It can be heard said on the streets of Panama that boxing transcends sport in that country and is in fact a religion in itself.

Several generations of people have grown up knowing that one of the greatest fighters of all time, Roberto “Manos de Piedra” (Hands of Stone) Duran, was born in that Central American nation 70 years ago.

And many young people have an older relative, co-worker or acquaintance who celebrated Duran’s victories and even cried over his rare defeats.

But since the 1970s, when Panama twice could boast four world champions at the same time, the country has been unable to produce a comparable generation of elite boxers. More…