BOXING : Duran’s Mother Alongside for Workouts

All week long at Roberto Duran’s public workouts just off the casino at the Tropicana Hotel, no one seemed to notice the middle-aged lady in the red satin jacket with the “DURAN” logo on the back.

Roberto Duran’s mother, Clara, stood quietly at ringside, usually alone, but sometimes conferring with someone in the fighter’s entourage.

“Roberto called me from Miami a month ago and said, ‘Mama, I want you at this fight,’ ” she said, through an interpreter.

Clara Duran lives in Panama City, Panama, where, in desperate poverty, she raised Roberto and eight other children, alone.

On Thursday night, she’ll be at ringside when her 38-year-old son fights Sugar Ray Leonard at the Mirage Hotel.

Does wanting Mama Duran at ringside mean Duran is confident of beating Leonard?

“Roberto didn’t promise me anything. He just said he wanted me here,” she said. “But I have faith in God that he will be (successful).”

Duran’s mother said if she’d had her way, no one would have ever heard of the fighter known as “Manos de Piedra” (Hands of Stone).

“I didn’t want him to fight, but when he was a little boy Roberto would sneak out of the house to box,” she said. “I had eight other children. I did ironing at home for other families all day long, and he had no father in our home. I couldn’t keep my eye on him all the time.”

This is Clara Duran’s first visit to the United States.

“I’ve enjoyed America very much,” she said. “And it makes me so happy to see that so many Latin people in America love my son so much.”

And Thursday will be only the second Roberto Duran fight she’s attended.

“I went to one of Robert’s fights in Panama City a long time ago, but I had to leave because I began having nervous attacks,” she said.

Two of boxing’s elder statesmen, Chris Dundee, 82, and Ray Arcel, 90, like Duran’s chances Thursday.

“The Leonard who fought (Tommy) Hearns last summer cannot win this fight,” said longtime promoter Dundee, who visited Duran’s Friday workout. When Dundee appeared, Duran, in mock anger, pointed at him and shouted “A spy de Leonard! A spy de Leonard!”

Dundee’s younger brother, Angelo, once trained Leonard.

Chris Dundee said he once regarded Leonard as boxing’s greatest talent. No more.

“On the night Leonard beat Hearns in that 14th round in ’81 . . . to me, he was a greater fighter that night than Sugar Ray Robinson,” he said.

“But now, he’s getting hit a lot more than he ever did. And against Hearns (last June 12) he even got knocked down by punches that weren’t much.”

So, if Leonard, at 33, has had it, what about Duran, who is 38?

Dundee: “Duran isn’t what he once was, either, but he’s a different kind of fighter. He’s a street fighter, and nothing bothers those kinds of guys.”

Arcel, once Duran’s trainer, concurs, and also points out Duran’s motivation to win (to erase “No Mas”) may be greater than Leonard’s.

Duran was to have worked out at the Mirage for the first time Saturday but canceled the session.

“His people told me his weight is 160, which is exactly what they want him to weigh-in at, and that he decided to take the day off,” said Jay Edson, event coordinator for promoter Bob Arum.

Duran’s Tropicana workouts have been open to the public for three weeks. Most of Leonard’s, at the Top Rank gym, have been open only to the media.

“In the past, Ray has enjoyed working out before 200 or 300 people, but he felt that this time, at 33, maybe he needed a little more concentration in preparation,” said Mike Trainer, Leonard’s lawyer.

Duran, who hit 194 pounds last summer before he started slimming down, said Saturday he did it primarily by training hard . . . and knocking off the champagne.

“I ate a lot of steak, turkey and fish, and watermelon . . . and no champagne,” he said, through an interpreter.

Richard Steele will be the referee Thursday night, and the judges will be Jerry Roth of Las Vegas, Joe Cortez of New Jersey and Bob Loquis of Belgium. Roth voted 113-112 for Hearns in the Hearns-Leonard draw last June, but the Leonard camp had no quarrel with his being selected to work this fight.

Leonard will become the first boxer to earn more than $100 million. Leonard-Hearns II last June took him to $83.5 million. Combined, Leonard and Duran will have earned about $42 million for fighting each other three times.

Leonard, with a percentage of the pay-per-view revenue, is assured of making at least $15 million for this fight. Duran is fighting for a flat $7.5 million.

“I’m sure another fighter will come along and make $100 million in a career, but you might wait a long time to see someone do it in 38 fights,” Trainer said.

After Trainer said that at a Sunday news conference, Arum predicted that before the end of the 1990s, because of the growth of pay-per-view TV, a fighter will make $100 million for one fight.