IT was arguably Roberto Duranโ€™s most destructive performance, he manhandled and terrorised Davey Moore to relieve the WBA super-welterweight title from the New Yorker, rebuilding his name after the embarrassing โ€˜No Masโ€™ incident in the process.

It was vintage Duran as he pressed forward snarling, and slipped and rolled while taking apart the younger, bigger, stronger 5-2 favourite.

A beautifully-timed right hand sent Moore crashing to the seat of his pants in the 7th. By then, Davey’s features were a bloody, swollen reminder of Duran’s punishing fists.

The brave champion hauled himself to his feet and tottered to his corner, clearly a beaten man. And in a bizarre incident, amid the drama, Duran had mistakenly gone to Moore’s corner and sat on his stool.

Extraordinarily the American’s corner sent him out for more suffering โ€“ by then Davey’s mother and girlfriend had fainted at ringside amid calls to stop the beating.ย Referee, Ernesto Magaรฑa of Mexico, calmly watched as Duran knocked the 24-year-old championย from pillar to post seemingly content to see the fight continue.

By then, Moore was nothing more than a one-eyed punching bag for irresistible ‘Hands of Stone’.

Jose Torres, at ringside, was screaming atย Magaรฑa to halt the massacre. The end came as Moore’s corner hurled in a blood-stained towel finally prompting the referee’s intervention.

“The worst ref I’ve looked at for a long time,” Duran’s trainer Ray Arcelย said.

The victory โ€“ on an elctrifying night at Madison Square Garden (20,061 fans in attendance) โ€“ was all the more sweeter for the Panamanian legend as it coincided with his 32nd birthday.

  • Moore was making the fourth defence of the title he had won in Japan stopping Tadashi Mihara.
  • Duran won his first world title at Madison Square Garden 11 years earlier.
  • Duran became the 7th fighter in boxing history to win world titles inย three weight divisions.
  • The undercard saw the ill-fated Luis Resto-Billy Collins fight.