Thirty years ago, Roberto Duran said “no mas” to Sugar Ray Leonard at the Superdome in New Orleans. What happened that night in the ring and what it meant is still the subject of fascination 30 years later — so much so it is being made into a motion picture.
Six months earlier, in a classic battle of perhaps the most anticipated non-heavyweight fight in 30 years, Leonard, the 1976 U.S. Olympic hero out of Palmer Park, Md., and media darling, faced off against Duran, the ferocious and frightening former lightweight champion who moved up to fight Leonard for the welterweight crown.
The met at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, and Duran, who had taunted Leonard in the days leading up for the fight with his insulting behavior, goaded Leonard into a brawl instead of a boxing match. After 15 rounds, Duran won a unanimous decision — Leonard’s first professional loss.
Leonard wanted revenge, so they met again in New Orleans on Nov. 25, 1980, and Leonard had learned his lesson. He used his hand speed and slick movement to outbox and frustrate Duran and was dominating the fight, so much so that he began to taunt Duran in the ring — once an unthinkable act, given the respect and reputation the Panamanian champion had in boxing.
Then, in a scene that fight fans will never forgot, Duran turned his back on Leonard near the end of the eighth round. He waved his right hand and told referee Octavio Meyran, “No mas” — no more in Spanish.
It took a few seconds for it to sink in with everyone in the Superdome and watching at home, but the stunning realization set in that Duran — the very definition of machismo — Mr. “Hands of Stone” himself, had quit.
It was unthinkable.
“He just quit,” Duran’s co-trainer Freddie Brown told reporters. “I been with the guy nine years, and I can’t answer it. The guy’s supposed to be an animal, right? And he quit. You’d think that an animal would fight right up to the end.”
After the fight, Duran said he quit because of stomach cramps that were the result of taking off too much weight too quickly and then eating too much after the morning weigh-in. His manager, Carlos Eleta, said Duran always ate that way before a fight. “Duran didn’t quit because of stomach cramps,” Eleta told reporters. “He quit because he was embarrassed.”
Years later, comedian David Brenner, an avid fight fan who said he was in Duran’s dressing room after the fight, told me Duran was telling the truth about stomach cramps but left out an important part.
“He had been all coked up and ate a big steak before the fight,” Brenner said. “He was afraid he was going to go in his pants in the ring. I was in the dressing room after the fight, and Duran sat on the toilet for about 15 minutes.”
Why Roberto Duran quit remains the subject of some mystery and debate, but it may soon be revealed on the big screen. A report out of Hollywood said a biopic of Duran called “Hands of Stone” is in the planning stages.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN 980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected]
