¨Hands of Stone¨ Duran celebrates 70th birthday
By Gabriel F. Cordero
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 16 Jun 2021
70 years ago on June 16, 1951 Roberto ¨Manos de Piedra¨ Duran was born, the greatest athlete in Panama to date and one of the 100 best in the history of world boxing.
Duran is the only professional boxer to fight in five different decades; 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s. in a career started in his professional debut on February 23, 1968 and culminated on June 14, 2001 with a professional record of 103 wins (70 knockouts) and 16 losses, having been in scenarios such as: Mexico, United States, Puerto Rico, France, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Canada, Argentina, South Africa and Panama.
Duran won the 1972 WBC and 1978 WBC Lightweight World Titles, WBC 1980 Welterweight, 1983 WBC Super Welterweight, and WBC Middleweight in 1989.
In his career he faced great names such as: Ernesto Marcel, Ken Buchanan, Esteban de Jesus, Saoul Mamby, Carlos Palomino, Sugar Ray Leonard, Wilfredo Benitez, Thomas Hearns, Davey Moore, Pipino Cuevas, Marvin Hagler, Iran Barkley, Vinny Pazienza, Hector Camacho, Jorge Castro and William Joppy among others.
In 2006 he joined former champions Ricardo ¨Finito¨ Lopez, Matthew Saad Muhammad, Julian Jackson, Eddie Perkins and the legendary president of the WBC, Jose Sulaiman, to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York.
Duran is part of the national heritage of Panama, a true idol and national hero. An original man, extremely kind and extraordinary host. Duran was in the heart of the thousands of Panamanians from the generations between the 70s and 80s.
A thousand congratulations to Roberto Duran, the man, the father of the family and especially a Panamanian at 100.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Gabriel F. Cordero.
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