&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Esteban de Jes&amp;uacute;s HIV Story: The Puerto Rican Boxing Champion Who Died of AIDS&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Esteban de Jes&amp;uacute;s was a WBC lightweight champion who defeated Roberto Dur&amp;aacute;n and became one of Puerto Rico&#39;s finest boxers. His later life was marked by addiction, HIV and AIDS, and a final encounter with Dur&amp;aacute;n that became an enduring image of compassion during the AIDS epidemic.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://cms.goodbyehiv.com/Files/Pai/Celebrities%20with%20HIV%20%E2%80%93%2012%20%E2%80%93%20Esteban%20de%20Jes%C3%BAs%20The%20Puerto%20Rican%20Boxing%20Champion%20Whose%20Story%20the%20World%20Should%20Never%20Forget%20Goodbye%20HIV%2006.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Celebrities with HIV &amp;ndash; 12 &amp;ndash; Esteban de Jes&amp;uacute;s The Puerto Rican Boxing Champion Whose Story the World Should Never Forget Goodbye HIV 06.jpg (244 KB)&quot; width=&quot;550&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #808080;&quot;&gt;Image source:&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.clarin.com/deportes/carcel-drogas-muerte-prematura-vih-caida-esteban-jesus-boxeador-sorprendio-mundo-noquear-mano-piedra-duran_0_zrKuvUaTs.html#google_vignette&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Clar&amp;iacute;n&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A Champion Nobody Talks About&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On the night of 17 November 1972, something happened at Madison Square Garden that boxing fans still talk about more than fifty years later &amp;mdash; though far too few people know the name of the man who made it happen.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Esteban de Jes&amp;uacute;s was 21 years old, fighting Roberto Dur&amp;aacute;n, who was also 21 and already the reigning WBA lightweight champion of the world. Dur&amp;aacute;n was undefeated and on his way to becoming one of the most celebrated fighters in the history of the sport.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Early in the fight, Dur&amp;aacute;n threw a casual jab &amp;mdash; a feeling-out punch. He left his right hand down and his chin exposed. De Jes&amp;uacute;s ducked the jab and landed an arcing left hook that put Dur&amp;aacute;n flat on the canvas.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;He just came out of the corner and took it right to Roberto Dur&amp;aacute;n,&quot; said late HBO boxing analyst Harold Lederman, who served as one of the judges that night. &quot;All of a sudden he threw that left hook and caught Dur&amp;aacute;n in the jaw, and Dur&amp;aacute;n was sitting on his rear end looking up at De Jes&amp;uacute;s.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;De Jes&amp;uacute;s went on to win by unanimous decision. It was Dur&amp;aacute;n&#39;s first professional loss &amp;ndash; and his last defeat until the famous &quot;no m&amp;aacute;s&quot; moment against Sugar Ray Leonard eight years later.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It should have been the beginning of an extraordinary era. Instead, it marked the start of a tragedy.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;iframe src=&quot;//www.youtube.com/embed/0vvkasAqWks&quot; width=&quot;550&quot; height=&quot;314&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;allowfullscreen&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #808080;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Watch: &quot;Esteban De Jesus Documentary &amp;ndash; Victory &amp;amp; Vice&quot; (Rich the Fight Historian), detailing the life, boxing achievements, and HIV/AIDS legacy of Esteban de Jes&amp;uacute;s.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Born to Fight&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p data-path-to-node=&quot;18&quot;&gt;Esteban de Jes&amp;uacute;s was born on 2 August 1950 in Carolina, Puerto Rico &amp;mdash; a town on the northeastern coast of the island, just east of San Juan. As a teenager, he found his way to the training facility of coach Gregorio Ben&amp;iacute;tez, a body shop painter who had been training his own sons in boxing for years.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p data-path-to-node=&quot;19&quot;&gt;Ben&amp;iacute;tez immediately recognised something special in de Jes&amp;uacute;s &amp;mdash; a young man who was, by all accounts, quiet, hard-working, and deeply committed to the sport. By 1969, de Jes&amp;uacute;s had turned professional. He went undefeated in his first 19 fights before suffering only his second professional defeat in his 27th bout.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p data-path-to-node=&quot;20&quot;&gt;By the time he walked into Madison Square Garden in November 1972, he carried a record of 33 wins and just one loss, along with the hopes of an entire island on his shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://cms.goodbyehiv.com/Files/Pai/Celebrities%20with%20HIV%20%E2%80%93%2012%20%E2%80%93%20Esteban%20de%20Jes%C3%BAs%20The%20Puerto%20Rican%20Boxing%20Champion%20Whose%20Story%20the%20World%20Should%20Never%20Forget%20Goodbye%20HIV%2005.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Celebrities with HIV &amp;ndash; 12 &amp;ndash; Esteban de Jes&amp;uacute;s The Puerto Rican Boxing Champion Whose Story the World Should Never Forget Goodbye HIV 05.jpg (202 KB)&quot; width=&quot;550&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #808080;&quot;&gt;Image source:&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.clarin.com/deportes/carcel-drogas-muerte-prematura-vih-caida-esteban-jesus-boxeador-sorprendio-mundo-noquear-mano-piedra-duran_0_zrKuvUaTs.html#google_vignette&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Clar&amp;iacute;n&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Rise: A Career of Genuine Greatness&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;After the stunning upset over Dur&amp;aacute;n, de Jes&amp;uacute;s continued to build one of the most impressive records in Puerto Rican boxing history. He defeated Ray Lampkin to claim the NABF lightweight title. He became the most popular boxer on the island. He fought frequently and fiercely.