Melissa’s Soapbox

While headed from Casco Viejo to the Miraflores Locks, the Spanish speaking taxi driver gave us an impromptu tour of Panama City, or at least those sites that he personally valued the most.  As such, we spent a moment of silence outside of Roberto Durán’s childhood home … a run-down gulag-looking building in the worst bario we saw in Panama City.  In any event, the Panamanians have an enormous amount of pride for Roberto Durán as well as most local athletes.

A glaring exception is Mariano Rivera, notable Yankee and one of the best relief pitchers of all time.  In Panama City, we walked into a sports bar which was featuring the Yankees and the Twins.  Mariano came in to close the game, but the Twins kept hitting to eventually win causing every single Panamanian bar patron to explode in excited applause.  Wondering if Minnesota Twins bars were commonplace in Panama City, we asked the bartender why people seemed to be rooting against the Yankees, and more importantly, against Mariano Rivera.  The bartender explained most Panamanians feel that Rivera has “forgotten his roots” by a) not playing for Panama in the World Baseball Championship (citing risk of career -ending or -affecting injury); b) rarely visiting Panama; and c) when visiting Panama, traveling with body guards, security detail, and an entourage in an attempt to isolate himself from the Panamanian masses.

Roberto Durán is generally regarded as one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters of all time holding world titles at four different weights: lightweight (1972-79), welterweight (1980), junior middleweight (1983-84) and middleweight (1989).  His professional record includes 120 fights and 104 wins with 69 KOs.  Durán earned the nickname Manos de Piedra (Hands of Stone) when at age 14 he allegedly knocked out a horse with one punch.

Durán earned the lightweight championship in 1972 and after 12 defending fights, he vacated the title to prepare for an attempt at welterweight.  In June of 1980, Durán defeated Sugar Ray Leonard for the welterweight title in a 15-round unanimous decision.  In the November rematch at the Superdome, however, Durán shockingly quit in the eighth round (a move forever known as No Más Fight) frustrated by Sugar Ray’s antics and style.  The forfeit and subsequent fallout represented a serious low point for Durán as his countrymen expressed shame and disappointment in his performance, but after soul searching and training, he won back their respect with some incredible wins.

After some minor missteps, Durán signed with a new promoter which began his comeback including the fourth round knock out of former world champion and hall of famer, Pipino Cuevas.  During the fight for the junior middleweight title, Durán displayed animalistic brutality by trying to deliberately hurt title defender Davey Moore and mercilessly smiling at Moore’s suffering.  After a horrific beating which Durán later referred to as “the kill zone”, the match was stopped in the 8th round.

Facing each other for a third time in 1989, Durán lost to Sugar Ray in a lopsided decision when his career declined dramatically.  After losing 2 fights to Héctor Camacho, Durán went to Argentina to promote a salsa music CD where he was involved in a dramatic car crash and required life-saving surgery prompting his final retirement.  In 1993, Durán’s five world title belts were stolen from his Panama City house during a robbery allegedly staged by his brother-in-law who sold the goods to a memorabilia seller.  Durán appeared in the 1979 sequel Rocky II as a lightening fast sparring partner for Rocky Balboa.

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