The Mad and the Bad by Thomas Myler

Author:Thomas Myler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pitch Publishing
Published: 2018-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse

IT was the early spring of 1972 and the telephone was ringing in Ray Arcel’s apartment on Manhattan’s Lexington Avenue. When Arcel, one of America’s legendary boxing trainers, picked up the receiver, the call was from a prominent promoter/ manager in Panama City named Carlos Eleta. ‘I’d like you to train my kid Roberto Duran,’ said Eleta. ‘He’s from Panama City and he’s a great prospect.’ Arcel, who was 72 and semi-retired, asked what Duran had done. Eleta replied, ‘He’s been a pro for three years now and has had all his fights in Panama except one, when he knocked out a former world champion from Japan in one round in New York.’

When Eleta and Duran arrived in New York, they were met by Arcel and Freddie Brown, who would be Ray’s assistant. Brown, from New York’s tough East Side, was another great trainer and probably best known as Rocky Marciano’s cut man. ‘When we started with Duran, it was sheer murder,’ remembered Arcel, who would train 20 world champions in his long career. ‘Training him was like riding a young colt. There was the language barrier, too.

‘Neither Freddie nor I spoke Spanish and Duran knew no English. We had to use an interpreter. Most difficult of all was trying to discipline a young street fighter and instil the thought in his mind that you were capable of doing him some good. In the end, we didn’t tell him what to do. Our job was to condition him, not tell him how to fight. He already knew how to do that. He was always his own man.’

Bobby Goodman, the fight publicist, recalled, ‘Arcel was the calm guy but Duran and Brown fought like cats and dogs. It was sheer war. You must remember that Freddie was a hard taskmaster and demanded everything be done right or not done at all. Duran would scream and holler and curse in Spanish, then he’d come right back and apologise and do exactly what Freddie wanted him to do.’ What Arcel and Brown taught him was technique – how to cut down the space between him and his opponent, and to manoeuvre his rival into corners. They also showed him how to punch in fast combinations and to move his head and body so it was difficult for the opponent to retaliate.

Nicknamed ‘Manos de Piedra,’ or ‘Hands of Stone’, Duran was a natural fighter first and foremost, a brawler and an in-fighter from the back streets of Panama. His one purpose was to destroy his opponent in the shortest possible time, and he was not too bothered about the methods he used. With 119 professional fights spanning 33 years – one of the longest careers in history – Roberto won world titles at four different weights. But it was at lightweight where he reigned supreme.

Duran’s victory over Scotland’s Ken Buchanan in 1972 summed up his whole career – savage and merciless, with not an ounce of compassion. With his

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