By Héctor Villarreal
Photos By Martín Pérez
With the goal of continuing to contribute to the development of Olympic boxing in Panama, the icon of Panamanian sports history, Roberto “Hands of Stone” Durán, and his sons announced the details of the first international tournament called The Legacy. In this tournament, 20 young Panamanian fighters who qualify to join “Team Durán” will have the opportunity to face “Team Márquez,” representing Mexico.
Irichelle Durán, the main organizer of the project, stated: “We are very good friends with former world champions Juan Manuel and Rafael Márquez, as well as their sister Carmen, who also promotes amateur boxing in their country. During a casual conversation, the idea arose to hold an amateur tournament between Mexico and Panama and document it all in a documentary series.”
“We will have a national call for applications and three qualifying rounds in different parts of the country to select the 20 most outstanding athletes, who will be trained by my father in a training camp lasting a month and a half,” said Irichelle, adding that “the final qualifying round will take place in July in Chitré, and on September 19 they will face Team Márquez at the Roberto Durán Arena.”
The “Roberto Durán – The Legacy” tournament has the endorsement of the Panamanian Olympic Boxing Federation, along with its coaches and officials, with whom organizers have already begun a national tour to observe more than 120 fighters expected to participate in the initial call.
This initiative joins other valuable projects developed to strengthen boxing at the amateur level, with the expectation that their impact will later be reflected in professional boxing, especially since Panama has not crowned a world champion in the last 10 years.
The launch took place at Casanova Bar in the historic Old Town before a large audience of media professionals, authorities, and sponsors.
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