Roberto Duran vs Rolando Dy: A...

ONE is an all-time great, the other was a national hero.

The careers of Roberto Duran and Rolando Navarrete are remembered when their sons clash in bareknuckle boxing’s trigon later this month.

Roberto Duran vs Rolando Dy goes ahead in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 31 and for Dy, it is the sport’s equivalent of Chris Eubank jr-Conor Benn.  

“Eubank and Benn inspire me,” said the Filipino. “Both sons of boxing legends and different kinds of style. 

“I am more of Eubank Jr and Duran is more of Benn. I am more of a technical fighter who picks his shots like Eubank Jr and Duran Jr is like Benn, an aggressive guy with knockout power. We all know who won that fight.”

Unlike that fight at Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium, the fighters’ fathers are unlikely to be there when Duran and Dy clash.

“I don’t have any communication with my dad now,” said Dy, “but I am pretty sure he knew that I am fighting bare knuckle because some of the Navarretes follow me in social media.”

Duran has had an up and down relationship with his father, as was shown when he fought on the Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou undercard in Riyadh in October, 2023.

Father and son blew kisses to each other at the weigh in, but the following night, Duran sr’s ringside seat was unoccupied when his son launched the first Riyadh Season boxing show.

He missed one of the punches of the year.

Duran was on receiving end, Liverpool’s Jack McGann dropping him with a second-round left hook and stopping him.

“It was a good shot,” said McGann. “It came out of the blue – the way the best ones always do.”

That convinced Duran to look for a career elsewhere and he signed with BYB Extreme vowing to become a “mainstream star.”

He proved himself on his bareknuckle debut by out toughing Javon Wright and the 36 year old goes into the five threes against Dy with a 2-1 record, while the Filipino is 3-1 after making the switch from MMA, with his last three fights in the UK.

Dy launched his bareknuckle career with a 16-second, one-punch KO in Bangkok and then used tough ex gloved pro George Hillyard as target practice before being outhustled by Peterborough’s hard-as-nails Martin Reffell and then stopping have-gloves-will-travel Hayden Sherrif in Leeds last October.

Dy is a precise mid to long-range puncher and though he hasn’t boxed, he has the DNA of a fighter described as “the Filipino boxing superstar of his generation.”

Navarrete built a 56-15-3 record between 1973 and 1991, including a memorable nine-month reign as WBC super-featherweight champion.

Beaten by legend Alexis Arguello in a previous world-title bid – eight weeks before Duran beat Sugar Ray Leonard – Navarrete took the belt off Cornelius Boza-Edwards in 1981 and made a successful defence against Chung Il Choi after a back-and-forth war before being dethroned by Rafael ‘Bazooka’ Limon in another great fight.

Up on all three cards after 11, Navarrete was stopped in the 12th of a 15 rounder.

In 2010, a reporter found the ‘Bad Boy from Dadiangas’ “broke and living alone in an apartment made of breeze blocks” and talking of boxing again at the age of 53.

He had his last fight in 1991 – when Duran was still fighting at 40.

‘Hands Of Stone’ carried on fighting until he was 50 and, aged 73, he looked well during a visit to the UK in March. He was even filmed showing fighters in Joe Gallagher’s gym some moves.

In 2020, UK promoter Mo Prior had plans to work with Duran jr and had him pencilled in to have his sixth pro boxing match in Cardiff and steer him towards a fight with Conor Benn before covid ruined those plans and he appears to have left gloved boxing behind with a 12-4 (9) record.

Dy reckons his name will be remembered alongside Duran’s in bareknuckle boxing history.

He said: “I believe this fight will not happen just once. It will be like (Manny) Pacquiao versus (Juan Manuel) Marquez.”