Former four-weight boxing world champion Roberto Duran is under observation in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus.

Duran's son Robin said he was taken to hospital after experiencing cold-like symptoms and because "he has a lung that doesn't work 100 per cent due to an accident in Argentina a few years ago".

It was soon confirmed the 69-year-old Panamanian boxing legend had contracted COVID-19.

"My dad's tests have just arrived and confirm that he is positive for COVID-19. Thank God that for now he has no symptoms other than those of a cold," Robin Duran wrote on Instagram.

"He is not in intensive care or on a ventilator, he is still under observation.

"We just talked to the doctor and he tells us that the lungs are fine and there is no indication of seriousness.

"Let's continue to have faith that everything will turn out well."

Duran is considered one of the all-time greats, having made his name as a lightweight champion before claiming world titles at welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight.

He earned the nickname 'Manos de Piedra' – Hands of Stone – due to his ferocious punching power and enjoyed a great rivalry with Sugar Ray Leonard.

Duran handed Leonard his first professional defeat in June 1980 but lost the WBC welterweight title rematch in New Orleans, remembered as the famous 'No Mas' fight, five months later.

Duran ended his 31-year career in 2001 with a 103-16 record.