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;His rivalry with Dur&amp;aacute;n continued &amp;mdash; they would meet three times in total. Dur&amp;aacute;n won the second fight, knocking de Jes&amp;uacute;s out in the 11th round in Panama in March 1974. But de Jes&amp;uacute;s continued to climb.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On 8 May 1976, Esteban de Jes&amp;uacute;s defeated Guts Ishimatsu by a 15-round unanimous decision to win the WBC lightweight title &amp;mdash; becoming a world champion. He successfully defended the belt three times before meeting Dur&amp;aacute;n one final time in Las Vegas in January 1978, losing his title in the rubber match of their trilogy.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;By any measure, his was a career of genuine greatness. A professional record of 57 wins and 5 losses, with 32 knockouts. A world championship. Victories over elite competition. Many boxing historians consider him one of the greatest Puerto Rican fighters of all time.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But outside Puerto Rico, almost nobody remembers him. And the reason for that is both heartbreaking and deeply human.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Fall: Addiction and Its Consequences&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The drugs were there before the championships, before Madison Square Garden, and possibly before the beginning of the story as most people know it. According to a New York Times report from 1989, de Jes&amp;uacute;s was already using cocaine before his first fight with Dur&amp;aacute;n in 1972. From cocaine, he moved to speedballs &amp;mdash; a mixture of cocaine and heroin injected together in the same syringe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He shot up with friends. He shot up with his older brother, Enrique.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;From the outside, it did not seem to be interfering with his career. He was still winning fights. He was still a champion. But addiction does not announce itself in headlines. It works quietly, underneath everything else, until it cannot be hidden anymore.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In 1980, de Jes&amp;uacute;s was convicted of murder, which he later attributed to the effects of his cocaine addiction, and sentenced to life in prison in Puerto Rico. His boxing career was over. His freedom was gone. And the worst was still to come.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In 1985, his brother Enrique died of AIDS. Contemporary accounts reported that the brothers had shared needles, and de Jes&amp;uacute;s subsequently tested positive for HIV.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In a television interview that was later quoted in the New York Times, he spoke with a clarity that only comes from having lived through something terrible:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;You start first with friends, and you get so wrapped up with the drugs that before you know it, you&#39;re hooked. They take you to parties, and you start using the stuff. The worst part is when you open your eyes, it&#39;s too late. You&#39;re already addicted.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://cms.goodbyehiv.com/Files/Pai/Celebrities%20with%20HIV%20%E2%80%93%2012%20%E2%80%93%20Esteban%20de%20Jes%C3%BAs%20The%20Puerto%20Rican%20Boxing%20Champion%20Whose%20Story%20the%20World%20Should%20Never%20Forget%20Goodbye%20HIV%2003.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Celebrities with HIV &amp;ndash; 12 &amp;ndash; Esteban de Jes&amp;uacute;s The Puerto Rican Boxing Champion Whose Story the World Should Never Forget Goodbye HIV 03.jpg (358 KB)&quot; width=&quot;550&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #808080;&quot;&gt;Image source:&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.clarin.com/deportes/carcel-drogas-muerte-prematura-vih-caida-esteban-jesus-boxeador-sorprendio-mundo-noquear-mano-piedra-duran_0_zrKuvUaTs.html#google_vignette&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Clar&amp;iacute;n&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Photograph That Changed How the World Saw AIDS&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;From prison, de Jes&amp;uacute;s fought to have his sentence commuted. In the spring of 1989, Governor Rafael Hern&amp;aacute;ndez Col&amp;oacute;n of Puerto Rico agreed to commute his sentence, allowing de Jes&amp;uacute;s to spend his final days receiving care at an AIDS treatment facility in San Juan.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What happened next became one of the most enduring images in the history of HIV/AIDS.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Roberto Dur&amp;aacute;n&amp;mdash;the man de Jes&amp;uacute;s had beaten, lost to, and fought three times over nearly a decade&amp;mdash;came to visit his old rival in a San Juan clinic. He did not have to. He came because he wanted to.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This was 1989 &amp;mdash; two years before Magic Johnson would announce that he was HIV-positive. HIV and AIDS were still among the most stigmatised conditions in the world. In Latin America, that stigma was deeply entangled with homophobia. Many people, fearful of HIV transmission and influenced by widespread misconceptions about AIDS, kept their distance from those living with the disease.