Roberto Duran is a retired Panamanian boxer also known as Roberto Carlos Duran Samaniego. He was born in Guarare, Panama, and grew up in El Chorillo, Panama. He wrapped his hands to begin training in boxing when he was in elementary school, and turned pro when he was just sixteen. He came from extremely humble beginnings which are detailed beautifully in the movies we have listed down below. Check out that, and other facts by simply scrolling down.
Roberto Duran: Top Facts and Interesting Details About The Legendary Boxer!
Roberto Duran Wife:
Durán, a Salsa singer once, led an orchestra named “Felicidad” after his wife. The band would record albums and often appeared on television shows in Latin America. But who was Roberto Duran’s wife?
According to claims from The Portland Press Herald, Roberto Duran married his wife Felicidad Iglesias near the start of his professional boxing career when he was 17 and she was only 14. Is this even the legal age you ask? Well, no it isn’t.
However, it is not strange or rare in the impoverished areas of Panama for two people to call each other husband and wife long before ever having an official ceremony. Christian Giudice’s book Hands of Stone, on which the Roberto Duran movie was based on, puts the wedding sometime shortly after Duran’s 1980 victory against Sugar Ray Leonard, when Felicidad’s parents finally approved of him.
Duran and Felicidad together take care of eight children. In researching the Hands of Stone true story, it was discovered that Roberto Duran had another child, a daughter named Dalia. Her mother was Silvia, a girlfriend who he had an affair with while dating Felicidad.
Roberto Duran Net Worth:
“As soon as Roberto Duran became successful as a boxer, he gave a large portion of his earnings back to his community in Panama and was even known to hand out money in the streets. “He told me once, ‘I like to be like Robin Hood. If I have money, I will give the poor people all the money.’ And he did,” said his first manager Carlos Eleta. He even named his son Robin after the English folklore hero who robs from the rich and gives to the poor” -Beyond the Glory
Retired Panamanian boxer, Roberto Duran, has a net worth of $3 million dollars. Did you know? Duran reportedly spent more than $20 million during the peak of his career on a lavish lifestyle. Let’s take a look at how he amassed all of his wealth:
Roberto Duran began fighting in the Lightweight division and he won all but one of his bouts at the Lightweight level, a 70-1 record. He moved up to the Welterweight division in 1980, defeating the WBC Welterweight Champion Sugar Ray Leonard. Roberto Duran received $1.65 million for the June 20, 1980 fight and Sugar Ray Leonard took home nearly $8.5 million, making him the highest-paid boxer in history at the time. Feeling that his take was unfair, Duran made sure to be compensated better for their second fight, especially after emerging victorious in the first. For the November 25, 1980 rematch, Duran received $8 million and Leonard got $7 million. -Christian Giudice book
From there, he moved up to the Middleweight Division, but was less consistently successful. He moved up to the Super Middleweight level in 1990, but by 1994, he was slowing down.
He retired in 2001 after recovering from a car accident in Argentina that almost cost him his life. Over the course of his career, the Panama boxer fought 119 bouts and won 104 of them. He is also a musician and licensed ultralight pilot.
Roberto Duran Movie
Hands of Stone
Directed and written by Jonathan Jakubowicz, Hands of Stone is a 2016 American biographical sports film about the career of Panamanian former professional boxer Roberto Durán
I Am Duran
PreviewPreview2:18I Am Duran | Official TrailerYouTube · Trailblazers · Apr 17, 2019
They called him ‘Hands of Stone’. In his own words, and for the first time, Roberto Duran tells his unbelievable story in I Am Duran: The Autobiography of Robert.
Los puños de una nación
The story of The Fists of a Nation explores this instance in the figure of the famous and charismatic Panamanian boxer, Roberto ‘Hands of Stone’ Duran. This is a remarkable first documentary feature by Pituka Heilbron that pulls no punches on the exploration of a great positive icon for the whole Region and beyond – IMDb
Roberto Duran vs Sugar Ray Leonard
On June 20, 1980, Roberto Duran won the WBC welterweight title by defeating Sugar Ray Leonard by unanimous decision in 15 hard-fought rounds although it was incorrectly announced as a majority decision in the ring with the 148–147 scorecard being incorrectly announced as 147–147. The fight took place at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal and came to be known as “The Brawl in Montreal”.
Fun Fact: It was after the Roberto Duran vs Sugar Ray Leonard 1980 fight that Felicidad’s (Roberto Duran’s wife) parents finally approved of him. This is seen in Christian Giudice’s book Hands of Stone, where the couple get married shortly after this timeline, on which the true story of Roberto Duran’s movie was based.
Roberto Duran No Más
According to reports from his son, Roberto Duran never actually said “no mas” (Spanish for “no more”) when he quit during the rematch against Sugar Ray Leonard.
