148-141 & 149-141) after fifteen hard-fought rounds.

Camel lost his title to Carlos ‘Sugar’ De Leon in his first defense on November 25, 1980.

 

Carlos De Leon  (WBC): November 25, 1980 – June 27, 1982

Carlos ‘Sugar’ De Leon, a native of Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, faced current champion Marvin Camel, on November 25, 1980, on the undercard of Duran/Leonard 2 in New Orleans. At the end of fifteen action-filled, close rounds, De Leon was declared the new WBC Cruiserweight Champion by majority decision (142-145, 145-145 & 141-145).

In a rematch, on February 24, 1982, De Leon again faced Camel. This time the fight didn’t go the full fifteen rounds as De Leon stopped Camel in the eight round.

Next up for De Leon, he faced Las Vegas’ own ST Gordon on  June 27, 1982, at the Front Row Theater in Highland Heights, Ohio. In a shock upset De Leon, the bookies favourite, was stopped in the second round.

 

Ossie Ocasio  (WBA): February 13, 1982 – December 1, 1984

Ossie Ocasio defeated Robbie Williams in the first Cruiserweight championship bout sanctioned by the World Boxing Association.

Ossie Ocasio successfully defended the WBA belt he won in South Africa, firstly against Young Joe Louis in Illinois on December 15, 1982. Five months later, Ocasio faced Texan, Randy Stephens, and won a 15 round unanimous decision. A year later he  traveled back home to Puerto Rico to defeat Kenyan John Odhiambho via 15th round TKO.

OnDecember 1, 1984, Ocasio traveled back to South Africa, the country where he first won the title,  and face Piet Crous. Home advantage came into play for Crous though as he captured Ocasio’s title with a very close, unanimous decision.

 

ST Gordon (WBC): June 27, 1982 - July 17, 1983

ST Gordon caused a massive upset when he stopped current champion Carlos De Leon, in just five minutes and 51 seconds, to lift the WBC belt on June 26, 1982.

For his first defense, on February 16, 1983, ST Gordon faced Los Angeles, California’s Jesse Burnett at the Bryne Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey. Gordon retained his title by stopping Burnett in the eighth round.

A rematch with De Leon followed at the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas on July 17, 1983. De Leon dropped Gordon in the first round and again in the twelfth en route to a unanimous decision win. With this victory De Leon became the first boxer to win the World Cruiserweight title twice.

 

Carlos De Leon  (WBC): July 17, 1983 - June 6, 1985

After successfully defeating ST Gordon, and winning back the title he had previously held, De Leon then faced Alvaro Yaqui Lopez at the Civic Auditorium in San Jose, California on September 21, 1983. De Leon dominated the fight and no one at ringside was surprised when he stopped Lopez in the fourth round.

On March 9, 1984, De Leon took a decision victory over Las Vegas, Nevada’s, Anthony Davis. Three months later De Leon beat Nigerian Bash Ali, also by unanimous decision.

One year later, on June 6, 1985, at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, De Leon faced Chicago’s Alonzo Ratliff. After twelve close rounds, De Leon lost his coveted title for the second time via split decision (113-116, 117-114, 114-117).

 

Marvin Camel (IBF): December 13,  1983 - October 6,  1984

Marvin Camel, a member of the Salish Kootenai Nation of the Flathead Indian Reservation in Northwestern Montana, holds the distinction of being the first person recognized as cruiserweight champion of the world by two different professional sanctioning bodies effective December 13, 1983.  Camel beat Roddy MacDonald to win the newly formed, International Boxing Federation’s (IBF) cruiserweight belt.

On October 6, 1984, in his first defense of the IBF crown, Camel was stopped by Chicago’s Lee Roy ‘Solid Gold’ Murphy in the fourteenth round.

 

Lee Roy Murphy  (IBF): October 6, 1984 – October 25, 1986

Lee Roy Murphy defended the IBF belt he won from Camel in October 2004, three times, firstly with a twelfth round stoppage of Young Joe Louis in December 1984, then some 11 months later knocking out Zambia’s Chisanda Mutti in the twelfth round.

In his next outing, on April 9, 1986, he got the job done a little quicker by knocking out Jacksonville, Florida’s, Dorcey Gaymon in the ninth round.

On October 25, 1986, ‘Solid Gold’ Murphy finally lost his belt after being stopped in the tenth round by Ricky Parkey.

 

Piet Crous (WBA): December 1, 1984 – July 27, 1985

On March 30, 1985, South African, Piet Crous, defended the WBA belt he won from Ossie Ocasio in December 1984, for the first time against Texan Randy Stephens at the Superbowl in Sun City, South Africa. The fight between these two former sparring partners ended in a stoppage of Stephens at two minutes and 22 seconds of the third round.

In his second and final defense, Crous faced the diminutive Dwight Muhammad Qawi (previously known as Dwight Braxton), at the Superbowl in Sun City, South Africa, on July 27,1985. A thrilling, close match ended after Crous was knocked down twice in the eleventh round.

 

Alonzo Ratliff  (WBC) : June 6, 1985 – September 21, 1985

On September 21, 1985, Alonzo Ratliff defended the WBC title he’d won three months earlier from Carlos De Leon, against Bernard ‘The Bull’ Benton at the Riviera Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas. The battle went the full twelve rounds with Benton becoming the new WBC Cruiserweight Champion via unanimous decision as the judges scorecards read 112-117, 113-115, 113-115.

 

Dwight Muhammad Qawi  (WBA): July 27, 1985 - July 12, 1986

Former WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Dwight Muhammad “Camden Buzzsaw” Qawi claimed the WBA cruiserweight title on July 27, 1985, by knocking out South African Piet Crous.

Qawi’s first defense was against ‘Neon’ Leon Spinks at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nevada, on March 22, 1986. Qawi’s pressure style proved too much for the much taller Spinks. The ‘Camden Buzzsaw’ teased and tormented Spinks for six rounds before finishing off the former heavyweight champion.

Former Olympian Evander Holyfield was Qawi’s next challenger. The fight took place in Holyfield’s hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, and was destined to be one of the most dramatic and exciting fights of the 1980s.

The action-packed thriller saw both fighters absorb tremendous punishment. Holyfield started at a blistering pace but soon Qawi’s pressuring style slowed ‘The Real Deal.’  Both dug deep and put on one of the great battles of the era and arguably the greatest fight ever at cruiserweight.

A draw would have been the perfect decision. Muhammad Qawi controlled the early rounds and Holyfield dictated the pace in the latter rounds. After fifteen grueling rounds, Holyfield was declared the winner via split decision with the judges scorecards reading 140-144, 143-141, 138-147.

After this magnificent fight it was reported that Holyfield lost 15 pounds in the ring that night and had to later be hospitalized.

In December of 1987 a rematch took place between the two, this time for both the WBA and IBF cruiserweight titles. ‘The Real Deal’ emerged victorious again after knocking the ‘Camden Buzzsaw’ out in the fourth round.

 

Bernard Benton (WBC): September 21, 1985 – March 22, 1986

Bernard ‘The Bull’ Benton won the WBC title on September 21, 1985, after defeating then champion, Alonzo Ratliff, via unanimous decision.

In his first defense, Benton faced former two-time world champion Carlos ‘Sugar’ De Leon at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. After twelve fascinating all-action rounds the judges saw it 114-117, 114-114, 113-115, in majority favour of the challenger, Carlos De Leon.  With the victory, De Leon became the first cruiserweight to hold the title three times.

 

Carlos De Leon (WBC): March 22, 1986 - April 9, 1988

On March 22, 1986, once again in Las Vegas, Nevada, De Leon joined the likes of Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali in becoming one of the few boxers ever to win one division’s world championship at least three times, defeating Benton by decision.

The first challenger for De Leon, in this his third title campaign, was Memphis, Tennessee’s, Michael Greer. It was expected to be an easy victory for De Leon, however, Greer proved he wasn’t there to just make up the numbers.  Throughout the bout, Greer presurred and took an equal distribution of rounds until, in the eighth round, De Leon unleashed a tremendous series of uppercuts and jabs, knocking Greer against the ropes until Referee, Rudi Ortega, declared De Leon the winner.

On February 21, 1987, De Leon locked horns with Italian heavyweight champion Angelo “Pietro” Rottoli. De Leon started hard and fast, pressuring the Italian constantly. It proved too much for Rottoli,who after the fourth round, retired whilst in his corner.

For his first fight of 1988, De Leon traveled to Atlantic City to face Uruguayan, Jose Maria Flores Burlon. De Leon comfortably won the bout via a unanimous decision as testified by the judges scorecards of 119-110, 118-111, 118-110.

On April 9, 1988, De Leon faced the WBA and IBF World Cruiserweight Champion, Evander ‘The Real Deal’ Holyfield in a unification bout. De Leon struggled to contain Holyfield and didn’t win a single round before being stopped in the eighth by the former Olympian.

 

Evander Holyfield (WBA): July 12, 1986 - May 15, 1987

In what had been described as the best cruiserweight bout of all time for many years, only being equaled by the Cunningham-Adamek IBF title fight some 22 years later, Evander ‘The Real Deal’ Holyfield became the WBA World Cruiserweight Champion by defeating, Dwight Muhammad Qawi, via narrow split decision,  in a true battle royale. That description of the fight has to be one of the understatements of all-time, as it was an awesome spectacle, a magnificent battle between two great fighters. I recommend that if you can find a video of this fight, grab it with both hands as it really is one of the greatest fights of all-time. I’ve watched it at least twenty times and have to say that I’m glad I wasn’t one of the judges. I couldn’t split them and neither deserved to be declared the loser.

Next, on February 14, 1987, Holyfield performed a “Valentine Days Massacre” on Olympic teammate and Gold Medal winner Henry Tillman (who had beaten Mike Tyson twice as an amateur) by knocking him out in the seventh.

 

Ricky Parkey (IBF): October 25,  1986 - May 15, 1987

Ricky Parker secured the IBF belt by stopping Lee Roy ‘Solid Gold’ Murphy in the tenth round at the Palazzo Dello Sport in Marsala, Italy, on the October 25, 1986.

For his first defense, Parkey again returned to Italy on March 28, 1987, this time at The Palazzo Dello Sport in Lido di Camaiore, Italy, where he successfully stopped Zambian, Chisanda Mutti, in the 12th round.

Next up for Parkey was a unification bout with the division’s new superstar, WBA champion, Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield at the legendary Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Holyfield steam rolled his way to a third round stoppage and another belt.

