In 2002, he was chosen by The Ring to be the 5th greatest fighter of the last 80 years. Bert Sugar rates him as the 8th greatest fighter of all-time and many consider him the greatest lightweight of all time. He held world titles at four different weights – lightweight (1972–79), welterweight (1980), junior middleweight (1983–84) and middleweight (1989). He was the second boxer to have fought in five different decades.

He finally retired in January 2002 at age 50 (having previously retired in 1998) following a bad car crash in October 2001, with a professional record of 119 fights, 103 wins with 70 KOs. Up until the second Ray Leonard fight, he was trained by legendary boxing trainer Ray Arcel.

History

Durán was born in june 16, 1951 Panama, in the slums of El Chorrillo in a place called “La Casa de Piedra” (The House of Stone). A child born from a Mexican father and a Panamanian mother. He made his professional debut in 1968 at the age of 16.

First championship

After an initial adjustment he won thirty in a row, and scored knockout victories over future featherweight champion Ernesto Marcel and former super featherweight champion Hiroshi Kobayashi, culminating in his first title bout in June 1972, where he controversially defeated Ken Buchanan at New York’s Madison Square Garden for the WBA world lightweight championship. Durán was ahead on all three cards at the end of the 13th round, at which time the fighters spent an additional 20 seconds punching each other. Buchanan was knocked down writhing in pain from a groin injury, that Buchanan’s trainer, Gil Clancy, said was caused by a knee to the groin. Referee Johnny LoBianco awarded the fight to Durán, insisting that the blow that took down Buchanan was “in the abdomen, not any lower” and that he felt that Buchanan would be unable to continue fighting. Columnist Red Smith of The New York Times wrote that LoBianco had to award the victory to Durán, even if the punch was a low blow, as “anything short of pulling a knife is regarded indulgently” in American boxing.

Duran followed up on his title winning performance with several non-title matches. Later that year, in another non-title bout, he lost a ten round decision to Esteban De Jesús. Duran got back on track with successful title defenses against Jimmy Robertson, Hector Thompson, and future lightweight champion Guts Ishimatsu. In 1974, Durán would avenge his loss to De Jesus with a brutal eleventh round knock out. In 1976, he defeated future light welterweight champion Saoul Mamby. Overall Durán made twelve successful defenses of his title (eleven coming by knock out) and amassed a record of 62-1, his last defense coming in 1978 where Durán fought a third fight with De Jesus, a unification match where Durán once again knocked out De Jesus and captured his WBC lightweight belt. Durán would give up the unified lightweight title in February 1979.

Victory over Sugar Ray Leonard

Vacating the lightweight title was a build up for an attempt at the welterweight title. Durán earned a pair of wins against former WBC welterweight champion Carlos Palomino and Zeferino Gonzales, setting the stage for a title bout against then undefeated WBC Welterweight Champion Sugar Ray Leonard. The venue chosen would be the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, the same location where Leonard won an Olympic gold medal during the 1976 Summer Olympics. Duran resented the fact that he was getting only one-fifth the money Leonard would make despite the fact that he was entering the bout with an incredible 71-1 record. He would curse and insult Leonard during press conferences in an attempt to intimidate the young champion. On June 20, 1980, Durán captured the WBC welterweight title by defeating Leonard via a 15-round unanimous decision. The fight would become known as “The Brawl in Montreal”.

Loss in rematch

In the November rematch, Durán shockingly quit. Leonard has said that his strategy was to use speed and agility to taunt and frustrate Durán, believing it was his best chance of winning the fight. In the seventh round, Leonard started to taunt Durán. His most memorable punch came late in the round. Winding up with his right hand, as if to throw a bolo punch, Leonard hit Durán flush in the face with a left. In the eighth round, Durán, slightly behind on all three scorecards, turned around, walked to his corner and gave up, supposedly saying the now famous words, “no más” (no more). However, he claims to have actually said, “No quiero pelear con el payaso.” (Meaning “I do not want to fight with this clown.”) Another version of events has him saying, in Spanish, “I can’t continue”. Referee Octavio Meyran, perhaps as incredulous as was the rest of the world at what he was seeing, asked Durán if he was sure, and Durán then said, “No más, no más” (no more, no more). In violation of what any professional fighter does on the day of a fight, Durán gorged himself after the weigh-in and claimed he quit because he was having stomach cramps. However, Durán’s manager, Carlos Eleta, said, “Durán didn’t quit because of stomach cramps. He quit because he was embarrassed. I know this.”