In the eighth round, Duran was seen waving Leonard away, telling the referee he didn’t want to box anymore. This is stated on Wikipedia as well but did the boxer really say “No Mas,”? Did the Hands Of Stone walk away from the biggest fight of his Hall of Fame career?
Almost forty years later, the only thing we can do is speculate on boxing history. When discussing “No Mas,” the degree of credibility is up for debate.
Roberto Duran Son:
“From his mouth, he never actually said ‘no mas.’ The actual words no mas,” Duran’s son, Robin, said at the New York screening of a documentary about the fight. “It’s very hard for a fighter to speak with a mouthpiece on. He just waved his hand.”
Wikipedia:
According to referee Octavio Meyran and ABC commentator Howard Cosell, Durán repeatedly said: “No más” (“no more”), which was denied by Durán, his cornermen Ray Arcel and Freddie Brown, and his manager Carlos Eleta, with Durán claiming he had said “No quiero pelear con el payaso” (“I do not want to fight with this clown [Leonard]”).
According to the referee, in addition to saying “No más”, Durán also said in broken English “I don’t box anymore”.
The Man Himself:
In a 2016 interview, Roberto Duran himself insisted that what he actually said was, “No Sigo” (“I won’t go on”).
Did Roberto Duran ever utter the words, “No mas”?
No. The Hands of Stone true story confirms that Roberto Duran never actually said, “No mas.” Duran himself says that he never used those words. According to manager Carlos Eleta, Duran said, “I will not fight with this clown anymore.” Howard Cosell, who was broadcasting the fight, picked up only the words “no mas” (no more), which have become cemented in sports history. “No mas” also made for better headlines. -Christian Giudice book
Did Roberto Duran attempt a comeback after quitting the “No Mas” fight against Sugar Ray Leonard?
Yes, but consecutive losses fueled speculation that his career as a boxer had reached its end. Promoter Don King dropped him. His manager Carlos Eleta and the rest of his corner cut ties with him as well. He had become a punchline in the world of boxing. However, the fire that once burned in him slowly began to ignite again, and at age 33 he found himself going up against Davey Moore, the then undefeated junior middleweight champion. No one believed Duran could win, but he did with a knockout, securing his third world championship. He boxed for nearly two more decades, moving up another weight class (middleweight) and winning a fourth world championship on February 24, 1989 against Iran Barkley. Duran suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung in a 2001 car accident, prompting him to officially retire from boxing in 2002 when he was 50. -Beyond the Glory
Did Roberto Duran ever fight Sugar Ray Leonard again after quitting the “No Mas” fight?
Yes. Nearly a decade after the famous”No Mas” fight, Roberto Duran got his rematch against Sugar Ray Leonard in December of 1989. Both fighters were past their prime and Leonard won the third fight substantially by unanimous decision!
Roberto Duran Quotes
I got into boxing to buy a house for my mother. After I constructed the house I was going to retire from boxing, because I wasn’t interested. But then thanks to my trainer, he convinced me to have even more houses. And to fight for a world championship. -Roberto Duran
Roberto Duran began sparring with experienced boxers when he was just eight years old at the Gimnasio Nacional (later renamed the Neco de La Guardia gymnasium). In 1968 at age 16, Duran made his professional boxing debut. -Biography.com
In the film, when Roberto Duran (Edgar Ramírez) meets Ray Arcel (Robert De Niro) he expresses that he doesn’t like anyone from America. Growing up in Panama, the real Roberto Duran harbored hostility towards America, the country that controlled the Canal Zone when the building of the Panama Canal was finished in 1914 (a project America had taken over in 1904). America’s rights to the Zone region, which included both sides of the Canal, caused tensions. The Americans created a country club like atmosphere in the Zone and governed the area by U.S. law. It also didn’t help that Roberto’s father, Margarito Duran Sanchez, who had abandoned him when he was just a year and five months old, was an American. Margarito was a U.S. Army cook of Mexican descent from Arizona who had been stationed in the Canal Zone. He left abruptly when his tour of duty ended. -Christian Giudice book
In order to help his family eat, Duran worked in the streets when he was as young as five years old. While fact-checking Hands of Stone, we learned that he shined shoes for pennies and danced for coins, giving the money he earned to his mother. At age seven, he sold newspapers with his brother. Other jobs he did include painting and cleaning dishes in restaurants. -Christian Giudice book
Yes, it’s true I once knocked out a horse. It was at a fiesta in my mother’s home town of Guarare. Someone bet me a bottle of whiskey that I couldn’t do it. -Roberto Duran
Fame doesn’t make me any different. I am the same man now who grew up in the hard streets of Panama. I am just myself. I always will be. Whoever wants to talks to me, talks to me. Whoever loves me, loves me for who I am. – Roberto Duran
Getting hit motivates me. It makes me punish the guy more. A fighter takes a punch, hits back with three punches. -Roberto Duran
I’m not God – but I am something similar. -Roberto Duran