BoxRec

On the Saturday night of January 29, 1983 at the old Inglewood Forum in Los Angeles, CA, Roberto Duran and Pipino Cuevas, 3 years removed from their primes, fight in a bout billed "The Night of the Washed Up Legends" . Promoter Bob Arum promoted this fight. Duran, the Hands of Stone, scored a 4th round TKO. His first knockout win in 3 years since he stopped Wellington Wheatley in February, 1980.

the winner, continued on for a title shot. The loser, well, it was time to hang it up. I would have loved to see this fight back in 1979 or 1980 instead of this Road to Recovery night thirty years ago.

Excuse me. The fight was at the Los Angeles Sports Center

This was billed as 'The Night Of The Washed Up Legends'? For real?

I can't see it being any different three years earlier; Duran was always a couple of levels above, and Cuevas' chin forward style would have suited him. I'd have liked to see Pipino try to walk down Leonard though. No way he'd get a win, but he might stick one on him at some stage!

Il Duce wrote:Saturday Night - January 29, 1983

The fight was billed as 'RETURN OF THE CHAMPIONS'

promoted by; Top Rank, in Association with Pimental-Kabakoff Productions

Jose 'Pipino' Cuevas (149 lbs.)

Age 25, with a record of 29-8-0 (26 KO's) had been out of the ring for '15-Months' since losing
to Roger Stafford (November 17, 1981).

What was 'on-the-line, is that if Pipino won, he would get a Challenge at WBA Welterweight Champion
Donald 'The Cobra' Curry. It was Roberto Duran, that everybody thought was 'done' before this bout
took place.

Thought Curry and Hwang hadn't fought yet.

Il Duce wrote:Rover,

Correct, I forgot to add the 'winner' of the 'vacant' WBA Welterweight Championship between
Donald Curry and Jun-Sok Hwang which took place 2-weeks later.

Which, everybody expected 'The Cobra' to win easily.........

Didn't turn out easy. He got dropped and took some hard shots on his way to the decision. Hwang was tough as hell.

Naturally SenorPipino was there at the jam-packed Sports Arena 30 years ago. Was also billed as Super Sabado because the Super Bowl was being played in Los Angeles the next day. A tremendously vocal but surprisingly well behaved crowd was on hand.No more than a dozen firecracker explosions during the card. Of course I was rooting hard for the Mexican Jaw-Buster, but have to admit I felt Duran would win. Both guys were slipping but Pipino's chin was a little suspect after the Hearn's match. And he had lost to Roger Stafford, suffering a knockdown along the way. But Duran possesed a granite chin (until his own encounter with Hearns 17 months later) and I felt he would withstand Cuevas' best shots and dish out too much punishment in return.
Alas the fight turned out the way I feared, and Pipino's career as a contender realistically ended that night. But Duran was hardly washed up as some of you claim. He would go on to destroy heavily favored Davey Moore in his next fight and win the junior middleweight title