Читать книгу Sporting Blood. Tales from the Dark Side of Boxing онлайн

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With José Torres retired and Carlos Ortiz, the gifted ex-champion whose prime began during the West Side Story–era, nearing the end of a creaky comeback, New York City was ready for another Puerto Rican star. In 1972, Esteban de Jesús, born in hardscrabble Carolina, Puerto Rico, debuted at the Felt Forum in Madison Square Garden, stopping George Foster in eight rounds. A stablemate of Wilfred Benitez and trained by Gregorio Benitez, de Jesús was a precise counterpuncher with a ruinous left hook and enough dark secrets to last a lifetime. After building a record of 33-1, de Jesús, already dabbling in the nightlife, set his sights on bigger targets—and the temptations that often accompany such ambition. In New York City he had impressed the afición with his sharpshooting skills, but not many believed he would be a threat to young Roberto Durán, the recently crowned lightweight champion stalking greatness.

If New York City was impressed by de Jesús, it was wonderstruck by Durán, who coldcocked Benny Huertas in his Madison Square Garden debut in September 1971 and less than a year later trampled stylish Ken Buchanan for the lightweight championship of the world. Even after building up an insurmountable lead on the scorecards, Durán could not resist his own malicious nature. A split-second after the bell ending the thirteenth round, “Hands of Stone” buried a shot below the belt that left Buchanan writhing on the canvas in agony. Poor Buchanan was ruled unable to continue, and Durán was declared the TKO winner, beginning a reign of terror that would last for the rest of the decade. Brash, bold, and brutish, Durán reveled in his reputation for savagery.