Douglas and Duran Back for ‘Mas’ Glory

Both men have battled and struggled and bled to get to the top of the boxing world. Each, in his own way, then dropped his gloves, yelled, “No mas,” and tumbled to the bottom.

Both have read their boxing obituaries so often they could repeat them from memory. But each is now rewriting his respective ending, adding new chapters to a book most considered closed.

Sixteen years after he quit against Sugar Ray Leonard with the memorable “No mas” phrase, Roberto Duran, at 44, is still fighting. Six years after he defeated Mike Tyson and two years after he slipped into a diabetic coma, James “Buster” Douglas, 36, is back fighting.

The two will be on the same card June 22 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, N.J., Duran to fight Hector Camacho for the vacant Intercontinental Boxing Council middleweight title, Douglas to fight little-known Tony La Rosa.

Why?

That’s the first word that comes to mind at the thought of both Duran and Douglas still throwing punches long after their glory has faded.

Douglas will enter the ring with a 30-5-1 record and 20 knockouts. But the biggest upset is that he is entering the ring at all. When Douglas entered a hospital in 1994, his only goal was to stay alive.

All the heavyweight champions with the exception of Rocky Marciano have felt the anguish of defeat, but perhaps none have ever fallen so far so fast.

After all, Douglas pulled off arguably the greatest upset in heavyweight history. A 42-1 underdog, he stunned the boxing world by knocking out Tyson, the undefeated, undisputed heavyweight champ, in Tokyo in February 1990.

“It wasn’t as joyful as it should have been,” Douglas said. “The joy lasted only until I left the ring. By the time I got to the locker room, the nightmare had begun.”

Douglas’ brief shining instant ended when Don King, Tyson’s promoter, disputed the result. But that was only the beginning. Douglas was also undergoing marital problems, management problems and eating problems.

Everybody, it seemed, was offering Douglas a spot on a television show or a seat at a banquet table. Not to mention a free meal. And Douglas took it all in. Literally. His body enlarged right along with his stature.

“I wasn’t prepared to handle it,” Douglas acknowledged.

By the time of his first title defense, against Evander Holyfield eight months later, Douglas had gained 15 1/2 pounds, ballooning to 246, and was torn by distractions.

Predictably, Holyfield took the title, Douglas losing on a third-round knockout.

But for Douglas, the big knockout still lay ahead. His weight soared above 350 pounds--some estimated he went over 400--a diabetic condition worsened and he went into a coma.

“When I woke up,” Douglas said, “I wanted to get back in the gym, but the motivating factor was getting my health back. It was the turning point in my life.”

But as he began to shed the extra pounds, Douglas felt his old enthusiasm for boxing returning. After all, he figured, if he was going to run and jump and hit the heavy bag, he might as well get some tangible results out of his effort. Losing weight was a huge plus. Regaining his title, he figured, could be an added bonus.

Douglas has already gotten back to 248 pounds. It will take additional work to get down to the level at which he fought Tyson, but Douglas insists he’ll be ready to fight June 22.

“I’ll be at a good enough weight to blast whoever is in front of me,” he said.

Douglas won’t be the only weight watcher in the ring that night.

Duran has, in recent years, put on enough weight to consider a heavyweight match. But he’s back to 170 pounds and intends to be at 160 for Camacho.

This will be the 109th fight for Duran (97-11, 67 knockouts), a four-time world champion. His contemporaries from the golden age of the middleweight division--Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns--have either retired, as is the case with Leonard and Hagler, or long since departed for a higher weight class and a lower standard of performance, as is the case with Hearns.

Duran insists he’s not still in it for the money.

“Of course, I like money,” he said earlier this week through an interpreter. “I do not fight for free. But I was born to be a fighter.”

Duran says his motivation is to win a fifth world title. And beyond that, to perhaps get one more shot at Leonard, who defeated him two of the three times they faced each other. Leonard has often hinted, with a wink of the eye, that Duran is the only one who could possibly bring him out of retirement.

As for those who say Duran is risking his health by continuing to engage in a dangerous sport midway through his 40s, he flashes his trademark sneer.

“I am not going to become crazy in the ring,” he said, “because I am already crazy. And I am not going to die in the ring. I am going to die in bed as an old man.”

Famous last words.

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Then what? All the focus, understandably, is on June 7, when Oscar De La Hoya and Julio Cesar Chavez meet in what promises to be the fight of the year.

But what happens after the final bell to two of the biggest names in the sport? It depends, of course, on the outcome.

If De La Hoya wins, he wants to move up from 140 pounds (super lightweight) to 147 pounds (welterweight). He would also like to dabble a bit in acting.

De La Hoya’s promoter, Bob Arum, has it all figured out. He wants to schedule fights in September and December for De La Hoya and has four-week windows around both fights to enable De La Hoya to get in time before the cameras if a proposed movie deal becomes reality.

If Chavez wins, he has talked about fighting once more before retiring, celebrating his last hurrah in Mexico. A possible opponent would be former World Boxing Council lightweight champion Miguel Angel Gonzalez.