By Christopher Roche: “Ireland’s” John Duddy is one of the most maligned, undefeated fighters in boxing today. The critics state that he does not move his head, his defense is porous, and his aggression seems to have waned.
Duddy, for his part, acknowledges his faults in the ring, and it seems like he is working to correct them. Clan Duddy recently replaced Don Turner with Pat Burns, as head trainer, and Saturday night, the public will get its first glimpse of the revamped Irish middleweight.
Duddy is in the precarious position, of being undefeated, in his prime, yet on the comeback trail. Sometimes in Boxing, winning is not enough, one must win with style points, but Duddy’s last bout against Walid Smichet, on the undercard of Klitschko vs. Ibragimov, was nearly a disaster. Duddy had a title shot and a seven-figure payday against Kelly Pavlik seemingly in the bag, but Smichet did not follow the script.
At the beginning of the bout, Duddy was ripped with shots to the head, many of which landed shockingly clean. Duddy sustained bad cuts, but a late rally barely allowed him to pull the out the fight. Despite the win, Duddy’s title shot evaporated, and Pavlik wound up defending against Gary Lockett. Duddy, meanwhile, was left licking his wounds, wondering what would happen next.
Duddy’s future begins again on Saturday night in Boston.
Despite being in some bloody wars, and some ugly wins, Duddy seems to live by Oakland Raiders’ owner Al Davis’ mantra, “Just win Baby.” Perhaps it is fitting that Duddy is making his “comeback” in the state of Massachusetts, which also happens to be Davis’ native land. While Davis grew up in the tough City of Brockton, in Southeastern Mass., Duddy will be packing Boston’s Back Bay with his legion of loyal fans.
It will be interesting to see how many of Duddy’s fans turn out and how enthusiastic they are on Saturday. This fight will be a gauge as to whether or not Duddy’s popularity still has momentum. After the bout with Yory Boy Campas, Duddy seemed to be on the express bus to superstardom, but he has taken a few detours since then.
On Saturday night, Duddy is being fed what looks to be a made to order opponent. Charles Howe is coming off a first round TKO loss, and on paper, he is the stereotypical opponent, 33 years old, from the Midwest, with a decent, but uninspiring record of 17-4-2.
If Duddy takes care of business in an impressive way, then he will restore his viability in the division, however, if he struggles as he did against Smichet, then he will have a very difficult time convincing the public that he is a top five contender. The ball is teed up for Duddy, now he just has to hit it dead, solid, perfect.
Duddy, who hails from Derry City, Northern Ireland, by way of Queens, NY, is undefeated at 24-0, 17 KO’s. Howe is from Grelton, Ohio and enters the ring with the aforementioned record of 17-4-2. Howe has been stopped twice in his career.
Word is there were a ton of requests for press credentials for this fight, and while it is not on live television, there will be plenty of reporting about it. The fight will be shown on the internet at secondsout.com. This reporter barely slipped in under the wire, and I will provide ongoing commentary next week, as I am looking forward to making the trip from New York to Boston.