 

Evander Holyfield (WBA/IBF): May 15, 1987 – April 9, 1988

After unifying the WBA and IBF titles, by stopping Ricky Parkey at Caesars Palace, Holyfield flew to France, where he retained his titles with an eleventh round stoppage of former world champion, Ossie Ocasio.

In his fourth and final fight of 1987, Holyfield faced Dwight Muhammad Qawi in a rematch of their classic July 1986 battle. Just like before, Holyfield came out on top, this time knocking out Qawi in the fourth round.

 

Evander Holyfield (Universal ): April 9, 1988 – December 4, 1988

On April 9, 1988, Evander Holyfield truly lived up to his ‘The Real Deal’ nickname by becoming the first universally recognized World Cruiserweight Champion when he knocked out the WBC’s defending world champion, Carlos De Leon, in the eighth round.

After winning everything possible in the cruiserweight division, Holyfield then went on to dominate the heavyweight division for years to come. But who was going to step in to fill the void left by the departing Holyfield?

 

Taoufik Belbouli (WBA):  March 25, 1989 - September 25, 1989

The first to win one of the titles vacated by the magnificent Evander Holyfield was French-Tunisian, Taoufik Belbouli. On March 25, 1989, at the Sheraton Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco, Belbouli, stopped Tennessee’s Michael Greer in the eighth round to secure the vacant WBA title.

Belbouli’s championship recognition was withdrawn due to his refusal to defend his title against a mandatory challenger.

On March 22, 1990, at the Sports Palace in Madrid, Spain, Belbouli attempted to win back the title against Robert ‘Preacherman’ Daniels but failed when the fight was ruled a draw.

 

Carlos De Leon (WBC): May 17, 1989 – July 27, 1990

Holyfield leaving the division to pursue the World Heavyweight Championship presented De Leon with the opportunity to break his own record and win the title for a record fourth time. De Leon traveled to Docklands in London, England, where he beat the WBC’s number two challenger, Londoner Sammy Reeson, via a ninth round knock out and in doing so broke his own record by being crowned the World Cruiserweight Champion once again.

England again was De Leon’s destination for the first defense of his newly won crown, against Johnny ‘The Entertainer’ Nelson. After twelve thrilling rounds, the judges couldn’t decide a winner with one giving the decision to De Leon with a 116-115 score, another giving it to Nelson by a dubious 111-117 margin, and the other seeing it a 115-115 draw.

In his next defense, De Leon was again in Europe, this time at the Outdoor Arena in Capo d’Orlando, Italy, where he faced Italian national champion, Massimiliano ‘Momo’ Duran. This close battle came to a premature end when DeLeon was disqualified for hitting after the bell at the end of the eleventh round.

 

Glenn McCrory (IBF): June 3, 1989 - March 22, 1990

The battle for the IBF belt, vacated by Holyfield, saw England’s Glenn McCrory crowned champion via unanimous decision over Stockholm, Sweden based Kenyan, Patrick Lumumba, on June 3, 1989.

McCrory went on to defend the belt against South African brawler Siza Makathini at the Eston Sports Academy in Middlesbrough on October 21, 1989. McCrory knocked Makathini out in the eleventh to retain his title.

In his next bout, McCrory took on Youngstown, Ohio’s, Jeff Lampkin, on March 22, 1990. This was starting to look like a perfect match-up as the two protagonists countered each other constantly, both winning a round each, then just two minutes and 20 seconds into the third round Lampkin let rip with a cracking left to the body that sent McCrory down and unable to recover.

In 1993, McCrory unsuccessfully attempted to regain the IBF title against Alfred ‘Ice’ Cole. The fight had been quite close until the sixth round when Cole sent McCrory to the canvas twice.

 

Robert Daniels (WBA): November 27, 1989 – March 8, 1991

On November 27, 1989,  21-year-old Robert ‘Preacherman’ Daniels captured the WBA cruiserweight title, removed from Taoufik Belbouli, when he defeated Dwight Muhammad Qawi via a close split decision.

For his first defense, on July 19, 1990, Daniels faced Craig ‘Gator’ Bodzianowski.  Interestingly, Bodzianowski fought wearing a synthetic prosthesis, called a Seattle Foot, which he began using after losing his right foot in a road accident in 1984, at the Kingdome in Seattle. After twelve bruising rounds Daniels won via unanimous decision to retain his title.

In the post fight interviews, Bodzianowski, who had held his own throughout the bout, claimed he would have knocked out Daniels if the two ribs he had broken eight weeks prior hadn’t “popped out” again when he was caught by a Daniels punch in the second round.

Daniels then flew across the Atlantic to face former WBA champion, Taoufik Belbouli, at the Sports Palace in Madrid, Spain, on November 22, 1990. After a very close fight Daniels walked away with his title intact after the bout was declared a draw.

Next, Daniels faced off against former IBF Light Heavyweight Champion, Bobby ‘Matinee Idol’ Czyz, at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, on March 8, 1991. Everyone was expecting Daniels to walk through the fight, as Czyz, whom the bookies rated as a 4 1/2 to 1 underdog, was not thought to be technically diverse enough to overcome Daniels’ strength. The bookies and pundits were wrong as Czyz won his second title via a split decision.

 

Boone Pultz (WBO): December 3, 1989 – May 17, 1990

On December 3, 1989, Maryland’s (Richard) Boon Pultz defeated Norwegian, Magne Havnaa , in Copenhagen to capture the Inaugural WBO Cruiserweight title.

Five months later, in the rematch, Norway’s most famous boxer of the era, Magne Havnaa, stopped Boon Pultz in the fifth round to become the second WBO Cruiserweight Champion.

Sam Langford was born on March 4, 1883 in Weymouth Fall, Nova Scotia, Canada. He was known as the “Boston Bonecrusher”, “Boston Terror”, and infamous “Boston Tar Baby.” Standing only 5 ft 7 inches and weighing 185 lbs, he fought greats from the lightweight division right up to the heavyweights, beating many champions in the process. However, he was never able to secure a world title for himself and is regarded by many as the greatest titleless boxer of all-time. He was enshrined in the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1955, the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990, and Ring magazine founder Nat Fleischer rated Langford as one of the ten best heavyweights of all-time.

At an early age Langford escaped home and his abusive father to pursue a vagrant’s life. Desperation and starvation eventually led him to a small Boston drug store in search of work. Luckily he had found an accommodating soul in Joe Woodman who fed him and provided him with employment as a janitor in the boxing gymnasium at Lenox Athletic Club. This was the first broad brushstroke on Langford’s unmarked future. Here he lost himself in the study and analysis of fighting technique and latterly began sparring. At 15 years of age, Langford had won the amateur featherweight championship of Boston and turned professional. By age 16 his weight was increasing with ability and he stepped up to the welterweight division. 

Langford was powerfully built. His measurements were a 17” neck, 15” biceps, and a 42 ½” inch chest with a 73” reach. He had huge shoulders and massive back muscles and was renowned for his quick hands, debilitating left jab, crushing hook, powerful right cross, and smashing uppercut. He spent much of his prime career at middleweight, with his best weight at about 165 pounds. By age 27 he was a small heavyweight weighing around 180 pounds. If he were fighting today he would have contended for titles from welterweight to light-heavyweight.

In 1903, Langford’s phenomenal talent was brought to light against the marvellous Lightweight Champion, Joe Gans. He was a bonafide welterweight by this stage and secured the bought with the experienced of a veteran champion. This was his second fight in as many days but in different cities. Gans ignited the fight in ferocious style stunning his inexperienced foe within the first round. Langford responded with guile and composure, strong defence and countering skills. As the fight progressed, the cunning and resilience of Langford proved too high a hurdle for Gans and he lost a 15 round decision. This fight is considered to be the most emphatic domination over Gans in a period of more than 10 years.

The following year in 1904 Langford got his chance at Welterweight Champion, Joe Walcott, the “Barbados Demon.” This was Langford’s first and only title shot and with analysis of various reports, it is clear he was done an injustice. Langford proved too illusive for his opponent and when drawn into a dogfight he also had initiative. The fight was ruled a draw but as reported by The National Police Gazette, “There were plenty present who thought Langford won.” Langford dominated the first seven rounds and remained untouchable with his calculated style and by the latter stages of the bout Walcott’s desperation left flaws in his roughhouse approach, which Langford willingly exposed. The New York Illustrated News commented, “Langford was entitled to the verdict, and should have been awarded the world title.” 

Langford’s only meaningful loss was to future Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson in 1906. Langford was only a light-middleweight at the time fighting an almost unbeatable “Galveston Giant.” Langford would later admit, “Jack handed me the only real beating I ever took”. Floored twice, he lost a 15 round decision. With time Langford grew in stature, reputation, and experience and became a real threat to Johnson’s Title. The wirely maverick realised this and would refund to give Langford another chance.

It appears Johnson was not the only man wary of the threat posed by Langford. When Stanley Ketchel was in his prime as the reigning Middleweight Champion of the World he refused several offers to meet the “Boston Terror” in a distance bout. This is remarkable considering Ketchel was renowned for his bravery, but he was genuinely intimidated by Langford. Eventually Ketchel reluctantly succumbed to the request and they met in Boston in 1910 for a six round half hearted affair. Six rounds would give Ketchel little time to be exposed, or so they thought. Regardless of the time limit, Langford proved stronger and cleverer according to the Philadelphia Bulletin. Not all reports were consistent with this but Langford’s superior jab left the popular Ketchel notably the more marked man and the bout was dubiously called a No Contest.

Langford sometimes called the round on his opponents. In 1910 a sports writer, Beany Walker, wrote that Langford had, in his opinion, lost a previous match to heavyweight “White Hope” Fireman Jim Flynn, and predicted that the American would defeat him in a rematch. Langford however sometimes carried opponents to secure interest in a rematch for financial reasons. In the second fight when Sam had Flynn all set up, he shouted to Mr. Walker, who sat in the first row, “Hey, Mr. Walker! Here comes your champion” and Langford blasted him clear out of the ring and right into Walker’s lap!

In 1911, Langford gave another previous world title champion a contemptuous thumping. The intelligent dancing master “Philadelphia” Jack O’Brien was dismantled and disposed of via a fifth round knockout. The New York Herald reported that Langford even coasting in third gear was kind to ‘Philadelphia’ in permitting him to stay as long as he did. Even in the light-heavyweight division Langford’s speed and power was all consuming for O’Brien and the Philadelphian’s cries of pain were tribute to Langford’s destructive power. The referee didn’t need to finish the count.