Move up to middleweight

He took some time to recover from that fight, gaining even more weight to contend for the WBC world junior middleweight title, but losing in his first attempt at a championship in that division on the January 30 of 1982, against Wilfred Benítez by a 15 round unanimous decision. Durán was also to lose his comeback fight in December 1982 in Detroit. Kirkland Laing, from London, shocked the boxing world, producing the type of display his talents promised yet he so rarely produced, taking the split decision. After being relegated to a 10 round walk out win over Englishman Jimmy Batten at The Battle of The Champions in Miami, Durán signed with promoter Bob Arum. This marked the beginning of a comeback in which he beat former world champion and now hall of famer Pipino Cuevas via a fourth round knock-out, which earned him a second crack at the junior middleweight title, this time against WBA champion Davey Moore.

The WBA title bout took place at Madison Square Garden on June 16, 1983, which also happened to be Durán’s 32nd birthday. The result turned out to be a one sided affair as Duran dominated Moore throughout the bout. The pro-Durán crowd at ringside cheered as Durán relentlessly punished Moore. By the end of the sixth round, Moore’s eye had swollen shut and he was floored near the end of the seventh. Finally the fight was stopped in the eighth round as Moore was taking such a horrific beating and Durán won his third world title. After the victory, Durán was hoisted up in the air as the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to a sobbing Durán.

Durán later fought for the World middleweight title, meeting Marvin Hagler in Las Vegas in November 1983, but losing in a competitive fight that went the full fifteen rounds. Despite the loss, Durán was the first fighter to go the full distance with the great middleweight champion in one of his defenses. In June 1984, Duran was stripped of his junior middleweight title when the WBA did not approve of his fight with WBC world champion Thomas “Hitman” Hearns, and took away recognition of Durán as world champion the moment Durán stepped into the ring to box Hearns. Durán lost the fight after a vicious second round knock-out by Hearns.

Durán did not contend another title fight until 1989, but made the shot count when he won the WBC middleweight title from Iran Barkley in February. The fight is considered one of Duran’s greatest achievements, as the 38 year old former lightweight champion took the middleweight crown, his fourth title. In a tough, back and forth fight, Durán knocked Barkley down in the eleventh round and won a close decision. The bout was named the 1989 “Fight of the Year” by The Ring. His reign was short lived once again as Duran moved up to super middleweight (although both fighters weighed in at the middleweight limit) for a third clash with Sugar Ray Leonard in December (a fight dubbed Uno Más–One More—by promoters), but lost in a decision. Duran seemed to be in decline after the fight, he attempted to win further middleweight titles in 1994, 1995 and 1996 (fighting for the minor IBC belt).

In 1996, he challenged Héctor Camacho for the vacant IBC Middleweight title but lost via unanimous decision. In 1997, Durán was defeated by former champion Jorge Castro. Durán fought Castro in a rematch bout and won via unanimous decision.

In 1998, at the age of 47, he challenged 28 year old WBA middleweight champion William Joppy. Joppy, a trim, quick-fisted fighter, battered Durán to defeat in just 3 rounds. It was Duran’s most emphatic loss since the Hearns fight, over a decade earlier. Durán then announced his retirement in August 1998, but was back fighting in 1999. In June 2000, he avenged a previous loss to Pat Lawlor and claimed the NBA Super Middleweight title, but he lost the title to Héctor Camacho in a rematch bout.

Retirement

In 2001, Durán traveled to Argentina to promote a salsa music CD that he had just released. While there, he was involved in a car crash and required life-saving surgery. After that incident, he announced his retirement from boxing at the age of 50.
Durán’s five world title belts, which he won in four different divisions, were stolen from his house in Panama in 1993 during a robbery allegedly staged by his brother-in-law, who gave them to memorabilia seller Luis González Báez, who will stand trial for trying to sell stolen goods. González Báez allegedly sold the belts to undercover FBI agents. He alleges that Durán authorized the sale of the five belts to him during a time that Durán was facing financial trouble. On September 23, 2003, a federal judge in Florida ordered the five belts returned to Durán.

His 70 wins by knockout place him in an exclusive group of boxers who have won 50 or more fights by knockout. He was ranked number 28 on The Ring’s list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.

On October 14, 2006, Durán was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in Riverside, California, and on June 10, 2007, into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York.