Duran Pussycat--Until He’s Around Pussycats

Roberto Duran, who will fight Sugar Ray Leonard in Las Vegas Thursday night, remains one of the most enigmatic figures in sports. Some of the different faces of Duran:

Felix Pinango, a television producer and longtime friend of Duran, told USA Today: “He’s a primitive. Money doesn’t interest him. He believes in his own destiny. For him, fighting has no end. He’s like Jack Palance playing Barabbas the gladiator.

“Barabbas earned his freedom from the ring and has been offered all the luxuries of life, but he doesn’t want them. He wants to die in the arena. It’s the same with Roberto Duran.�

Ray Arcel, Duran’s former trainer: “Roberto is like a Jekyll and Hyde character. Inside the ring, he’s a lion. Outside, he’s like a pussycat--a warm, beautiful human being. He’s as decent a man as I’ve ever met.�

Pussycat? That brings to mind a different image found by boxing commentator Alex Wallau, who once interviewed Duran in Panama City:

“One of our reporters asked Roberto what he did for fun as a youth. By coincidence, a cat walked on the set. Duran grabbed it by its tail, swung it over his head and smashed it against a wall. ‘Gatos (cats) are bad luck,’ he told me. It was just unbelievable.�

Trivia time: On Dec. 4, 1982, who won the the Heisman Trophy over Stanford quarterback John Elway and Southern Methodist running back Eric Dickerson?

Do unto others: Philadelphia Eagle quarterback Randall Cunningham on allegations that Coach Buddy Ryan puts bounties on injuries to opponents: “We’re not trying to put out anything and say, ‘Be scared of us.’ But when teams play us, it’s like playing in the ‘House of Pain.’

“When we go out to play we plan on putting pain on people, and if they can withstand it--great. But we’ll keep coming every play.�

Add questionable tactics: San Francisco 49er Coach George Seifert on his team’s chop-blocking, which the New York Giants blame for linebacker Lawrence Taylor’s ankle injury: “It’s a style of block we’ve used for the past 10 years. I mean, people have done it to us, too. I remember distinctly playing Chicago four or five years ago and they did a great job of it.�

Matter of record: Being interim coach of the Atlanta Falcons for their final four games can do serious damage to one’s career record. Jim Hanifan wants an asterisk on the four games next to his 39-50-1 coaching record with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Hanifan said: “I don’t think it’s fair to have this count on my head coaching record. I’m looking around the league and getting prouder and prouder of it.�

The San Francisco 49ers beat the Falcons Sunday, 23-10.

Trivia answer: Georgia’s Herschel Walker.

Quotebook: Five-foot-5 goalie Darren Pang of Chicago, on fellow Blackhawk goalies Jacques Cloutier (5-7) and Alain Chevrier (5-8): “I think our goalie scout must be that guy from Fantasy Island.