Roberto Duran began his professional career on March 8, 1967, and won the first 32 matches of his career, 26 by knockout, before losing for the first time in a 10-round non-title decision to Esteban De Jesus on November 17, 1972. Earlier that year, on June 26, Duran had knocked out Ken Buchanan in the 13th round to win the world lightweight championship. Duran was successful in all 12 of his subsequent lightweight championship matches, a winning streak that began in 1973 and continued through 1978. He also won all of his non-title bouts during this period.
After moving up to the welterweight division, Duran defeated Ray Leonard in a 15-round decision on June 20, 1980, to claim the world championship, but in his next fight, on November 25, 1980, he lost the title when Leonard scored an eighth-round knockout. In the second meeting with Leonard, Duran was not actually knocked out. Instead, in an event that became infamous, he refused to continue, surrendering in mid-round with the words "No mas!".
Duran resumed his career in the summer of 1981 and went on to become the World Boxing Association junior-middleweight champion in 1983 and the World Boxing Council middleweight champion in 1989. By continuing to box for so long, he somewhat tarnished his once splendid win record; he retired in 2002 with 103 victories and 16 losses. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2007.
