{"id":554589,"date":"2026-03-23T04:22:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T04:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/554589\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T04:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T04:22:07","slug":"roberto-duran-backs-explosive-rising-star-to-become-world-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/554589\/","title":{"rendered":"Roberto Duran backs ‘explosive’ rising star to become world champion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roberto Duran<\/a> has hailed the \u201cexplosive hand speed and power\u201d of Luis Reynaldo Nunez, a Dominican featherweight who he sees becoming a world champion.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old returned to action earlier this month, engineering a first-round finish after claiming a more significant points victory over Hector Andres Sosa<\/a> in December.<\/p>\n

Despite the limited nature of his opponent, Jhan Estiven Camacho, Nunez was able to showcase a brief but striking glimpse of his talent at Hotel El Panama, where a mightily-impressed Duran was watching at ringside.<\/p>\n

The legend\u2019s son, Roberto Duran Jr, was in Nunez\u2019s corner, accompanying head coach Bob Santos who has previously worked with the likes of Robert Guerrero and Erislandy Lara.<\/p>\n

Speaking with BoxingScene<\/a> after Nunez\u2019s fight, Santos recalled an encouraging conversation he shared with Duran, whose fighting career is still regarded as one of the all-time best.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe really enjoyed looking at Nunez up close, and he said, \u2018That kid has some explosive hand speed and power. No doubt in my mind that he is going to be a world champion\u2019. Who better to know than [Duran]?\u201d<\/p>\n

Santos added that Nunez is targeting a shot at Rafael Espinoza, who is widely regarded as the top dog at 126lbs following his two victories over Robeisy Ramirez.<\/p>\n

Espinoza claimed his WBO world title by outpointing the Olympic gold medallist in 2023, before ending their rematch with a sixth-round finish<\/a> the following year.<\/p>\n

But while Nunez and his team are determined to test themselves against the very best, it is highly unlikely that they will secure an opportunity against the Mexican anytime soon.<\/p>\n

Far more likely is a shot at the IBF title, which is currently held by Angelo Leo, as Nunez boasts a No.3 ranking with that particular sanctioning body.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roberto Duran has hailed the \u201cexplosive hand speed and power\u201d of Luis Reynaldo Nunez, a Dominican featherweight who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-554589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}