From 1910 and throughout the teens, Langford’s rare power accounted for nearly every top heavyweight of the period. During this decade Langford kayoed heavyweights Klondike Haynes, Jeff Clark, Gunboat Smith, Fireman Jim Flynn, Big Bill Tate, Battling Jim Johnson, Kid Norfolk, and John Lester Johnson. He fought numerous bouts against the other highly avoided black heavyweights of this time. He fought Joe Jeanette 13 times, Sam McVey 13 times, and Harry Wills 18 times. He scored knockout victories over each man at least once. He has a plus record against both Jeanette and McVey and these personal battles will remain his most numerous and most memorable fighting encounters. Only Wills got the better of their series, but their first fight did not occur until Langford was 31 years old.

The gruelling fighting schedule that Langford set himself was not to pass without a cost. It is generally accepted that he suffered from a detached retina but unfortunately the medical science of the early 20th century was limited with its capabilities in this department. According to the Digby Weekly Courier, “Langford has been virtually blind since he fought Fred Fulton in 1917.” This is when the first eye injury occurred. The 1917 Boston Globe reported that Langford retired from injury and left with a tightly closed eye.

1922, at age 39, he fought future Middleweight Champion, Tiger Flowers. This fight disabled Langford’s remaining good right eye. Well aware of his extreme handicap, Langford remarkably boxed blind and waited for Flowers to approach within distance and once his presence was felt, Langford unleashed a windmill, fortuitously but courageously flooring his perpetrator. The Atlanta Constitution reported that doctors warned Langford of the severe injury to his optic nerve causing blindness in one of his eyes and seriously impairing the other. At this stage he was told persisting with his boxing career would lead him to a bleak and uncertain future, but Langford was broke thus continued.

Langford later reminisced in The Weymouth Courier in 1935 about his situation in 1922. “I went down to Mexico with this here left eye completely gone and the right just seeing shadows. It was a cataract. They matched me up with Kid Savage for the title. I was bluffing through that I could see but I gave myself away. They bet awful heavy on the kid when the word got round. I just felt my way around and then, wham, I got home. He forgot to duck and so I was heavy weight champion of Mexico,” said Langford. Langford’s left eye injury and cataract in his right eye left him almost completely blind the last years of his fighting career. Langford had ended an era in boxing along with capturing the Mexican title, as this was the last ever ‘Fight to the Finish’.

In 1924 at 41 years of age, Langford was taken to a French Hospital and was operated on to draw together a muscular fold in the retina of his good right eye. The operation was believed a success but his sight continued to deteriorate and Langford retired from the ring in 1926 ate the age of 43. He eventually went totally blind. He had spent the last years of his fighting career virtually blind where the bulk of his losses occurred, although he still won a number of the fights impressively by knockout. His final record was 214-46-44. 19 more were non-contests with 138 KOS. With regard to the other unrecorded amateur bouts, Langford had an excess of 300 bouts.
Despite his illustrious career, Langford ended up destitute in Harlem. His colourful ring life, however, was not to escape the imagination of the future generations, and in 1944 journalist Al Laney of the New York Herald Tribune tracked him down and wrote a short series of stories on him. A sportswriter’s fund was established that cared for him until his death at the age of 72, on Jan. 12, 1956, in Massachusetts, where he had been living with his daughter’s family.

Laney was to write of Langford and wrote, “This is the man competent critics said was the greatest fighter in ring history, the man the champions feared and would not fight, the man who was so good he was never given a chance to show how good he really was.”

Mike Silver who wrote the Ring Boxing Almanac commented that Langford was “Quite possibly the greatest fighter who ever lived, Langford mastered every punch. His short hook on the inside and his right cross and uppercut were particularly deadly. His punishing jab was also one of the best. He was a strategist who knew how to maneuver, with the ability to explode out of an offensive or defensive position. He could instantly stop when retreating, revert to the offensive, and in the blink of an eye render an opponent unconscious with trip-hammer blows thrown in four and five punch combinations. Langford’s every move embodied the technique of a studied master boxer. During his prime he was rarely outfought, out-thought, or out-punched.”

A revolutionist, a man ahead of his times, Langford’s skill was testament to the fact that he was often outweighed by 20 to 50 pounds. He scored more knockouts than George Foreman and Mike Tyson combined. One story characterizing his career involved Langford walking out for the 8th round and touching gloves with his opponent. “What’s the matter, Sam, it ain’t the last round!” said his mystified opponent. “Tis for you son,” said Langford, who promptly knocked his opponent out.
That was Sam Langford, one of the greatest fighters to ever lace them up.

Written By:  Samuel Pinnington

“Listen to this buddy, for it comes from a guy whose palms are still wet, whose throat is still dry, and whose jaw is still agape from the utter shock of watching Joe Louis knock out Max Schmeling. It was a shocking thing, that knockout – short, sharp, merciless, complete,” so wrote a young Bob Considine on a warm New York June night in 1938.

June 22nd, 1938 was the night that Joe Louis took his perch atop the sport world, a perch he would enjoy for the next decade. Even before that he had enjoyed legendary status as he cut a swath through the heavyweight rankings beginning on the 4th of July in his debut when Louis knocked out one Jack Kracken in one round. Even in his professional debut Louis was breaking records (To this day Joe Louis is the only heavyweight champion of the world to debut as a Main Event fighter). With a start like that, why slow down was apparently the motto of Louis’ out of the ring team, for before 1934 was finished Louis was in the ring with his first top 10 opponent, Lee Ramage. The bout ended in three and after six months of fighting for money Louis was 12-0 with 10 knockouts. The learning curve continued upwards in 1935, a mere three weeks after fighting Ramage, as Louis would rid the heavyweight division of another top-ten contender when he decisioned Patsy Perroni in 10 rounds. A month later Ramage gave Louis another try and was even less successful than he was two months earlier, this time going in two. A month later, Louis won a decision over contender Natie Brown. While a W10 on Louis’ record didn’t look as good as the KO 1’s and KO 2’s, sandwiched between the Brown fight, it was probably the most crucial bout of his young career for it was immediately after the Brown fight that Louis and his team met Mike Jacobs.

Who knows how far Louis would have progressed without Mike Jacobs and who would have known on that March night in 1935 how much money they were going to make one another. Louis and Jacobs signed a three-year contract with an option for a fourth. Jacobs guaranteed Louis a then unheard of 37 1/2% of the gate even though up until then the industry standard between a fighter and his promoter was 12 1/2%. But more importantly, Jacobs offered him the Carnera fight in New York for later that year. That was music to Louis and his team’s ears, because they knew that if it’s one thing a black heavyweight needed in what was still the post-Jack Johnson-era was a break, and with Mike Jacobs aboard that break became a springboard. As promised, Louis got Carnera in the ring in June of 1935 and disposed of him in six. A quick visit to Chicago then saw him stop the ever polite King Levinsky in one round. Levinsky was so polite that after a Louis volley of punches separated him from his senses, he turned to the referee and said, “Please sir, don’t let that man hit me again.” A month later it was back to New York and Max Baer fell in four. Louis finished 1935 with a four round knockout of Paulino Uzscudun who had failed in a bid for Carnera’s title a couple of years prior. The Uzcudun fight was noteworthy for two reasons. After the fight Whitey Bimstein who was in Uzcudun’s corner, described the punches Louis used to stop Uzcudun as the hardest he had ever seen a heavyweight land, and secondly Louis drew an interested spectator to his training camp, the former Heavyweight Champion of the World, Max Schmeling.

Louis-Schmeling I was signed for June 18th, 1936, but was postponed one day due to rain. On June 19th, 1936, Max Schmeling, eight years Louis’ senior, did the unthinkable and knocked out Louis in twelve rounds. It was a fight that is steeped in rumor and innuendo as to how exactly Schmeling beat Louis. Among the most popular stories tended was that Louis spent too much time on the golf course. Others point to a punch that Schmeling landed at or after the bell to end the third round, or it was just a case as Schmeling said after watching Louis train in preparation for Uzcudun. “I see something. He hasn’t forgotten his amateur mistakes”.

Personally, I have another theory as to why Louis didn’t look like the Louis we had seen before. Going into the Schmeling fight Louis had been an extremely active fighter engaging in close to thirty fights before signing to fight Schmeling. Contracts were signed in December of 1935 to fight Schmeling and one of the clauses that Schmeling’s people wanted inserted into the contract was that neither fighter was to engage in a fight before June. Louis had already signed to fight in January and Schmeling’s people conceded that to go ahead. After that January fight against Charley Retzlaff, Louis had to contend with something he had never had to contend with in his short career as a professional fighter, inactivity. Run a car everyday for 18 months and it runs like a charm and starts at the first turn of the key. Walk away from it for six months and then come back and turn the key and it may take a second or two for it to turn over. Whatever the reason, there was the first blemish on Louis’ record, a blemish he would have to wait two years almost to the day to get rid of. Stung by the loss but hardly discouraged Louis was back in the ring two months later kayoing former heavyweight champion Jack Sharkey in three rounds and would remain active at a clip of a fight a month until signing to fight James Braddock for the Heavyweight Championship of the World.

While Louis was doing what Louis did best inside the ring, outside of the ring managers and promoters were doing what they do best. And it can be safely said that seeing Louis do what he did best was certainly prettier to watch. When Jimmy Braddock defeated Max Baer, he signed a contract with Madison Square Garden to have them promote his first defense of the title. Schmeling defeated Louis and signed to fight Braddock in September 1936. Thankfully for Louis, that fight was postponed with Braddock claiming arthritis in his left hand and the fight was put off until June 1937. It was becoming increasingly obvious that Braddock had no interest in fighting Max Schmeling, so obvious in fact that Madison Square Garden ordered Braddock and Schmeling to put up $5,000 a piece to guarantee that their fight would go through. That may have been the best $5,000 Braddock ever parted with in his life for not long after Braddock signed to fight Louis. The Garden balked and tried to enforce their contract for Braddock-Schmeling. In fact, Schmeling had already opened up a training camp for his upcoming title fight with Braddock. The dispute wound its way through the legal system all the way to the Court Of Appeals where the court ruled that the Garden had no right to enforce the contract of Braddock-Schmeling. Schmeling himself took the case to the Supreme Court and they in turn told Schemling in their judgment, “It appears Mr. Schmeling, you have been training for a phantom fight”.

