Boxing / Steve Springer : Uno Mas Brings In Mucho Bucks

Nine years ago, a thoroughly beaten Roberto Duran looked in the face of Sugar Ray Leonard and said, “No mas.” No more.

And most of the boxing public nodded in agreement.

No mas, indeed, seemed to be the general sentiment when Duran walked out of the ring that night in New Orleans, having quit in the eighth round of his welterweight title fight against Leonard. No mas to another Duran-Leonard match or any Duran match.

Despite claiming he had quit because of stomach cramps, the Panamanian fighter saw his popularity hit bottom among his countrymen.

But here we are, nearly a decade later, with Duran and Leonard sharing a dais in Miami last week, answering the media’s questions about their third fight, dubbed Uno Mas, Dec. 7 at the new Mirage hotel in Las Vegas.

What happened? What always makes boxing matches happen--money.

Uno Mas has come about because of mucho bucks.

Leonard, a superstar at the start of the decade, is still there. And Duran, after subsequently losing to Thomas Hearns and Marvelous Marvin Hagler, after gaining enough weight to enter a Dom DeLuise look-alike contest, was reborn in Atlantic City last February, winning the World Boxing Council middleweight title with a close decision over Iran Barkley.

Nobody has confused Barkley with Leonard. And nobody expects Duran, 38 and again battling a weight problem, or Leonard, 33 and coming off an unpopular draw with Hearns in June, to be what they were almost a decade ago.

But there has been enough intrigue over Leonard again facing the only man to beat him, in Leonard-Duran I, enough interest in what Duran will do with the chance to redeem himself, for Leonard-Duran II, to sell this fight.

A purse of $30 million is being guaranteed. The figures break down as follows:

--The Mirage is paying $8 million for the fight.

--The closed-circuit and pay-per-view television guarantees amount to between $15 million and $17 million.

--The television replay will be worth a $3.5 million-to-$5 million rights fee.

--Foreign rights should bring in another $2 million.

From the $30-million guarantee, Leonard gets $15 million and Duran $7.5 million.

Of any money in excess of the $30-million guarantee, Leonard gets 60%, Duran 30% and the promoter 10%.

The fight is expected to gross more than $60 million, which was the reported gross for Hearns-Leonard in June.

The prospects of a middleweight title bout between Michael Nunn, the International Boxing Federation champion, and Hearns, seemingly bright a few weeks ago, have dimmed considerably.

Hearns has indicated he’d rather wait to see how Leonard-Duran III comes out. Should Leonard win, Hearns would like to sign for Leonard-Hearns III and remove the bitter taste left by last June’s controversial draw.

As for Nunn, “We could also afford to wait,” said his manager, Dan Goossen, “but we don’t want to. We want to fight as close to the first of the year as possible. That’s the good thing about being world champion. There is always someone out there to fight.”

The World Boxing Assn. junior-featherweight title fight between champion Juan Jose Estrada and Jesus Salud, originally scheduled for tonight at the Forum, has been moved to Oct. 23 after Estrada suffered a split lower lip in a sparring session.

Instead, tonight’s 12-round main event will match Engles Pedroza (26-2, 21 knockouts) of San Carlos, Venezuela, against Young Dick Tiger (26-6, 19 knockouts) of Hollywood for the IBF Intercontinental welterweight championship.

Boxing Notes

Also on the Oct. 23 Forum card will be Kenny Bayshore (25-2-1, 21 knockouts) of Washington, in a 12-rounder against Edward Parker (18-3-2, 10 knockouts) of Houston for the championship of the $225,000 Forum super-featherweight tournament, and Jorge Paez (31-2, 22 knockouts) of Mexicali, the IBF featherweight champion, in a nontitle 10-rounder against Edgar Castro (25-5-1, 15 knockouts) of Miami.

Former IBF junior-middleweight champion Matthew Hilton (29-1, 23 knockouts) of Montreal, having stepped up to the middleweight division, will take on California champion Tim Williams (16-10-1, 11 knockouts) of San Diego in a 10-round fight on ESPN tonight from Bally’s in Las Vegas. . . . ESPN opens its boxing show Oct. 24 with a same-day tape of a WBC light-heavyweight title fight between Jeff Harding and Tom Collins in Sydney, Australia, then switch live to Bismarck, N.D., for the WBA light-heavyweight title bout between Virgil Hill and James Kinchen. Hill, a North Dakota native who was the middleweight silver medalist in the Los Angeles Olympics, is big box office in Bismarck. When tickets--$100 ringside--went on sale at the 8,500-seat Bismarck Civic Center, 4,100 were sold on the first day.

Paul Gonzales, the 1984 Olympic gold medalist in the flyweight division, will fight at the Forum Nov. 13, defending his WBA Intercontinental bantamweight title against Antonio Lozada. . . . John Solberg, who handles boxing publicity for the Forum, is leaving to take a similar position with promoter Don King.

CALENDAR

Tonight--Welterweights, Engles Pedroza vs. Young Dick Tiger, Forum.