BOXING / TIM KAWAKAMI : Duran Still Fighting With a Will of Stone

The fervor remains, but, for Roberto Duran, the footwork and the firepower vanished long ago.

The legend lives, but the man who created it stumbles now on backwater TV channels crashing backwater opponents to the canvas.

The stomach is flatter than in his less recent, flabbier comebacks, but the resemblance to the legend is hazy and sporadic, at best.

Among the scattered pieces of his glory, the defiance is almost all that is left: Duran dares any standing world titleholder to enter the ring against him.

“Roberto Duran is boxing,” he has said. If he is not boxing, the statement suggests, he is nothing.

At a sweltering New Orleans gym, minutes after a sparring session in preparation for his knockout Tuesday of awkward, wobbly, light-hitting Sean Fitzgerald, Duran again heard the questions that turn his eyes a darker shade of black.

Why, he is asked through an interpreter, do you go on? Do you believe that you alone can defeat the passage of time?

“I’m a different breed,” he says, and his sneer needs no interpretation.

*

For Sugar Ray Leonard, the fervor faded away awhile ago, but his life has paraded forward.

Last week, Leonard was in Los Angeles preparing to marry Bernadette Robi.

And on the day Duran beat Fitzgerald in Bay St. Louis, Miss., Leonard’s new workout video, “Boxout,” was released.

It features 60 minutes of boxing workouts with model Jill Goodacre.

“The exercises trim the waist, tone the legs, tighten the buns,” the five-time world titleholder says. “Jill’s punches have a real snap.

“More snap than a lot of guys fighting right now, you know?”

Asked about Duran’s never-ending series of comebacks, Leonard chuckles again.

“I enjoy watching Duran,” Leonard says. “I like watching him, because I can sit back and drink ice tea and see it on TV. I’m not a participant anymore.

“I’ve become, well, sort of a fan of his after all these years.”

*

Duran is 42, a decade past his prime, and even he cannot intimidate, outlast and finally beat down that opponent.

Although he tries, the past, as always, intrudes.

After handling Fitzgerald, Duran (90-9) compared him to Leonard, who beat Duran twice in their three-fight series--highlighted by Duran’s infamous “ No mas “ surrender in Leonard-Duran II in 1980.

Duran is the only one making that comparison.

“I’m extremely focused on what I want,” Duran said in New Orleans. “That’s a title shot. I’m on a mission. You saw me spar. I’m quick as ever.”

Said Leonard: “You know, back when I was at my peak in boxing, I had this look . . . I had it in my eyes. Boxing was it. I knew that.

“I have all new priorities. I’m getting married, the video, my children . . . it’s a whole new life. I could never regain that, and I wouldn’t want to.

“I loved boxing, and I always will love boxing. But not as a participant anymore. I am out.

“I’ll never have that focus. I guess (Duran) still does.”

Duran, who fought at 163 pounds Tuesday, hopes to fight Vinny Pazienza later this year, believing that a victory might put him into the front line of junior heavyweight contenders.

He suggests he could someday enter the ring against Julio Cesar Chavez, often described as the greatest non-heavyweight since Duran.

“Chavez could never beat me, not now, not then, not ever,” Duran says. “He’s too slow, he doesn’t have my ring experience or knowledge. And he’s not as strong. He’d never beat me. Never.”

Duran says he will know when to retire for good.

“I’ll know when to get out,” he says. “I have plenty of things to do when I leave.”

Leonard has been out of boxing since February of 1991. He said that Duran, who has retired five times, will know when to bow out for good.

“When I got beat by Terry Norris, I walked away and I knew that was it,” Leonard says. “No more. That told me it was over . . . And people said, ‘Ray, are you ashamed? That was embarrassing. ‘ But it wasn’t embarrassing. I went in there, tried, and I got beat and then I knew it was over.

“And I’ll tell you, if I had beaten Norris, man, I’d probably still be out there. I’d be out there as long as Duran.

“Duran, maybe he’s trying to stop some of those people around him talking about being embarrassed. But when it’s time for him to stop, he’ll know it, too.

“He’s a boxer. Boxers are boxers. As long as he doesn’t get hurt, I’ll cheer him on. Why not? He’s a fighter.

“I’m not going to tell him to stop.”

Duran rages when it is suggested he is tarnishing his legacy, saying his fans will always remember him for what he always has been.

And Leonard suggests Duran simply does not believe that his title hopes are gone.

“You know what? There’s nothing in the world that can replace that feeling of someone holding your arms up after you’ve pulled off a big upset,” Leonard says, recalling his upset of Marvelous Marvin Hagler in April of 1987.

“If I had my mind to at that moment, I know I could’ve flown right out of that ring,” Leonard says, “because you can do anything. When you beat a man you’re not supposed to, when nobody says you can, you know you can do whatever you ever wanted to.”