Whilst on the subject of Braddock-Louis, let’s clear up once and for all the issue of Jimmy Braddock getting 10% of Louis’ ring earnings for the remainder of his championship reign. The whole story is this. One evening John Roxborough who was Louis’ manager was “abducted” and asked to go for a ride and that ride ended up at a nightclub where he was met by Joe Gould, the manager of Braddock. Gould laid it out plain and simple. Braddock wasn’t going to beat Louis and that to get the fight Roxborough would have to give up 50% of Louis. Roxborough didn’t budge and the offer after a few stops whittled its way down to 20%. Roxborough again wasn’t biting and told Gould it might be a good idea to go see Mike Jacobs. With that, Roxborough turned and left leaving an incredulous Gould to ask him, “Where in the hell do you think you’re going?” To which, Roxborough replied, “Uptown and get a double scotch on the rocks.”

Gould took his advice and went to see Jacobs. Gould wanted 10% of Louis, but Jacobs said no can do but promised 10% of himself and so it was. Braddock would get 10% of Mike Jacobs’ profits from heavyweight title fights that Jacobs promoted. With that out of the way Louis-Braddock was signed on February 19, 1937. As heavyweight fights go, Louis-Braddock was a good one. A short right uppercut from Braddock dropped Joe in the first and it was even up after the fourth. Louis began to pick it up in the fifth until Braddock was finally knocked out in the eighth. Louis would write years later in his autobiography that after referee Tommy Thomas counted Braddock out until the time he left the stadium everything was a blur, but he could remember saying one thing over and over again, “Bring on Max Schmeling, Bring him on.”

“Bring on Max Schmeling, bring him on.” From the moment that Referee Tommy Thomas counted out James J. Braddock until he left Comiskey Park and walked out into the Chicago night, that was all Joe Louis remembered saying. He would have to wait one year, and what happened in that one year when studied closely is as fine as an example that one would find into how dirty and cut throat the business of boxing was some 70 years ago, and I dare say little has changed since.

When Schmeling kayoed Louis in the summer of 1936, Louis wanted to have an immediate rematch and more importantly so did Mike Jacobs. In July of 1936, not even a month after their fight, Jacobs offered Schmeling $300,000 to step back in the ring with Joe. Feeling he was in the catbird’s seat, Shmeling said he wanted double that, $600,000. After all, Schmeling had a signed agreement in principle contract to fight James J. Braddock for the title, and if Mike Jacobs and Louis wanted in it was going to cost them. We now know from Part 1 that Joe got the title shot instead of Max, and it was Joe Louis who now occupied the catbird’s seat. “Bring on Max Schmeling, bring him on.” It was now Mike Jacobs’ turn to deal with Max and let me tell you it wasn’t pretty. Jacobs offered Max 20% of the gate, but Max asked for 30%. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Max effectively told Jacobs that he didn’t need a Louis fight right now as he was going to fight Tommy Farr in his next fight. The meeting came to a close, and Schmeling left with the feeling that he had Mike Jacobs exactly where he wanted him. In reality it was just the opposite. Schmeling set sail for Germany and the Farr fight.

By the time Schmeling got to Germany, he was in for a big surprise. Mike Jacobs got to Farr, offered him $60,000 plus 25% of the radio and movie profits, and Farr jumped at it, thus, Louis-Farr was signed for August 26th 1937. In what would become commonplace during Louis’ reign, the fight was delayed four days because of rain, and Louis broke his hand in the 4th round which led to a less than scintillating Louis performance in his first title defense. Louis wasn’t a happy camper coming off a so-so effort, and with his hand in a cast but 3 days later he was on cloud nine. Jacobs had got Schmeling to meet him the following June. However, this time Jacobs called the shots. And although there wouldn’t be a no-fights-in-between clause, Max would get 20% of the gate and 20% of the radio and movie profits. Every time Max balked, Jacobs threatened to make him wait even longer. Max signed.

Louis and his management had no intention of sitting around waiting for next June to come around with no fights in between and on February 27th, 1938, he defended his title against Nathan ”Natie” Mann and kayoed him in 3. In December 1937, Schmeling fought fringe contender Harry Thomas and stopped him in 8 rounds, and as if to plant a further seed of doubt in Schmeling’s mind, Louis defended his title on April 1st, 1938, against the same Harry Thomas and stopped him in 5. The message of the press the next day wasn’t on how good Louis looked or the details of the fight but they all had one prevailing theme, it took Louis 3 less rounds to get rid of Thomas than it had taken Schmeling. The world could hardly wait for June 22nd to roll around and neither could Louis. In his autobiography Louis would say that after the Thomas fight he felt perfect, an absolutely perfect fighter and was finally the fighting machine that Jack Blackburn had promised to turn him into 4 years earlier. Shortly after the Thomas fight, Louis and Schmeling would come face to face when they met at the Boxing Commissioner’s office to sign the official contracts for June 22nd, 1938. No words were exchanged between the two, only a slight nod and the obligatory smile and handshake for the cameras.

It wasn’t smooth sailing for the fight to take place. The Anti-Nazi League and The American Jewish Committee threatened boycotts and picketed Jacobs’ office, Madison Square Garden, and Yankee Stadium in an effort to have the fight cancelled. This was all too much for Jacobs and he sat down with all parties concerned and promised that Louis would beat Schmeling. The promise worked and the threatened boycott was called off, and the very next day $100,000 worth of advance tickets were sold. Jacobs sat down with Joe not long after and gave him all the gory details, explaining to Louis that if he lost to Schmeling both their careers would be over. “Murder that bum, and don’t make an asshole out of me,” said Jacobs. “Don’t worry about a thing Mike. I ain’t going back to work for Ford and you ain’t going back to selling lemon drops on the Staten Island Ferry,” assured Louis. While Louis’ career may have been over had he lost to Schmeling, Jacobs’ wouldn’t have been, since unbeknownst to Louis, Jacobs had already signed Schmeling in the event that he were to defeat Louis again. Like I said in the first paragraph, there was a lot of dirty business leading up to Louis-Schmeling II.

We often read and have heard that sometimes training camps can descend into a circus and the bigger the fight sometimes the bigger the circus, Louis-Schmeling II was no exception. Bundists would show up at Louis’ training camp in Pompton Lakes day after day wearing swastikas on their arms whilst generally making an ass of themselves. Max Machon, who was Schmeling’s trainer would parade around in a Nazi uniform babbling on about the superior race. Word from Germany came that Schmeling would be the Third Reich’s Minister of Sport upon his triumphant return home, and from Germany not only did Schmeling have to battle Louis but also the Jewish governor of New York, Herbert Lehman who was doing everything in his power to assure a Louis victory in his home state. The opening line in Rudyard Kipling’s classic poem reads, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you,” could very well have been written with Louis and Schmeling in mind, because no matter how low the circus descended around them, Max and Joe never uttered a word in disrespect to the other. In the days leading up to June 22nd, fight fever swept the United States, Buick paid an unheard sum of $47,000 to air advertisements during the fight, and even though the fight only lasted 2:04 and Buick only aired two ads, Buicks CEO called it the best $47,000 that Buick had ever spent up to then. My, how times have changed. NBC would broadcast the fight on close to 150 radio stations and you could buy a brand new Zenith radio for only $14.95 which you could take home with a $1.50 deposit. “Bring on Max Schmeling, bring him on.”

A lot has been written about Louis-Schmeling II in the almost 70 years since it took place, and to go over it in detail here would maybe be a tad counter-productive. Louis and Schmeling would meet face to face only one more time before they stepped in the ring that night and that was at the weigh-in the morning of the fight. Again no words were spoken between the two, only a slight nod. Schmeling weighed in at 193, Louis at 198 1/2. After the weigh-in Louis had a meal of steak, black eyed peas, and salad and went for a walk along the Harlem River with Blackburn and Freddie Wilson the trainer of Light Heavyweight Champion, John Henry Lewis. They walked in silence for a long while and finally Wilson broke the silence and asked Louis how he felt. “Scared,” was Joe’s reply. “Scared?” Wilson asked. “Yea Scared I might kill Schmeling tonight.” They walked the rest of the way in silence. Louis arrived at Yankee Stadium at 7PM and promptly fell asleep.

I’m going to leave the story for a moment and pardon the pun which will soon be revealed. I’m going to go off on a different track. Anyone who knows me, knows that besides an affection for boxing, I have a soft spot in my heart for the big red chestnut, Secretariat. And with that affection in mind allow me to quote from an article that appeared in Sports Illustrated in 1990 following the death of Secretariat entitled Pure Heart written by William Nack. It describes Secretariat the morning he captured the Triple Crown. “I awoke to the crowing of a cock and watched as the stable workers showed up. At 6:07 Hoeffner strode into the shed, looked at Secretariat and called out to Sweat. ‘Get the big horse ready! Let’s walk him for about 15 minutes’. Sweat slipped into the stall, put the lead shank on Secretariat and handed it to Davis, who led the colt to the outdoor walking ring. In a small stable thirty feet away, pony girl, Robin Edelstein, knocked a water bucket against the wall. Secretariat, normally a docile colt on a shank, rose up on his hind legs, pawing at the sky, and started walking in circles. Davis cowered below, as if beneath a thunderclap, snatching at the chain begging the horse to come down. Secretariat floated back down to earth. He danced around the ring as if on springs, his nostrils flared and snorting his eyes rimmed in white. Unaware of the scene she was causing, Edelstein rattled the bucket again and Secretariat spun in a circle, bucked and leaped in the air, kicking and spraying cinders along the walls of the pony barns. In a panic, Davis tugged at the shank, and the horse went up again, higher and higher and Davis bent back yelling, ‘Come on down! Come on Down!’ I stood in awe, I had never seen a horse so fit. The Derby and Preakness had wound him as tight as a watch, and he seemed about to burst out of his coat. I had no idea what to expect that day in the Belmont, with him going a mile and a half, but I sensed we would see more of him than we had ever seen before.”

Blackburn woke Louis at 9PM and got him ready to go to the ring. Normally Louis would shadow box for 10 minutes but on this night he would shadow box for a full half hour. Those that were their swear that they could hear Louis’ punches blasting the air. On the way to the ring Louis’ manager John Roxborough nervously took a cigar out of his pocket and bit the end off it. He normally had a stash of 20 with him, but this time Louis reached into Roxborough’s pocket grabbed the rest and threw them on the floor and said quietly, “You will only need one in your mouth tonight John.” In his autobiography Louis would say, “Before the bell rang, I felt like a racehorse in the starting gate. Chappie kept me moving, kept me dancing, the sweat was pouring, but my body was warm. The muscles were dancing too. I was rarin’ to go.” 2:04 later the fight was over. In that time frame, there was a standing 8 count, three knockdowns, 50 punches were landed and Louis had landed 49 of them. There were claims of a foul from Schmeling’s manager Max Machon alluding to a crushing blow that Louis landed on Schemling’s lower back as Schmeling tried to twist out of the way causing so much pain that Freddie Guinyard a close friend of Louis who was in Schmeling’s corner as an observer described Schmeling’s cry of pain as “sounding like a stuck pig” and referee Arthur Donovan, many years later said it was the most terrifying sound he had ever heard in his life. For his part Louis put it into perspective. ”But I remember when I was giving him my all, he’d turned when I hadn’t expected him to, and I landed that punch on his back because his body wasn’t where it was supposed to be. That’s perfectly legal: I feel no guilt about it.” Thus ended a fight that would become the most written about, most read and most talked about fight in the history of this sport, and what better way to put it to bed than to repeat the words of that young reporter Bob Considine. “Listen to this buddy, for it comes from a guy whose palms are still wet whose throat is still dry and whose jaw is still agape from the utter shock of watching Joe Louis knock out Max Schmeling. It was a shocking thing, that knockout—short, sharp, merciless, complete.”

