Duran Gets What He Prays For

Roberto Duran says the first time he looked into Sugar Ray Leonard’s eyes, he saw fear.

It was June of 1980 in Montreal and, thrust together several times to keep the ticket-buying masses at fever pitch, Duran would jabber away at Leonard in less than textbook Spanish.

Often, Roberto would garnish his words with threatening gestures and invective directed at Leonard, his family, the weather, anything that popped to mind.

Several times in the ensuing nine years Leonard has said, yes, he felt intimidated by Duran’s actions back then. There was no fear involved, however. Mostly, it was bewilderment: what a strange way for a legendary champion to act.

But his feral ways had served Duran well for many years in a couple of ways--charging him up while intimidating or at least perplexing the enemy--so why change things?

Besides, like a lot of Leonard’s ring contemporaries, Roberto boasts of a sincere dislike for Ray. Something about the kid having it so easy after emerging from the 1976 Olympics as an authentic American hero.

A decade-plus is a long time to carry a grudge, particularly against a guy that through his charisma has raised fight purses immeasurably. But, then, remember, it has been more than nine years since Leonard and Duran fought twice in the short space of five months.

Duran, 38, and Leonard, 33, will fight again Dec. 7 at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. Duran has it firmly implanted in his mind that his rival has knowingly and viciously held him off every day of the past nine years.

It is with an almost evil smirk that the Panamanian says, “Every single day, morning and night, I thought about Leonard. I prayed to God for this fight. He owed me this fight and he made me wait. It was an insult, and now he will pay.”

Hype? Yes and no.

If the contempt was that deeply rooted, certainly it would have consumed even a man of Duran’s fortitude by now. At the same time, be aware that athletes often go to the extreme to psyche themselves for competition.

Duran insists, “Leonard is still afraid of me, and nothing has changed that. I still see it when he looks in my eyes. The fear is still there, just like the first time.”

Ask Duran about the task of maintaining desire over more than 20 years in a dangerous and brutal business and he answers as if one is off base to even question his resolve. With a certain degree of annoyance he replies through an interpreter: “Why would it be a problem? I’m the same Roberto Duran.”

He then amends that to read “only better” in a roundabout way: “I have a stronger will than I have ever had since I am more of a man. The only difference is now I am a bigger man.”

If one concludes that after waiting so long Duran wants to savor the mood and the experience, one is dead wrong. He says, “I want to get this over with.”

Toward that end, the challenger to Leonard’s super middleweight title trained off some 30 pounds, arriving at a contract weight in the low 160s with days to spare. As interpreter Alvaro Riet puts it, “I’ve never seen him so mean for a fight.”

Duran has never been one to discuss preparation and strategy, but he concedes he expects Leonard “to be much better than he was for (Tommy) Hearns. More fast.”

This is hardly a concession, because Leonard was a bit sluggish and seemingly easy to hit with right hands while gaining a gratuitous draw in that June bout against Hearns.

If Leonard isn’t “more fast,” he will be playing into the Duran style of bullying, pushing and punching away inside with anything at his disposal.

And even if Ray flashes some of the speed that kept him out of harm’s way for so long, Duran is convinced he will win by knockout. Borrowing a line from Hearns, he says, “When Leonard stops clowning around and fights, that will be the end.

“He knows what he’s in for,” Duran says. “He knows I’m coming prepared for him. He knows what I’m bringing, that’s why he’s afraid.”

Assuming Roberto Duran is correct, it doesn’t seem likely that a Sugar Ray Leonard who was quaking in his boots would have acceded to “Uno Mas” after all these years. As long as Duran believes it, that’s all that matters.