Duran works to that moment through sheer force of will--laughing harder, going longer and absorbing more punches than he ever did when his power dominated the sport.

He quit when the world demanded him to continue. And he fights on when it says he should quit.

*

Hector Lopez, the 1984 silver medalist from Glendale, found trouble again last month, testing positive for marijuana in a post-fight urine test after defeating David Santos in Las Vegas.

Lopez, whose promising professional career was derailed by an assault conviction and subsequent 2 1/2 years in prison, faces an Aug. 27 disciplinary hearing before the Nevada Athletic Commission.

But Gordon Wheeler, Lopez’s manager, says this might be the wake-up call the 26-year-old desperately needed.

Lopez has not denied the drug use and has enrolled in a 120-day program with the Victory Outreach treatment center, Wheeler said.

“Maybe this is the best thing that could’ve happened,” Wheeler said Friday. “It’s a chance to cleanse his body and get rid of his problem, which has led him to some difficulties.”

Wheeler says Lopez’s parole period is over, so this recent incident does not threaten to put him back in jail.

Boxing Notes

Jack Needleman, owner of the Olympic Auditorium, sent his son, Dennis, to Las Vegas this week to explain the renovation delays to promoter Bob Arum, who has grown frustrated with the pace. “With friends like Bob,” Needleman joked when asked about Arum’s comments, “enemies I don’t need.” Needleman said he and Arum, who has plans to put 27 fight cards into the Olympic in 1994, have discussed the problem. “Bob isn’t exactly happy , he knows that we’re doing it right,” Needleman said. “Junk, we don’t need any more of.” Arum, reached in Las Vegas Friday, said he simply wants to know if he needs to push back the opening date from January. “I’m bringing in these shows, and I don’t want to have egg on my face,” Arum said. “But if I get assurances . . . I would certainly hope it’s ready by January, and if you talk to Jack, he’ll say it’ll be ready in a few weeks. Now, if he told me, ‘Bob, it won’t be ready for January, it’s March,’ then I’ll go in in March. I just need to know.”

The Forum will celebrate its 11th anniversary of boxing on Saturday with a four-main event card that will include two separate television broadcasts. Prime Ticket will televise the bouts scheduled from 6 p.m. to 8, and Channel 9, which will broadcast the Ram-Raider exhibition earlier, will televise the fights after 9 p.m. Leading the card is flyweight Chiquita Gonzalez (35-2) of Mexico, fighting for the first time since his loss to Michael Carbajal in March. Gonzalez, who is scheduled for a rematch with Carbajal Dec. 30, will fight Pablo Tiznado (14-5-2) Saturday. Also, the World Boxing Council’s No. 1-rated junior lightweight, Gabriel Ruelas (33-2) of Sylmar, is scheduled to fight Ben Lopez (20-11-1) of Upland.

After a six-month hiatus, the Hollywood Palladium will play host to boxing again Wednesday. The 10-round main event features the WBC’s ninth-ranked bantamweight, Cecilio Espino (25-3) of Mexico.

Here’s the card for the Oct. 30 pay-per-view card at Phoenix that will include bouts featuring Carbajal and Oscar De La Hoya: The main events are International Boxing Federation and WBC light flyweight champion Carbajal (29-0) against Domingo Sosa (27-1) of the Dominican Republic; and De La Hoya (9-0 with a fight Friday at the Beverly Wilshire against Angelo Nunez) against Narcisco Valenzuela (35-12-2). Also, Lupe Aquino (43-5-2) of Mexico will fight Verno Phillips (21-4-1) of Troy, N.Y., for the World Boxing Organization super welterweight title. Carbajal is guaranteed $350,000. De La Hoya will make $200,000.

Arum said he and the rest of the De La Hoya camp will decide next week whether De La Hoya will fight for the IBF or the WBO junior lightweight title Dec. 30. The date is set--he will again share the card with Carbajal--and Arum said both IBF champion John Molina and WBO titlist Jimmy Bredahl are available. Neither champion’s promoter is demanding options on De La Hoya in exchange for a title shot, Arum said.

Although it is a charity event, De La Hoya’s fight against Nunez (10-4-3) on Friday will count on his ring record.

Julio Cesar Chavez’s response to Roberto Duran saying there is no way Chavez could beat him, even now? “I respect whatever Roberto Duran says. I recognize and respect that Roberto Duran has been an incredible fighter.”

Chavez, entering the final stages of training for his Sept. 10 fight with Pernell Whitaker in San Antonio, will be in Los Angeles on Wednesday for a news conference before setting up camp in San Antonio later in the week.

Calendar

Wednesday: Cecilio Espino vs. Rudy Bradley, bantamweights; Shane Mosley vs. opponent TBA, lightweights; Chico Castillo vs. Carlos Lopez, lightweights; Juan Lazcano vs. opponent TBA, junior lightweights. Hollywood Palladium, 7:30 p.m.