Next: Bum of the Month

Written By:  Michael Matos

It has been just over a year since the boxing world narrowly missed having another tragedy on its hands. On October 3rd, 2002, Roberto Duran nearly lost his life in an auto accident. It’s amazing that despite the horrific nature of the accident, in which Duran suffered severely damaged lungs and ribs, he spoke of fighting yet again. But the severity of the injuries forced him to once again say “No Mas,” but this time, nobody is going to accuse him of being a quitter. If there was ever a fighter who has given more of his life to the ring than the legendary “Hands of Stone,” I’d like to know who. His career spanned longer than any other pugilist in history, turning pro in 1967 he competed every year except for 1985 and 1990.

The rags to riches fairy tale life began in the Banana Republic of Panama on June 16th, 1951. Roberto Carlos Duran was born in the impoverished Chorillo section of Panama. He was the second of nine children born to Osvaldo and Clara Duran. It is to his Mexican father and Panamanian mother, and the mean streets of Guarare and Chorillo that Duran owes his menacing, burning eyes to. Growing up in extreme poverty left little choice for what Roberto Duran could be. Doctor, lawyer, or astronaut was out of the question. Instead a young Roberto turned to fishing, shoe shining and street hustling for a subsistence level of income. Looking for food, he once stole coconuts from the property of millionaire industrialist Carlos Eleta; as fate would have it Eleta would later become Duran’s manager.

Duran dropped out of school at age 14 and stepped into a boxing gym with his older brother. A huge fan of the Panamanian great Ismael Laguna, Duran demonstrated plenty of tenacity that impressed former national Panamanian featherweight champion Sammy Medina. After a brief stint as an amateur (winning 13 of 16) the natural born fighter turned pro. The hard hitting, puncher-boxer style Duran had was certainly much better tailored to the pro game than the amateurs, and he quickly built up a name for himself in his homeland.

His pro debut was against Carlos Mendoza who can claim to have fought three all-time greats in his career for he later lost to Mexican great Ruben Olivares and unsuccessfully challenged Puerto Rican superstar Wilfredo Gomez for the WBC Super Bantamweight title. Of Duran’s first ten opponents, only Mendoza would make it to the final bell, lasting four rounds. The overwhelming majority of Duran’s early fights took place at the Nuevo Panama Coliseum in Panama City. Even after knocking out fellow countryman and future world featherweight champ Ernesto Marcel (who would later score a win over the legendary Nicaraguan Alexis Arguello and retire as champion) few would suspect that Duran would turn out to be the greatest athlete in Panamanian history and the Nuevo Panama Coliseum would one day be renamed “Roberto Duran Coliseum.”

Duran’s next big fight was against the vastly more experienced Benny Huertas. It was Duran’s first fight on American soil at the Mecca of boxing, Madison Square Garden in New York. The young lightweights were battling on the undercard of the world champion Ken Buchanan versus Ismael Laguna rematch. As it turns out, Duran traveled all that distance for only one minute and six seconds work. Huertas crumpled to the mat, the latest victim to the power punching Panamanian assassin. Later in the night, lightweight champ Buchanan defeated Laguna for the second time. Duran would be facing the Great Scot in that very same ring in less than a year’s time. In the meantime, Duran returned to Panama for a special, over the weight limit, junior lightweight attraction with former world titlist, Hiroshi Kobayashi. Kobayashi was a light-hitting slickster coming off a defeat at the hands of Alfredo Marcano which cost him his WBA Super Featherweight championship. Despite Kobayshi’s vast advantage in experience, he was no match for the hard-hitting Duran. In the seventh round Duran landed a brutal combination leaving Kobayashi motionless on the canvass. The Panamanian crowd went ballistic, and as big as Duran was in Panama, he was ready to explode onto the world scene. The 21 year-old Duran had earned his first world title shot against the aforementioned Ken Buchanan. 

On June 26th, 1972, Roberto Duran would be crowned WBA Lightweight champ. It took less than a minute for the fiery Duran to establish his position as the effective aggressor, scoring an early first round knockdown of the sturdy Scot. The resilient Buchanan got back up, but continued to get mauled by Duran heavy punches, in particular vicious right crosses and picture perfect left hooks to the body. Legendary trainer Gil Clancy was in Buchanan’s corner. Not being very familiar with Duran, Clancy speculated that based upon Duran’s reputation as a young power puncher, he would tire in the middle rounds and Buchanan would take over. However, Duran never decelerated and Clancy realized right then and there that the fight was going to be a coming out party for a very special fighter. Unfortunately, the fight would not end without controversy. At the end of the thirteenth, Duran landed a borderline low blow after the bell which to this day is a source of debate. Some say it was Duran’s knee that caused the damage; others, including Duran himself feel it was a punch. The referee seemed to believe it was a legal punch, and had no sympathy for Buchanan. Perhaps the referee, John LoBianco, felt the thoroughly beaten Buchanan, way behind on points, was looking for an out and consequently exaggerated the severity of the blow/foul in a last ditch effort to save his title. The referee simply raised Duran’s arm in victory and declared him the new lightweight champion of the world. The greatest reign of terror in the history of the 135-pound weight class had begun.

Duran followed up on his title winning performance with several non-title matches. As a matter of fact, Duran did what was rare then, and even rarer now, and that’s fight a plethora of non-title matches. After the Buchanan fight, Duran would engage in no less than twenty non-title fights while holding the lightweight title. His first pro loss came later on in 1972 in a non-tile fight against the future lightweight champion, Puerto Rican great Esteban Dejesus. Dejesus was a formidable foe, and perhaps Duran rushed into the fight for Esteban was the third opponent Duran would face in less than two month’s time. Dejesus had slick boxing skills and when he floored the iron jawed Duran seconds into the first round, it became evident he had some dynamite in his fists as well. Duran, later claiming to have underestimated Dejesus and consequently not training hard enough for the fight, could never find his rhythm. Despite having some moments and riding a lot of Dejesus’ blows, it would be Dejesus who would have his hand raised after ten rounds of boxing were complete. Legend has it Duran was so upset by the loss that after he soaked his wounds in a New York hotel room, he then pounded the bathroom wall so hard his fists were bloodied. It wasn’t the first time Duran had hammered away at an unconventional target; legend also had it that a drunken Duran, acting upon a dare, kayoed a horse. It became clear that losing was not an option for Duran, he simply had to win. The rage and anger inside of him was not something that worked against him, but instead helped make him great. He harnessed the raw emotion, and in two subsequent rematches with Dejesus there would be a distinctly different outcome.

Duran got back on track with successful title defense by knocking out Jimmy Robertson, Hector Thompson, and former lightweight champ Guts Suzuki. The stage was set for Duran-Dejesus II, this time in the sweltering heat of Panama City. The fight began much like the first, with Duran getting decked in the opening round, but that’s where the similarities ended as Duran got up and began to issue a terrific beating to the outgunned Dejesus. Dejesus claimed difficulty making weight, and the 100 plus degree heat certainly couldn’t have made things easier for him. Duran put on a tremendous display of disciplined power punching that had the crowd on its feet for most of the bout. Commentator Ferdie “Fight Doctor” Pacheco joked that there was no sense in selling seats for the fight as most everyone in attendance stood to watch the frenzied action. Duran landed a variety of punishing blows to both the head and body, yet demonstrated his very underrated defensive skills. When Duran floored Dejesus in the seventh he closed in for the kill. But the courageous Dejesus scored with a vicious right hand on the overanxious Duran, creating a mouse under Duran’s left eye. This was one of the few times Duran’s face looked roughed up in a fight. Duran would not be denied, and when the eleventh round began, Dejesus came out from his corner a defeated man. The fighters touched gloves and Dejesus gestured to Duran that he was the better man and seconds later Dejesus was on the canvas after taking a few more of Duran’s punches; however, it was more exhaustion and the accumulation of punches that caused Dejesus to fold for none of the punches he took in that round were nearly as hard as what he had already absorbed earlier. Duran redeemed himself and there was no doubt as to who the best lightweight in the world was.

There would continue to be no doubt for some time as Duran continued his winning ways. Duran pounded all his title fight opposition into submission. When all was said and done, 11 of 12 of his lightweight title defenses ended in kayo fashion with only Edwin Viruet, in 1978, lasting the 15 round distance. Duran’s next fight after Viruet was the rubber match with Esteban Dejesus. Esteban had managed to get his hands on another version of the world lightweight title so the winner would be the unified champ. It would arguably be the best Roberto Duran the boxing world would ever see. Duran seemed to be at his absolute peak. Physically he had the stature of a perfect lightweight. His power punching was dominant; his team consistent of legendary trainer Ray Arcel and Freddie Brown had finely tuned the little things Duran did, making him just that much better. While Duran claimed he knew how to fight before Arcel and Brown, in the late seventies it appeared that his corner added a little to his game. Duran seemed to be a perfectly balanced fighter, able to destroy opponents on the inside and out. He began as a puncher boxer, and would later become a boxer-puncher to deal with younger, stronger, bigger fighters, and perhaps at this stage in the game he was right in the transition period, the absolute perfect blend. Duran’s defense was simply too tight for Dejesus to deter Duran or land momentum changing punches. Every time Dejesus’ arms left the guard position Duran found a way to work in his blows. Duran’s footwork was immaculate; hand speed (always underrated) was incredible, his combination punching a sight to behold. Duran didn’t have any one trademark punch, he wasn’t known as a legendary left hooker like Frazier, he had no trademark liver shot like Chavez, no right hand like Hearns, no uppercut like Tyson, merely because his offense had so much variety and balance no single punch stood out because they were all exceptional. Duran could throw every punch in the book, and hurt his opponents with any. Dejesus was knocked out in the twelfth after being comprehensively outclassed. A young member of the Dejesus camp, overcome with emotion charged into the ring and shoved Duran from behind and was lucky Duran did not retaliate. In the audience was Sugar Ray Leonard, whom saw the destruction first hand. He told entertainer Jackie Gleason, who was also on hand, that he would one day beat Duran, to which Gleason responded by saying, “Son, don’t risk your life.”

