Sunday, February 02, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Duran lighthearted but a lightweight no mas

He joins fellow ex-champ Arguello in support of Hernandez

By KEVIN IOLE
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Former world boxing champions Alexis Arguello, left, and Roberto Duran, right, appear at a news conference Friday at Mandalay Bay with promoter Bob Arum. The boxers were showing their support for Carlos Hernandez, who beat David Santos on a unanimous decision on Saturday. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

Roberto Duran slid through the buffet at Mandalay Bay, cradling a plate overloaded with food, a Las Vegas cap pulled down low on his forehead.

A couple who appeared to be in their 40s passed him and did a double take, believing they recognized the one-time superstar boxer. But before they approached him, the man decided that it wasn't Duran and turned his attention back to the food.

Indeed it was the 51-year-old future Hall of Famer, who appears about 60 pounds above the lightweight limit of 135 at which he became famous.

Duran and 50-year-old Hall of Famer Alexis Arguello came to Las Vegas to show their support for Carlos Hernandez, an El Salvadoran citizen who beat David Santos on Saturday at Mandalay Bay for the IBF junior lightweight title.

Duran was playful and joking throughout a 20-minute news conference Friday. As he and Arguello joined promoter Bob Arum on the dais, Duran pointed to his ample midsection and shouted, "Arguello and I are going to fight -- at heavyweight!"

He proceeded to break up at his own joke, vigorously slapping Arum on the back.

Duran said he has recovered well from an Oct. 4, 2001, auto accident in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in which he was seriously injured. He suffered eight broken ribs, one of which perforated his lung. At one point, he was near death, but he even managed to joke about that.

"I was almost dead in Buenos Aires," Duran said in very broken English. "An angel appeared to me and said, `Don't die, because Bob Arum is going to give you a million dollars!' " Duran then laughed, stuck his palm out and said, "OK, Bob?"

Hernandez's wife, Veronica, arranged for the two legends from Central America to attend the fight to support her husband.

Arguello, whose two fights with Aaron Pryor are considered among the best in boxing history, has beaten drug and alcohol addictions and looks fit. He candidly admitted that he could have done nothing differently in his two fights with Pryor that could have turned them in his favor.

Pryor stopped Arguello in the 14th round of the first, on Nov. 12, 1982 for the WBA junior welterweight title in Miami, then knocked him out in the 10th in the rematch on Sept. 9, 1983, in Las Vegas.

Arguello spoke at length about his love for politics and gave his thoughts on helping to revive boxing. All the while, Duran continued to play. As Arguello gave a lengthy answer in Spanish once, Duran began to shout in English, "He should be an attorney! He talks like an attorney!"

Then, with much of the attention of the small group of reporters turning from Arguello to him, Duran reached into his sport coat and pulled out a handful of cards. He held them up and said, "Look, it's my business card." But they were really cards for topless bars that he had accumulated while walking on the Strip.

His easygoing and gentle demeanor was far different from the fierce countenance he projected in the ring, when he won world titles at lightweight, welterweight, super welterweight and middleweight and compiled a 103-16 record.

"When I fought, I fought," he says, grinning. "But when I played, I played. Life is meant to be lived, to have fun. And I do. But when it was time to fight, I know what that meant, too."