Roberto Durán

Roberto Durán Samaniego (born June 16, 1951) is a Panamanian former professional boxer, widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time. A versatile brawler in the ring, he was nicknamed "Manos de Piedra" ("Hands of Stone") during his career.

In 2002, Durán was voted by The Ring magazine as the fifth greatest fighter of the last 80 years, while boxing historian Bert Sugar rated him as the eighth greatest fighter of all time. The Associated Press voted him as the #1 lightweight of the 20th century, with many considering him the greatest lightweight of all time. Durán held world titles in four different weight classes: lightweight (1972–79), welterweight (1980), light middleweight (1983–84) and middleweight (1989). He was the second boxer to have fought a span of five decades, the first being Jack Johnson. However, Durán is most infamous for abruptly forfeiting his welterweight title in the middle of his 1980 rematch with challenger Sugar Ray Leonard.

He finally retired in January 2002 at age 50 (having previously retired in 1998) following a bad car crash in October 2001, with a professional record of 120 fights, 104 wins with 69 knockouts. Up until his fight with Wilfred Benítez in a light middleweight title clash in 1982, he was trained by legendary boxing trainer Ray Arcel.

Sugar Ray Leonard

Sugar Ray Charles "Ray" Leonard (born May 17, 1956) is an American former professional boxer, motivational speaker, and occasional actor. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, Leonard was part of "The Fabulous Four" a group of boxers who all fought each other throughout the 1980s, consisting of himself, Roberto Durán, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler. "The Fabulous Four" created a wave of popularity in the lower weight classes that kept boxing relevant in the post-Muhammad Ali era. Leonard was also the first boxer to earn more than $100 million in purses, won world titles in five weight divisions, including a run as the undisputed welterweight champion, and defeated future fellow International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Hearns, Durán, Hagler, and Wilfred Benítez. Leonard was named "Boxer of the Decade" in the 1980s.

Early life

Leonard, the fifth of seven children of Cicero and Getha Leonard, was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. He was named after Ray Charles, his mother's favorite singer. The family moved to Washington, D.C., when he was three, and they settled permanently in Palmer Park, Maryland when he was ten. His father worked as a supermarket night manager and his mother was a nurse. He attended Parkdale High School. Leonard was a shy child, and aside from the time he nearly drowned in a creek during a flood in Seat Pleasant, Maryland, his childhood was uneventful. He stayed home a lot, reading comic books and playing with his dog. His mother said: "He never did talk too much. We never could tell what he was thinking. But I never had any problems with him. I never had to go to school once because of him."

Sugar Ray

Sugar Ray is an American rock band formed in 1986. The band, starting off more as a funk metal band, first gained fame in 1997 with their release of the song "Fly". This song's success, coupled with its pop rock sound that was quite different from the rest of their material at the time, led the band to change to a mainstream, pop music style. Subsequent albums shared this similar style, and the band landed a number of hits with "Every Morning" and "Someday" from 14:59 and "When It's Over" from their self-titled album.

History

Formation and Lemonade and Brownies (1986–1996)

The members of the band grew up in Orange County. Rodney Sheppard played in a number of reggae bands, including working with future Good Charlotte drummer Dean Butterworth. Prior to Sugar Ray, in the late 1980s, Rodney Sheppard and Stan Frazier had been together in a band under the name The Tories. Later additions Murphy Karges, Craig Bullock and Mark McGrath changed the band's name to Shrinky Dinx (after initially Shrinky Dinks). After signing with Atlantic Records, the name was changed to Sugar Ray upon threat of lawsuit from the Milton Bradley Company, maker of the Shrinky Dinks toy.

Robert

The name Robert is a Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic *χrōþi- "fame" and *berχta- "bright". Compare Old Dutch Robrecht and Old High German Hrodebert (a compound of hruod "fame, glory" and berht "bright"). It is also in use as a surname.

After becoming widely used in Continental Europe it entered England in its Old French form Robert, where an Old English cognate form (Hrēodbēorht, Hrodberht, Hrēodbēorð, Hrœdbœrð, Hrœdberð) had existed before the Norman Conquest. The feminine version is Roberta. The Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish form is Roberto.

Similar to the name, Richard, "Robert" is also a common name in many Germanic languages, including English, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, and Icelandic. It can be used as a French, Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian name as well.

Variations

Trivia

Robert, and also the name Joseph, were in the top 10 most given boys' names in the US for 47 years, from 1925 to 1972.

In Italy during the Second World War, the form of the name, Roberto, briefly acquired a new meaning derived from, and referring to the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis.

Hands of Stone

Hands of Stone is an upcoming 2016 American biographical sport film directed and written by Jonathan Jakubowicz. It stars Robert De Niro, Édgar Ramírez, Usher, Ellen Barkin and Ana de Armas.

Summary

Follows the life of Roberto Duran, who made his professional debut in 1968 as a 16-year-old and retired in 2002 at age 50. In June 1980, he defeated Sugar Ray Leonard to capture the WBC welterweight title but shocked the boxing world by returning to his corner in the November rematch, saying 'no más' (no more).

Cast

Production

The production on the film began in December 2013 in Panama. Principal photography was completed in March 2014. The Weinstein Company bought the domestic distribution rights in 2015, and the film is slated for a 2016 release.