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Dur&amp;aacute;n walked in, looked at the man who had once put him on the canvas at Madison Square Garden, and reached down and embraced him. He hugged a visibly weakened de Jes&amp;uacute;s and kissed him on the forehead.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;An Associated Press photographer captured the moment.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The image travelled around the world. It became a symbol of compassion over fear, of dignity over stigma, and of the simple truth that people living with AIDS deserved to be embraced, not shunned.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Esteban de Jes&amp;uacute;s died on 12 May 1989, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was 38 years old.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://cms.goodbyehiv.com/Files/Pai/Celebrities%20with%20HIV%20%E2%80%93%2012%20%E2%80%93%20Esteban%20de%20Jes%C3%BAs%20The%20Puerto%20Rican%20Boxing%20Champion%20Whose%20Story%20the%20World%20Should%20Never%20Forget%20Goodbye%20HIV%2009.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Celebrities with HIV &amp;ndash; 12 &amp;ndash; Esteban de Jes&amp;uacute;s The Puerto Rican Boxing Champion Whose Story the World Should Never Forget Goodbye HIV 09.jpg (278 KB)&quot; width=&quot;550&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #808080;&quot;&gt;Image source:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://thegruelingtruth.com/boxing/esteban-de-jesus-roberto-duran-y-aids-1972-89/&quot;&gt;The Grueling Truth&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A Story That Puerto Rico Knows Too Well&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The story of Esteban de Jes&amp;uacute;s did not end with his death. It echoed.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Four years later, in 1993, H&amp;eacute;ctor Lavoe &amp;ndash; the legendary Puerto Rican salsa singer, beloved across Latin America and New York City &amp;ndash; died of AIDS-related complications. Like de Jes&amp;uacute;s, Lavoe had contracted HIV through intravenous drug use. He had also found international fame, struggled with addiction beneath the surface of that success, and faced the same devastating consequences of a disease that carried enormous stigma at the time. Their stories ran in painful parallel. And they pointed to something specific and important about Puerto Rico&#39;s relationship with HIV/AIDS that remains true today.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In most of the world &amp;mdash; including the United States and neighbouring Latin American countries &amp;mdash; sexual activity is the primary mode of HIV transmission. Injection drug use played a significant role in Puerto Rico&#39;s HIV epidemic, particularly during the early decades of the epidemic. Although sexual transmission accounts for many HIV infections today, the impact of injection drug use remains an important part of Puerto Rico&#39;s HIV history.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Understanding that is part of understanding the story of Esteban de Jes&amp;uacute;s&amp;mdash;not as a cautionary tale to be filed away, but as a window into a community&#39;s ongoing struggle with a disease that still demands attention and resources.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://cms.goodbyehiv.com/Files/Pai/Celebrities%20with%20HIV%20%E2%80%93%2012%20%E2%80%93%20Esteban%20de%20Jes%C3%BAs%20The%20Puerto%20Rican%20Boxing%20Champion%20Whose%20Story%20the%20World%20Should%20Never%20Forget%20Goodbye%20HIV%2004.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Celebrities with HIV &amp;ndash; 12 &amp;ndash; Esteban de Jes&amp;uacute;s The Puerto Rican Boxing Champion Whose Story the World Should Never Forget Goodbye HIV 04.jpg (199 KB)&quot; width=&quot;550&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #808080;&quot;&gt;Image source:&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.clarin.com/deportes/carcel-drogas-muerte-prematura-vih-caida-esteban-jesus-boxeador-sorprendio-mundo-noquear-mano-piedra-duran_0_zrKuvUaTs.html#google_vignette&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Clar&amp;iacute;n&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What He Left Behind&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;hr /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Esteban de Jes&amp;uacute;s left behind a boxing legacy that deserves far more recognition than it receives. He was one of the few fighters ever to defeat Roberto Dur&amp;aacute;n. He was a world champion. He was, by the accounts of those who knew him, a quiet and dedicated man who was consumed by an addiction that took hold before he was old enough to fully understand what he was losing.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That image became a powerful reminder in the fight against HIV stigma, reinforcing what many public health campaigns were also trying to communicate: that people living with AIDS deserved compassion, dignity, and care. It reminded the world that those living with AIDS were still worthy of love, dignity, and a hug and a kiss on the forehead from an old friend.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Esteban de Jes&amp;uacute;s deserves to be remembered &amp;mdash; not only as a cautionary tale but also as a champion. And the photograph of Dur&amp;aacute;n embracing him deserves to be remembered as one of the most human moments in the history of a disease that too often strips people of their humanity.&lt;/p&gt;

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