Roberto “Manos de Piedra” Durán
According to my criterion, the best Spanish-speaking fighter who has gone through the history of this collosal sport is Panamenian boxer Roberto “Manos de Piedra” Duran. He shaped a record of 120 professional fights, 104 wins (69 by KO), “Mano de Piedra” stands out from a select group of champions, being Julio Cesar Chavez from Mexico, Alexis Arguello from Nicaragua, and Carlos Monzon from Argentina among them. To say he has been the best I have considered the following points:
1.- “Manos de Piedra” is the only boxer in history who has fought in five different decades (60´s, 70´s, 80´s, 90´s, and 00´s) making his debut in 1968 and fighting for the last time in 2001. “Manos de Piedra”, (Hands of Rock) Soul of Stone.
2.- Duran won the WBA Lightheavyweight crown (135 lbs.) at 21, and was champion in this weight for almost seven years, successfully defending his title 12 times (11 wins by KO, one by Unanimous Decision). He last defended his Lightweight title in an unification bout by fighting WBC Lightweight champion, Esteban De Jesus, who had previously faced “Manos de Piedra” twice. De Jesus had won an unanimous decision in ten rounds the first time (thus ending the unbeaten streak of Duran, which lasted for 31 bouts up to then), and Duran had knocked out De Jesus in 11 rounds the second time. The third bout also favored Panamanian fighter, Duran, as he knocked out De Jesus again in 12 rounds.
3.- Roberto “ Manos de Piedra” Duran was champion in four different weight divisions:
- WBA Lightweight (135 lbs.): Defeating British fighter Ken Buchanan by TKO-13.
- WBC Welter (147 lbs.): Defeating the then unbeaten champion in 27 fights, “Sugar” Ray Leonard by unanimous decision in 15 rounds.
- WBA Jr. Middleweight (154 lbs.): Knocking out the also unbeaten champion, Dvey Moore by TKO-8.
- WBC Middleweight (160 lbs.): Winning by split decision in 12 rounds over Iran Barkley, who went down to the canvas in round 11. Catalogued as the fight of the year (1989) by -The Ring- magazine.
4.- “Manos de Piedra” faced “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler during 15 rounds, being the only one of the first 12 challengers to Hagler´s crown to survive until the end of the bout. The other 11 were knocked out by Hagler, Thomas “The Hitman” Hearns included.
5.- Duran defeated 11 fighters who were, had been or would be World Champions:
- Ernesto “Ñato” Marcel, TKO-10 (1970).
- Hiroshi Kobayashi, KO-7 (1971).
- Ken Buchanan, TKO-13 (1972). Duran wins the Lightweight crown.
- Esteban De Jesus, twice: KO-11 (1974), and TKO-12 (1978).
- Saoul Mamby, UD-10 (1976).
- Carlos Palomino, UD-10 (1979).
- “Sugar” Ray Leonard (unbeaten up to then), UD-15 (1980). Duran wins the Welterweight crown.
- “Pipino” Cuevas , TKO-4 (1983).
- Davey Moore (unbeaten up to then), TKO-8 (1983). Duran wins the Jr. Middleweight crown.
- Iran Barkley, SD-12 (1989). Duran wins the Middleweight crown.
- Jorge Castro, UD-10 (1997).
6.- Out of the 16 fights Duran lost, 13 were against 10 boxers who were, had been, or would be world champions:
- Esteban De Jesus, UD-10 (1972).
- “Sugar” Ray Leonard, twice: TKO-8 (1980), and UD-12 (1989).
- Wilfredo Benitez, UD-15 (1982).
- “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler, UD-15 (1983).
- Thomas “The Hitman” Hearns, KO-2 (1984).
- Robbie Sims, UD-10 (1986).
- Vinny Pazienza, twice: UD-12 (1994), and UD-12 (1995).
- Hector “El Macho” Camacho, twice: UD-12 (1996), and UD-12 (2001).
- Jorge “Locomotora” (Locomotive) Castro, UD-10 (1997).
- William Joppy, TKO-3 (1998).
By Professor Roberto Quesada
i think julio cesar chavez was better than roberto duran
chavez was i mean he got to be 90-0
retired 108 w-6 L-86 ko’s
he won several good fights against 15 champions, exchampions and future champions like:
macho camacho 12 UD
edwin rosario11TKO
Jose luiz ramirez UD
Roger mayweather 2KO and 10TKO
Rocky Lockridge 12 UD
Juan Laporte 12UD
Lonnie Smith12UD
Greg Hugen 5TKO
Andy Holligan 5TKO
Franke randall 2 UNANIMOUS DECISIONS
Meldrick Taylor 12 KO and 8KO
Tony Lopez
Giovanni Parisi
Joey Gamache
Rafael Limon
Sammy Fuentes
Chavez holds records for most successful defenses of world titles 27 and most title fights 37.
Chávez won six world titles in three weight divisions
April 8th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Dear Friend: I truly appreciate your comment. The blog I posted is not my personal opinion, I absolutely agree with you, Chavez rules forever !!!!! Kind regards,
Tiger.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:44 pm