It would be Duran’s last title fight at lightweight. Sadly enough, Esteban Dejesus would pass away in the late 80′s after a long battle with A.I.D.S. Dejesus developed a drug addiction problem and had killed a young man who had robbed him. While in jail he contracted the dreaded disease by sharing a needle. On his deathbed, Duran with tears in his eyes, visited the frail, thinned out Dejesus and hugged him, comforting him by saying, “You’re always going to be my great champ.”

While Duran was better known for being the foam-at-the-mouth killer, there was always a good-natured side to him there if people cared to look. After knocking Lightning Ray Lampkin out cold in a 1975 title defense, he said on live T.V. after the fight that if he was in better shape he would have sent Lampkin to the morgue instead of the hospital. And while that thoughtless line grabbed the headlines, what went for the most part unnoticed was Duran visiting Lampkin in the hospital and kissing him on the cheek. His giving to the poor is also well documented, making him a pugilistic Robin Hood.

The competitive fire in Duran and a growing appetite (for both food and money) moved him up to the welterweight weight class. The seventies ended for Duran with a pair of solid wins against talented welterweights Carlos Palomino (former WBC welterweight champion) and Zeferino “Speedy” Gonzales. The stage was set for the first super fight of the eighties, a Sugar Ray Leonard-Roberto Duran showdown. The venue would be the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, the same place where Leonard captured an Olympic gold medal during the 1976 Summer Olympics. It would turn out to be the battle of the fighter of the seventies against the future fighter of the eighties (along with Julio Cesar Chavez). 

Leonard, the reigning welterweight champion, had captured the title from the talented Wilfred Benitez via 15th round knockout. The undefeated media darling Sugar Ray was the slight gambling favorite, and all the hype surrounding Leonard genuinely bothered Duran. The fact that Duran, who had lost just once in his first 73 bouts, was getting only one fifth the money Leonard would make for the fight just fueled the fire. Duran cursed Leonard during press conferences, questioned Leonard’s manhood; he even went so far as to insult his wife. Duran made it his mission to get inside Leonard’s head, and dethrone the extremely popular champion. 

The “Brawl In Montreal” took place on June 20th, 1980. It was a chilly, rainy day, but fight fans had nothing to be gloomy about as they were treated to an epic battle. The bigger, younger Leonard began using the perimeter of the ring while Duran charged in like a man possessed trying to turn the fight into a war on the inside. Duran’s raw aggression was enough to take the first round, but the second round is where Duran won the fight. Near the end of the second, Duran caught Leonard with a right-left combo, the left hook landing very hard. Leonard’s right leg did a dance and although he shook his head to show people he wasn’t hurt, his extremities were proving else wise. After getting hurt on the outside Leonard was more willing to stay on the inside where there wasn’t enough room for knockout blows. The high level of pugilistic prowess on display that night arguably hasn’t been matched since. After fourteen intense rounds it seemed apparent that Duran had the fight won, certainly he thought so. At the beginning of the fifteenth and final round Duran refused to touch gloves, resulting in Carlos Padilla forcing him to do it. Duran spent most of the fifteenth mocking Leonard with taunts, and exhibiting some flashy defensive moves, and when the final bell rang, Duran not only refused to embrace Sugar Ray, he shoved him when Ray lifted his arms in the air. 

There seemed to be little doubt in Duran’s mind that he had won, and Leonard had a morbid expression on his face. However, the officials had the fight very close, scoring an unprecedented number of even rounds. The final scorecards were 145-144, 146-144, and 148-147 (the ring announcer erroneously declared one scorecard even when reading the verdict). The audience roared when the ring announcer presented the verdict, “Et le nouveau champion du monde, Roberto Duran!”

It was the pinnacle of Duran’s career. He had moved up in weight and beaten a prime great. And so the good times rolled as Roberto began living the life. He indulged himself and others, giving away hundreds of thousands, ate like a king, and it was at this point that Duran’s professional career took a turn for the worse. His discipline was lacking; at times having a walk around weight in 190-pound zone. Rumor had it he once managed to tip the scales as far as 217 pounds (Duran himself claims to have hit 230 pounds after the Brawl in Montreal, although that seems to be an exaggeration).

The first Leonard-Duran fight was a huge money maker, unprecedented for two non-heavyweight combatants and immediately after the fight, Leonard tried hard to get a rematch. He, by his own admission, stated his intentions, from day one, was to get a rematch as fast as he could, knowing Duran’s training habits (or lack thereof). Duran himself was admitting that he no longer had the impetus to train hard like he use to. When Don King made a huge offer to Duran’s manager, the fight was on. 

The rematch was five months later, and the Battle of New Orleans didn’t turn out to be much of a battle at all. Leonard was fast as lightning and was mocking an impotent Duran. Duran’s answer to Leonard’s antics was to simply utter the now famous words “No Mas.” Duran claimed to have quit due to stomach cramps and was hoping to get a rematch. Duran did get a rematch, ten years later. 

The shame of No Mas had a devastating effect. Even his countrymen viewed his quitting as unforgivable, and Duran went from hero to zero. Ray Arcel dumped him. To this day, many casual boxing fans associate the name Roberto Duran first and foremost with the No Mas incident. But things got worse for Roberto Duran. After a couple of wins over light competition Ray Arcel came back when Duran took on defensive wizard Wilfredo “El Radar” Benitez. Duran fought without the intensity that was his former trademark. He looked mediocre, broken. As a result, he lost a close decision and a dejected Arcel quit the Duran camp again. 

In Duran’s very next fight he sunk to a new low. He was up against the unheralded Kirkland Laing. Duran lost by decision again in what Ring Magazine called the biggest upset of the year. Never before had Duran lost two fights in a row, and more importantly, never before had he lost to a fighter the caliber of Kirkland Laing. To add insult to injury, Laing’s manager called Duran “a fuckin old man,” on live national television afterwards. There was demand for Duran to retire. After Arcel, Don King left Duran, as did plenty of other members of his camp. Roberto had hit rock bottom. 

If Sugar Ray Robinson is the boxing God, Roberto Duran would have to be Jesus for after the rise and fall, there would be redemption in grand style. When the boxing world told Duran he couldn’t beat Leonard he rose to the occasion. Now the boxing world was telling him he was through. Finished. Again, Duran would rise to the occasion. Teddy Brenner of Top Rank gave Duran the chance he needed by matching him up with former welterweight champ, Jose “Pipino” Cuevas of Mexico. Despite looking a little thick around the waist, Duran’s timing was on and he took Cuevas out in just four rounds. One could sense the genuine excitement in Duran during the post fight interview. It was the look on his face and the manner in which he spoke; one could sense that there was a reawakening within Duran.

The Cuevas win garnered enough momentum for Duran to take on undefeated WBA light middleweight champ Davey Moore. Despite being an inexperienced champ with just 12 fights (all wins) under his belt, Duran was for the third time a betting underdog (five to two) in his challenge for a world title in a third weight class. The fight took place on Duran’s 32nd birthday at Madison Square Garden. Moore, being from The Bronx was just a hop-skip and jump away from MSG, couldn’t be further from home as the Garden was packed with Duran fans eager to see if Duran could pull off the improbable. Moore, uncharacteristically for the champ, entered the ring first, and the pro-Duran crowd erupted when Roberto later made his way into the ring.

The fight turned out to be one of the most vicious lop-sided beatings of all time. Duran, who weighed in under the limit, was fast and technically brilliant. Moore, despite giving his best effort, was totally outclassed by Duran who was looking like a wizard in the ring. Every time Moore looked like he had an opening to land a blow, Duran would just roll with the punches at the last moment and counter hard. By the end of the sixth round Moore’s eye had swollen shut and the beating was so terrible his wife at ringside passed out. The seventh and eight rounds were pathetic one-sided beatings, with Moore floored near the end of the seventh. How the referee, Ernesto Magana, let the fight go into the eighth, and how Moore’s own corner let Moore come out for the eighth will always remain a mystery. The fans at ringside were going crazy as Duran punished Moore, and former light heavyweight champ Joe Torres at ringside was beside himself in anger and frustration, pleading with Magana to stop the fight. Finally the towel flew in and it was fight over. Roberto Duran was 32, Triple Crown champion, and most importantly, he was Roberto Duran again. He was hoisted up in the air and the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to a sobbing Duran. The comeback was complete.

Duran, never one to rest on his laurels, targeted a title in a fourth weight class, and challenged another all time great fighter, Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Hagler, the long time Middleweight kingpin had knocked out each and every one of his challengers to that point. It was Duran’s very first fight at middleweight and the big question was whether or not the 5’7″ frame of Duran could handle the weight. The fight was a very cautious affair, with Duran scoring and stealing some early rounds with counter right hands and moving out of harm’s way. Going into the championship rounds, the outcome of the fight was up in the air, but Haggler’s always immaculate conditioning saw him sweep the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth rounds and he received a well received unanimous decision win. It was an admirable performance by Duran, considering the former lightweight was challenging the current undisputed middleweight champion; a close decision loss was nothing to be ashamed of.

The Hagler defeat put Duran’s dream of being a quadruple crown champion on hold and he went back to junior middleweight. Duran then signed an open contract to fight either Tommy “The Hitman” Hearns or Mike “The Body Snatcher” McCallum; both of whom were Kronk Gym (located in Detroit) fighters under the tutelage of Emanuel Steward. Steward opted for Hearns to fight Duran, which infuriated McCallum who was looking for a big fight to springboard his career into superstardom. Unfortunately, McCallum was never able to lure Duran, Hagler, or Leonard into the ring and consequently had his chance for all-time greatness pass.

It turned out to be a wise decision as the murderous punching, lanky Hearns became the first fighter to truly knock Duran out. Duran came to the ring looking cold and intimidated and the first round was all Hearns who came out of the gate with guns a blazing. Tommy towered over Duran and unleashed furious barrages of power punches, and the end came abruptly just a minute into the second when The Motor City Cobra landed a trademark right cross when Duran was trapped up against the ropes. It landed flush and Duran collapsed forward landing face down and motionless on the canvas. By the time Duran got up, his handlers had already entered the ring. Hearns had done what no other fighter could do, and what many thought was impossible, stopping the great Duran.

