Here is a great article from Daily News about The Yankees game against the Miami Marlins played here in Panama last week that included another great Panamanian sports figure.
The 62-year-old former welterweight champ threw out the ceremonial first pitch last Sunday at Rod Carew Stadium to the Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton before posing for photos with Rivera behind home plate. Fans in the stands shouted ‘Roberto!’ and ‘Manos de Piedra’ before ducking inside.
PANAMA CITY — The old fighter raised his arms and flexed his biceps, grinning ear to ear, when asked who was more popular in Panama, him or Mariano Rivera.
“You know my name? The Rock!” said Roberto Durán in English.
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Rivera may be baseball’s all-time saves leader and the owner of five World Series rings, and may have been feted in his home country the past three days during the Yankees’ visit, but when it comes to fan adulation and enduring fame, Durán (whose nickname is “Manos de Piedra,” or “Hands of Stone”) may still be Panama’s undisputed people’s champ.
“The 62-year-old former welterweight champ threw out the ceremonial first pitch Sunday at Rod Carew Stadium to the Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton before posing for photos with Rivera behind home plate. Fans in the stands shouted “Roberto!” and “Manos de Piedra” before the boxer ducked inside.
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Durán told reporters in Spanish that although he doesn’t know Rivera too well, he was excited for Rivera to be honored in this weekend’s fashion, and that he is “extremely proud that Major League Baseball decided to bring baseball to Panama.”
Thirty-four years ago, Durán waged two epic fights with Sugar Ray Leonard, the second of which became known as the “No más” fight. Durán had won the WBC welterweight title in June 1980 in Montreal, but during the November rematch in New Orleans, Durán uttered his now famous line and quit the fight in the eighth round after getting pummeled by Leonard.
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Durán said Sunday that he and Leonard became friends after those bouts and have remained so. “Whenever I am in the States, Sugar Ray will call me and say, ‘Hey Roberto, you want to go to this autograph signing with me?’ When (Leonard) came to Panama one time, I had to be his chauffeur. And he can’t dance to salsa. He dances the same dance to different tunes.”
After his first bout with Leonard in Montreal, Durán said he went to New York to visit with his friend, Mr. October, Reggie Jackson. Durán said Jackson invited him to a Yankee game at the Stadium, and promised he would hit a home run for the boxer. Durán said when Jackson got to the plate, he fell behind in the count, 0-2, before launching a homer into the stands.
“He got me down from the stands after the game, we went to the dugout, and then into the clubhouse later where he gave me one of his (No. 44) jerseys,” said Durán. “It was so big, it was like a dress on me or pajamas. He also gave me the part of the bat, since it broke (during the at-bat).”
Durán said that all of Jackson’s Yankee teammates felt compelled to give Durán a gift, too, and that he walked out of the Stadium feeling “like I had just been on a shopping spree.”
Unlike Rivera, Durán still lives in Panama, residing in the downtown area of the capital, Panama City. He said people still talk to him about the Leonard fights when they see him in the streets or at a restuarant, but don’t bring up the “no más” line. “They respect me very much here,” said Durán.