Hands of Stone by Giudice Christian

Author:Giudice, Christian [Giudice, Christian]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: boxing, sport, roberto duran
Publisher: Milo Books Ltd
Published: 2011-04-26T16:00:00+00:00

12

“The Monster’s Loose”

“I wanted to graduate, win a world title and retire by thirty.”

Carlos Palomino

EVERY TIME DURAN hit New York he created a spectacle, whether he was playing softball in Central Park or piling into a steak at Victor’s Café 52, surrounded by acolytes. He had grown fond of Gotham and the city embraced him. Raucous crowds of Latin well-wishers flocked to his training sessions, while actors, singers and famous athletes sought his company. .

“When I won the world championship, the Yankees invited me to the clubhouse,” said Duran. “The pitcher Luis Tiant … gave me passes and shirts and everything from the locker room. The game wasn’t started yet, but Reggie Jackson told me he was going to dedicate a home run to me and after the game he would give me the bat. I said, ‘Okay,’ and he hit the home run. At the end of the game he called me to the locker room and said, ‘Remember what I told you? This is the bat and I want to give it to you. But I want you to know something. When I hit that home run I cracked the bat.’ He gave it to me and I carried it back to Panama. Someone eventually stole it from me.”

In his huge white cap, satin baseball jacket, massive shades and gong-sized medallions, the young prizefighter was every inch the barrio star, swaggering into Gleason’s Gym to a pounding ghettoblaster or stopping traffic as he signed autographs and posed for photos on the sidewalk. His favorite hangout was Victor’s, which would relocate in 1980 from Columbus and 71st Street to West 52nd Street in midtown Manhattan. It was owned by Victor del Corral, who became a great friend of Duran’s, and was a popular haunt for budding TV, film and music stars.

Now the most feared fighter, pound for pound, in the world, Duran was reaching the peak of his popularity when he signed to fight former welterweight champion Carlos Palomino. The welterweight division was entering perhaps the most thrilling phase in its history and Duran was about to assault a division full of glamor, danger, intrigue and money. Chance had thrown up four of the most exciting young boxers ever to compete together in one weight class at the same time. The WBA champion, Pipino “the Assassin” Cuevas, was a daunting Mexican puncher of almost criminal ferocity, a butcher of challengers. The WBC champion was Puerto Rican wunderkind Wilfred Benitez, a defensive wizard of bewildering virtuosity. And fast rising through the ranks were two prodigious contenders: Olympic gold medallist Sugar Ray Leonard, a showboating genius, and the menacing Detroit knockout artist Thomas Hearns. Amazingly, as of February 1979 Leonard was the oldest of the quartet at twenty-two; Cuevas had just turned twenty-one, while Benitez and Hearns were only twenty. Together, this fearsome foursome promised a decade of ferocious competition.

Not to be forgotten was Palomino, who Benitez had recently deposed. Rugged and experienced, a fierce body puncher with great stamina, he was a formidable obstacle to anyone seeking welterweight glory.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.