After the fight, a Hearns-Hagler fight was made. It had taken Hearns only four minutes to destroy Duran, whereas Hagler had to go the full fifteen round distance. Hagler dismissed Hearns’ impressive win as Duran getting old overnight. Not surprisingly, Hearns credited the performance to his awesome power and boxing ability. When the two did meet, it turned out that the cast iron jawed Hagler could handle Hearns’ power, and after Hearns hit him with everything including the kitchen sink, Tommy was flat out exhausted and fell in three frenzied rounds. It was a fight that many consider to be the best fight in middleweight boxing history, and the first round many content to be the greatest single round of all time.

After the Hearns loss, Duran took some time off to regroup before launching another comeback. Almost two years later he came back as a middleweight and quickly scored a pair of easy wins in Panama. He then suffered another loss, a close, controversial split decision defeat against Marvin Hagler’s half brother Robbie Simms. Duran fought much of the fight off the ropes, and although he was effective, perhaps it was just the fact that Duran was on the ropes that allowed for rounds to unfairly be scored in favor of Simms.

Regardless, Duran had hit roadblock, and was once again considered washed up. Yet after a four quick wins, Duran took on “Joltin” Jeff Llanas in Llanas’ hometown of Chicago. Winner was likely to get a title shot at newly crowned middleweight champ Iran “The Blade” Barkley, who had won the title four months earlier with a dramatic third round brutal kayo of Tommy Hearns. The partisan hometown crowd roared as Llanas had his moments against a lethargic Duran, and going into the last two rounds the fight was still in the balance. However, Duran’s vast advantage in experience paid dividends as he neatly scored his punches and effectively tied Llanas up. When the official verdict was read, it was a close split decision victory for Duran.

So the stage was set, and Duran was off to Atlantic City to challenge Barkley for the middleweight title. Logic dictated that this would be an easy defense for Barkley; after all, he had knocked out Hearns who had knocked out Duran in two. If common opponents were any indication, it was going to be an easy night for Barkley. And Barkley wasn’t just another middleweight; he was a huge middleweight who would later go on to win world titles at light heavyweight and super middleweight as well. 

Barkley had dedicated the fight to his friend, fellow Bronx fighter and Duran victim Davey Moore. Moore died just four days prior to the Barkley-Hearns fight, when tragically a car he was repairing fell off its jack, killing Davey. Just like the Moore fight, Duran had many more fans in attendance than Barkley, who was the local fighter. All the Duran fans, which had to drive through a snowstorm to get to the convention center, did not leave disappointed. Not only were they treated to one of the greatest fights of all-time (it was Ring Magazine’s fight of the year for 1989), but their national hero pulled off what Gil Clancy called “a miracle” by walking away with the world middleweight championship.

The Duran fans didn’t have to wait long for their opportunity to cheer as Duran nailed Barkley with a counter right cross over a Barkley jab near the end of the first. Barkley was visibly hurt and Duran went in for the kill but the bell sounded. The second through fifth rounds were for the most part filled with furious action and the two gladiators stood toe-to-toe unloading with everything they had. Rounds six through eight were Barkley’s best rounds as he was repeatedly nailing Duran with big league power punches. Clancy, who was in a state of shock for most of the night, couldn’t believe that Duran was able to take the kind of punishment Barkley was delivering. “I can’t believe this is the same guy who took the lightweight title from my fighter, Ken Buchanan, as a lightweight back in 1972,” he said in disbelief.

“The difference between Duran now and Duran then is that he would never have been hit with these kinds of punches,” Al Bernstein responded astutely.

In the seventh round, Duran was in trouble for the first time as Barkley landed a picture perfect double left hook combination. Duran stumbled forward into Barkley’s chest where he smothered Barkley’s follow up punches and countered. 

The eighth round was more of the same as the two began the round by circling in the middle of the ring. They threw simultaneous left hooks and Barkley’s landed first. It was a punch Duran never saw coming and the force must have knocked the water from Duran’s head eight rows deep into the audience. The force of Duran’s own hook caused him to spin around like a scene out of The Exorcist. His glove almost touched the canvas, but somehow Duran stayed on his feet.

“Duran is in trouble!”, shouted Bernstein.

“Everything but his heart is in trouble,” Clancy replied as Duran once again covered up in close and even landed his own uppercut.

Perhaps seeing Duran take Barkley’s best punches knocked Iran’s morale level down a notch or two, or maybe it was just the frantic pace of the fight that simply took a lot out of Iran, but the ninth through twelfth round was for the most part dominated by the 37 year old Duran. Gil Clancy referred to it as a second wind, but perhaps it was just a reminder of how great a fighter Duran could be when he puts his body in good enough shape to not let him down. It all culminated in the eleventh round, which on this writer’s scorecard was the difference in who won the fight. After a huge round ten, Clancy stated he felt Duran could take a better punch than Barkley at that point and he was right. After Barkley came up short with a right cross, Duran landed one of the most beautiful combinations in the history of the fight game. A right cross stunned Barkley followed by a follow up vicious left hook that also landed flush, another right cross landed right on the button, and after a decoy left hook, a crushing third right cross sent the now staggering Barkley to the canvas. The partisan crowd, already engulfed in emotion from the earlier drama of the fight, erupted in ecstatic excitement. As Clancy said, watching Duran was like watching a “surgeon operate.”

But much like there was never an ounce of quit in Duran, Barkley showed his heart and courage and scraped himself up barely beating the count. He survived the remainder of the round, and the two warriors battled on relatively even terms in the twelfth and final round. Unlike the Duran of years before, this Duran openly embraced his opponent after the fight was over. The two combatants had earned each other’s respect. After that war, any two combatants should have earned each other’s respect.

When the official decision was announced, it was a bizarre scene. Michael Buffer, who called the fight the greatest he had ever seen, didn’t have a working microphone and had to quiet the crowd as well as those who crammed into the ring, and yell out the decision. Not surprisingly, given the action in the fight, it was split: 116-112 Duran, an outrageous 118-112 Duran (the judge must have given every close round in the fight to Duran), and 113-116 Barkley.

It would be the last time Duran could claim to be a true world champion. Being so many years and weight divisions past his prime, the end should have been near. But like so many other fighters before, Duran would stick around in the fight game for far too long. His next fight was the way-too-late-to-mean-anything rubber match with Sugar Ray Leonard in which a pudgy Duran showed little will to win as Leonard danced around for an easy decision win.

The next fight was an injury loss to the unheralded Pat Lawlor. Duran had been down before, but at this point in his career he couldn’t cheat Mother Nature.

Over the last third of his career, a pattern of a series of wins against undistinguished opposition followed by a loss to a reputable fighter began. In 1994 he secured a payday against the exciting Vinny Pazienza (now simply Vinny Paz) and decked the “Pazmanian Devil” on route to a controversial decision loss. The rematch was an embarrassment as Duran was terribly out of shape and during the post fight interview a ridiculously large belly took up much of the viewer’s television screen. After a few more wins it was a controversial decision loss to Hector Camacho Sr. Unlike most of the other all-time greats, Duran would find himself on the short end more than his fair share of times when it came to close decisions.

After splitting a couple of fights with respectable Argentine Jorge Castro, Duran got a title shot against middleweight champ William Joppy. The gross mismatch pitted a 27 year-old natural middleweight in Joppy who had only one avenged defeat, against the 47 year-old former lightweight great. While Duran knew what to do, physically he was so deteriorated the fight didn’t even last three rounds before Joe Cortez wisely stepped in to stop the bout. Watching Duran fight at this point was outright pathetic. It’s one thing to see Duran lose decisions to fighters that couldn’t carry a younger Duran’s jock strap, but it’s another to see him punished, or look so bad he doesn’t resemble his former form one iota. 

After a decision loss to Camacho (who in the meantime had knocked out a foolish come backing Sugar Ray Leonard) and the car accident, Duran was forced to retire. 

Looking back over his career, the ups and downs are evident. He’s certainly had enough ups to be considered one of the greatest fighters to have ever lived. His accomplishments when looked individually in isolation, puts him in a group of other greats. When his accomplishments are looked at in sum, it puts him in a class all of his own.

*He held the lightweight title for six years and seven months, defending the title 12 times and winning them all, eleven by kayo. The title reign is generally viewed as the greatest reign in the history of the lightweight division. This alone puts his accomplishments at lightweight with those of other traditional weight classes: Louis at heavyweight, Archie Moore at light heavyweight, Monzon and Hopkins at middleweight, Pedroza at featherweight.

*He held titles in four different weight classes: the lightweight, welterweight, junior middleweight, and middleweight. Three of which are traditional weight classes. This puts him in the class of Leonard, Hearns, Armstrong, and Fitzsimmons. Duran never made an effort to win the junior welterweight title although there’s little doubt he would have won the title. Keep in mind if he did try it, it would have been sometime between 1976 and 1978 where the junior welter champs were Velasquez, Muangsurin, Cervantes, and Kim), and the competition from which he won the traditional titles is sublime. Ken Buchanan is now a Hall of Fame fighter, Ray Leonard is an all-time great and guaranteed soon to be Hall of Famer, and Iran Barkley a triple crown champion. Also, had Duran gotten a break earlier in his career, there’s a very strong chance he would have been able to pick up a junior lightweight world title as well.

*Outside of George Foreman, no other fighter has had a longer span of time between title winning performances. However, unlike Foreman who regained the heavyweight title in a mediocre display of boxing, Duran won the Middleweight title almost 17 years after winning the Lightweight title in a formidable boxing match.

*Duran fought from 118 to 175 pounds, bantamweight through to light heavyweight. Was a pro fighter from 1967 to 2001, a span of 34 years.

Duran is a fight fan’s kind of fighter. His willingness to fight anyone, anywhere, anytime and do it while never taking a step back made him a fan favorite. His bravado and machismo, for the most part was both in and out of the ring. He was one of the first Latino fighters to become a mainstream sporting boxing star in the states. His natural talent and overall ability, quality of opposition, unprecedented achievements, combined with unmatched longevity has made its mark on the sport. And while he may have little of his ring earnings left, he put a lot of food on a lot of people’s plates, and a lot of roofs over a lot of people’s heads. If he could do it again, it seems doubtful that he’d do it much differently. Fight fans, and people all over will always remember Roberto Duran for he gave us, the fans, the people, so much.

