<i> UNO MAS</i> : Having Weathered His Personal Storm, Duran--a Champion Again--Eyes Leonard

Roberto Duran awoke to bright sunshine Saturday.

The 15 to 18 inches of snow deposited on this oceanside community in the previous 24 hours had been reduced to patches of ice, a lot of the remainder blown out to sea. With the end of the worst blizzard seen here in five years, the Boardwalk was alive again, the slot machines clanging, the barkers hawking their souvenirs.

And up in a meeting room at the Trump Plaza, Duran was also alive again, having weathered his own dark days.

Like Atlantic City, he was experiencing something unseen in five years. For the first time since fighting Thomas Hearns in 1984, Duran was back in the spotlight after beating Iran Barkley on a split decision Friday night at the Atlantic City Convention Center to win the World Boxing Council middleweight championship, Duran’s fourth world title.

Gone was his sullen, pre-fight mood. He posed for pictures at a news conference, engaged in small talk with hotel owner Donald Trump and answered reporters’ questions easily and in a friendly manner.

And always, he smiled.

“In the year 2000,” said Barkley’s promoter, Stan Hoffman, “when they show the top three fights of the 80s, the only question is whether this one will be (number) one, two or three.”

Barkley-Duran will have some stiff competition in that department, but few could argue that it wasn’t a great fight.

“Most of the people thought I was through,” said Duran, 37, “but I looked in my heart and knew I could come back.”

So what comes next? Hearns?

“I don’t care so much for Thomas Hearns,” Duran said. “I want Sugar Ray Leonard.”

Duran is the only man to beat Leonard, but in their unforgettable 1980 rematch, it was Duran who was beaten, physically and psychologically. He quit in the eighth round, saying, “No mas,” no more. Does he need this fight to clear up that everlasting blot on his career?

“That is not the motive,” he said, turning sullen for an instant. “My last fight has been good enough.”