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When Legends Collide

Date	July 14, 2001
Venue	Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
Title(s) on the line	NBA super middleweight title
Tale of the tape
Boxer Roberto Durán Héctor Camacho Nickname Manos de Piedra ("Hands of Stone") Macho Hometown Panama City, Panama Bayamón, Puerto Rico Pre-fight record 103–15 (70 KO) 73–4–2 (35 KO) Age 50 years 39 years, 1 month Height 5 ft 7+1⁄2 in (171 cm) 5 ft 6+1⁄2 in (169 cm) Weight 162 lb (73 kg) 159 lb (72 kg) Style Orthodox Southpaw Recognition NBA super middleweight champion 4-division world champion 3-division world champion
Result
Camacho wins via UD (118–108, 118–108, 114–112)

Roberto Durán vs. Héctor Camacho II, billed as When Legends Collide was a professional boxing match contested on July 14, 2001, for the NBA super middleweight title. This was the 119th and final professional fight of Durán's career.

Background

Five years after their previous fight, Héctor Camacho and Roberto Durán agreed to a rematch to take place in July 2001 in the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. The 39-year old Camacho sported a 73–4–2 record but had not fought for a major world title since his 1997 loss to Oscar De La Hoya. Durán, meanwhile, came into the fight at 103–15 but had found himself suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission following a blowout loss to WBA middleweight champion William Joppy in 1998. Though he flirted with retirement after the Joppy fight, Durán continued to fight, and unable to fight in United States due to his suspension, fought twice in Latin America before being reinstated by the Nevada State Athletic Commission in August 2000 after passing a neurological examination.

Much like prior to their first encounter, Durán had little praise for the flamboyant Camacho stating "This guy is a clown, he's no legend. There's only one legend. That's me." Likewise, Camacho was confident he would again defeat his senior opponent saying "Being at 50 years old, he wants to go on and do miracles. He ain't done miracles before. He sure ain't going to do miracles now. He's going to come in there trying to do the impossible, and I'm ready for the impossible" and "I haven't been worried about the idea of losing to Roberto Duran, not at this stage. If I lose to this guy, I might as well retire." Unlike their previous fight, which was held in the middleweight division, this fight was in the super middleweight division with Duran's fringe NBA super middleweight title on the line. As the smaller Camacho had no experience in the division, the fighters agreed to a 163-pound catchweight

The venue for the fight was the 19,000-seat Pepsi Center, a sizeable increase from the Etess Arena which seated only around 5,000. Ticket sales were slow and only 3,000 tickets had been sold the day before the event though around 6,597 in attendance come the night of the fight.

The fight

In contrast to their relatively close first fight, Camacho controlled the fight, easily outboxing the aging Durán, who had a hard time landing punches and seemed to tire early in the fight. The fight went the full 12 rounds with Camacho securing a lopsided unanimous decision with two scores of 118-108 and one score of 114–112.

Aftermath

Durán blamed his poor performance on the high altitude claiming "It got to me in the fifth round."

Fight card

Confirmed bouts:

^Note 1 For NBA Super Middleweight title

References

1. Roberto Duran, Seattle Times article, 2000-08-11 Retrieved on 2024-06-02
2. Duran Passes Brain Tests, Cyberboxingzone.com article, Retrieved on 2024-06-02
3. Roberto Duran, Camacho and Duran put on gloves one more time Pocono Record article, 2001-07-14 Retrieved on 2024-06-02
4. Duran, 50, Blames Altitude for Loss, NY Times article, 2001-07-16, Retrieved on 2024-06-02
5. "BoxRec - event".

• 2001 in boxing
• 2001 in sports in Colorado
• July 2001 sports events in the United States
• Boxing matches involving Roberto Durán
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