Written By:  Art Goodfellow aka Yori Boy

Salvador Sanchez is considered by many boxing historians as one of the greatest featherweights to ever set foot into the boxing ring.  Like many great Mexican fighters before and after him, he came from a poor upbringing, with zero to little amateur experience and rose to become one of the great fighters of his era.  He dominated Danny “Little Red” Lopez in his first world title fight (TKO 13) and duplicated the feat in the rematch (TKO 14). From 1980-1982, he defended his featherweight crown a total of 9 times.  His best victories came against the likes of Danny Lopez (twice), Ruben Castillo (W 15), Patrick Ford (W 15), young future world champion, Juan Laporte (W 15), Hall of Fame Great, Puerto Rico’s Wilfredo Gomez (TKO 8), Hall of Fame Great, Azumah Nelson (TKO 15). 

In less than three years, he accomplished what most featherweights never accomplish in their entire careers.  He established himself as a great featherweight and as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters of the early 80s. Sadly, his path towards heightened greatness was derailed in August of 1982 when he was involved in an automobile accident which claimed his life.  We now commemorate his career in a full length article below.

On January 26, 1959, in Tianguistenco, Mexico, Felipe Sanchez and Luisa Narvaez gave birth to one of the greatest boxers of all-time.  Salvador Sanchez Narvaez was born into a proud family of hard-working farm workers but his destiny would not lead him in the footsteps of his family. His destiny was to become something much bigger

Sanchez was first discovered as a teenager by his first manager Augustin Palacios.  After a few amateur fights, Palacios decided that Sanchez was ready to turn pro.  Sanchez began his development with practically no amateur career, and like many Mexican fighters before and after him, the early part of his professional career would serve as his amateur career.

In 1975, in his first year as a professional, Sanchez fought a total of six times.  In 1976, he stepped up his activity level and competed in nine bouts.  By 1977, when he prepared to meet Antonio Becerra for a shot at Mexico’s vacant bantamweight title, he was 18-0 (17 KOs).

The 18 year-old Sanchez was eager to win his first title and he was willing to fight anyone, anywhere.  He signed to challenge Becerra in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico, Becerra’s hometown.  Home turf proved to be a huge advantage for Becerra.  Becerra won a twelve round split decision which many in attendance felt should’ve been awarded to Sanchez.  It was a learning experience for Sanchez, but he would soon put the loss behind him and move forward with his career.

Two fights after the Becerra loss, Sanchez made his U.S. debut when he faced off against Juan Escobar in Los Angeles, California, at the Olympic Auditorium.  Escobar, a southpaw, from Tijuana, Mexico, gave Sanchez a surprising test.  Sanchez tasted canvas in the fifth round and was almost on the floor again in the final minute of the tenth round after Escobar connected with a wild left to the head.  He hung on desperately as Escobar pummeled him but Escobar wasn’t able to put him away.  Sanchez was very lucky to have escaped with a draw as many in attendance felt Escobar had done enough to deserve the victory.

Up to that point it was evident that the young 19 year-old still had much to learn if he was ever to become a great champion.  Sanchez soon put his heart and soul into his training and his dedication and hard work began to finally pay off.

After his fight with Escobar he began to develop at a rapid pace.  From July of 1978 thru July of 1979, he averaged close to a fight a month.  By the end of 1979, Sanchez had notched thirteen victories in about a year and a half. One of those victories was a fifth round technical knockout of Felix Trinidad Sr., father of the great Felix “Tito” Trinidad.  But the most significant victory during that period was an impressive third round knockout over top 10 rated Richard Rozelle.  With that victory, the Ring Magazine placed him at number 8 in their 1979 featherweight ratings.

On February 2, 1980, Sanchez finally got a crack at the world featherweight title against hard-punching Danny “Little Red” Lopez, the popular WBC Featherweight Champion.  Lopez had a solid reputation as a very good fighter.  He owned victories over world-class competition such as David Kotey, Roberto Castanon, Mike Ayala and former champions Chucho Castillo and Ruben Olivares.  Lopez was favored to beat his young bushy haired opponent but Sanchez had other plans.  Sanchez picked Lopez apart with solid combinations and precise counter-punching.  Sanchez scored a thirteenth round TKO and became the WBC’s featherweight champion, but more importantly the world featherweight recognized champion.

Sanchez began his title reign with a tough defense against highly rated Ruben Castillo. Castillo had his moments, but the champion held off Castillo’s challenge to notch his first title defense.

Sanchez’s second title defense was a rematch with Lopez.  Lopez felt that the first fight was a fluke and he was out for revenge, but the rematch proved to be no different as Sanchez used his boxing skills and counter-punching expertise to once again stop the former champion, this time via fourteenth round TKO.

After retiring Lopez for the second time, Sanchez made four defenses, three of those against Ring Magazine top 10 rated featherweights, Patrick Ford, Juan Laporte, and Roberto Castanon.  Sanchez earned clear victories in all three of those bouts, but in his bouts with Ford and Laporte, he showed a tendency to fight down to the level of his opposition.

With six title defenses under his belt, Sanchez soon began to be recognized as one of the best fighters in the world.  He was no longer the bushy haired unknown.  He was on his way to stardom and he appeared to be in the prime of his career.  Soon he began looking for greater challenges and it didn’t take long for him to find one.

While Sanchez was solidifying his reign as the top featherweight, Puerto-Rican bomber, WBC junior featherweight champion, Wilfredo Gomez, was victimizing every junior featherweight opponent that stood in his way. Leading up to their clash, Gomez’s most impressive victory had been a victory over Mexican WBC bantamweight champion, Carlos Zarate, who was 55-0 (54 KOs) at the time of their encounter and considered to be one of the top fighters in the world.  Zarate had moved up in weight to challenge Gomez for his crown and it was thought that Zarate would have too much experience and firepower for Gomez.  In their bout, Gomez proved to be too strong and powerful as he dropped Zarate three times en route to a brutal fifth round TKO.  It was a great victory for Puerto Rico in the Mexico-Puerto Rico rivalry. After that victory, many began to call Gomez the Mexican killer.  By the time he faced Sanchez, Gomez had knocked out about a dozen Mexican fighters.  Many predicted that Sanchez would be the next victim.  On August 21, 1981, in one of the most highly anticipated featherweight matches of all-time, Sanchez, 41-1 (31 KOs), faced off against Gomez, 32-0-1 (32 KOs), in the Battle of the Little Giants.  The fight had all the makings of a classic. Both fighters were considered top pound for pound fighters, they both disliked each other, Gomez had the reputation for destroying Mexican fighters, and there existed the rivalry between their respective cultures. Despite the fact that Gomez was moving up in weight to challenge Sanchez, he came into the fight as a 2-1 favorite.

The pre-fight build up was an exciting event in itself. Gomez’s salsa band duked it out with the Mariachis of Sanchez’s native Mexico before and during the ring introductions.  Gomez who constantly mocked Sanchez and vowed to crush and strip him of his title, stood brash and confident in the ring as he gazed over at Sanchez with a smirk of arrogance.  Sanchez who was never one to trash talk, remained calm and collected and said that he’d let his fists do all the talking for him in the ring.

It didn’t take long for the fight to breakout.  In the first round, Gomez landed a bomb that would’ve knocked out lesser men, but Sanchez shook it off and responded by landing a bomb of his own that dropped Gomez to the canvas.  Gomez was seriously hurt and Sanchez proceeded to put him away by releasing his full arsenal.  Though Gomez was on the verge of being stopped, he showed the heart of a champion and survived the onslaught. Gomez would take a beating for the next seven rounds while fighting valiantly.  There was nothing he could do to wilt Sanchez. The nightmare ended in the eight round when a Sanchez combination almost sent Gomez through the ropes.  Gomez rose on unsteady legs but referee Carlos Padilla had seen enough.  Sanchez was awarded an eight round TKO and confirmed his status amongst boxing’s elites. Sanchez immediately became a national hero in Mexico.  In the eyes of the Mexican people, Sanchez had avenged Zarate’s loss at the hands of Gomez.  His popularity shot through the roof and many Mexicans began to tout him as the greatest Mexican fighter of all-time.  Many boxing fans contended that he was now the best pound for pound fighter in the world.

Following the Gomez victory, Sanchez defended his title against England’s Pat Cowdell and Jorge “Rocky” Garcia.  Once again, Sanchez fought down to the level of his opposition.  Sanchez had to rally late and drop Cowdell in the final stanza to win a fifteen round split decision.  His bout with Garcia would prove to be much easier.  He easily outboxed Garcia to take home a fifteen round decision.

In the ninth defense of his WBC featherweight title, Sanchez battled an unknown Ghanaian by the name of Azumah Nelson.  Nelson proved to be a stern test. Nelson’s relentless aggression gave Sanchez fits.  Sanchez managed to drop Nelson in the seventh round but Nelson kept on coming. At the start of the fifteenth round Sanchez knew the fight was close and he took the initiative to finish strong.  Sanchez finally landed the combination he was looking for and he dropped Nelson for the second time in the fight. Nelson rose but was visibly hurt.  Sanchez seized the moment and seconds later the fight was stopped.  Sanchez was awarded a fifteenth round TKO.

Sadly, that would be Sanchez’s last fight.  On August 12, 1982, three weeks after his bout with Nelson, Sanchez died in a fatal car accident at the age of twenty-three.  Boxing fans throughout the world were shocked and saddened by the news of his passing.  One person who was extremely saddened by his death was former opponent Wilfredo Gomez.  Gomez was so distressed that he was self-compelled to visit Sanchez’s gravesite and present him with flowers.  He also offered condolences to the Sanchez family and frequently kept in touch with them.  Every year there is a festival in Sanchez’s hometown to commemorate him.  Gomez has been the guest of honor nineteen times.

Though Sanchez has been gone for over twenty years, he hasn’t been forgotten.  Today, Sanchez is remembered as the young bushy haired counter-punching stylist who dominated the featherweight division during his brief two and a half year reign.  Many boxing historians consider him a top 3 all-time featherweight based on his impressive accomplishments. In his short seven-year career, he won the world title, defended it a total of nine times against a high quality of opposition (including victories over two future hall of famers in Gomez and Nelson), proved to be a clutch fighter against his top tests, and earned recognition as the best fighter in his weight class.

At the time of his death, he had many great matchups awaiting him.  Great fighters like Eusebio Pedroza, Alexis Arguello, and Julio Cesar Chavez lurked in and around his weight class.  There was also the potential for great rematches against Juan Laporte, Wilfredo Gomez and Azumah Nelson.  How would he have fared against the likes of future hall of famers Pedroza, Chavez, and Arguello?  How much greater could he have been?  Those are questions that will forever be pondered.  That is the legend of Salvador Sanchez.

Written By:  Juan Angel Zurita