IRS to Take $1.5-Million Bite of Duran

MIAMI â€”  Roberto Duran will earn at least $8 million in his rematch with Sugar Ray Leonard, but the fighter with “hands of stoneâ€� has already spent $1.5 million--pledging the money to pay a tax debt.

In terms of a settlement signed Monday in federal court, Duran, who has a house in the Miami area, agreed to write the massive check to the Internal Revenue Service three days after the scheduled Dec. 7 fight in Las Vegas.

“It’s really an insignificant amount in relation to what Roberto expects to make in December,� said Duran’s attorney Jan Neiman. “I just hope (Dec. 7) turns out to be Pearl Harbor Day for Mr. Leonard.�

The tax case was the result of an IRS error.

Duran, 38, expected a $60,000 refund on his 1983-84 taxes, but the IRS sent him two checks for $1.6 million and has been trying to get the excess back ever since the agency realized its mistake.

But the World Boxing Council’s middleweight champion only had $1,000 in a bank account at the time--after paying off a $1-million debt in his native Panama, spending $23,000 on jewelry and supporting his wife, six children and seven brothers.

Leonard, 33, came to the rescue, arranging a third match with Duran.

Duran beat Leonard with a 15-round decision in 1980. In a rematch five months later, Duran pleaded “ no mas “ in a dramatic eighth-round ending to the title fight.