The Hindu : Sport / Boxing : Duran inducted into boxing Hall of Fame

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Monday, Oct 16, 2006
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Duran inducted into boxing Hall of Fame

LOS ANGELES: Roberto Duran once said, ``There is only one legend. That's me.''

As he was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame on Saturday night, there was no reason for him to think differently.

``That's right, it's me,'' he declared through an interpreter minutes before his introduction. ``Everybody says it: black, white; everybody calls me a legend. Italians, Jews. Everybody.''

Duran, 51, looked little like the man who won five major titles while compiling a 103-16 record with 69 knockouts between 1972-1989.

When he was introduced, he walked into the ballroom carrying a flag of his native Panama, having just minutes earlier said that his induction was important not only for himself ``but for the whole country of Panama and for my President. All of Panama is going into that Hall of Fame.''

It seemed as if all of the nearly 900 attendees wanted to catch a glimpse, get an autograph or tell of their favourite Duran moment or fight.

That was the case on Saturday when, at an autograph session, an estimated 300 people mobbed him and waited in line for his signature.

At the ceremony, Hall-of-Fame referee Gwen Adair's most memorable Duran moment was when Duran famously quit during the eighth round of his second fight with Sugar Ray Leonard. ``I was shocked he said `No mas,' '' Adair said. ``He's a macho guy.''

— AP

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