This article is about John Duddy, the Irish boxer. For the Scottish murderer, see Massacre of Braybrook Street. For the man shot dead on Bloody Sunday in Derry, see Bloody Sunday (1972).
John Francis Duddy
(born 19 June 1979, Derry, Northern Ireland) is a middleweight professional boxer. Duddy fights under the moniker of Ireland's John Duddy
or The Derry Destroyer
.
Duddy has lost once in 27 bouts, with 17 of his wins by knockout with 9 of those KO's coming in the first round. He is the former IBA World and WBC Continental Americas middleweight title holder. [1]
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JOHN DUDDY TICKETS
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Amateur career
As an amateur Duddy fought 130 times, winning 100 of his bouts. Duddy won his first
Irish national title at the age of 15 as a
light middleweight in the Junior Division, later winning Irish titles at the Intermediate and Elite Levels. He also represented Ireland at European level and during
Olympic qualifiers.
[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Professional career
Debut
Duddy turned professional September 2003, and his first fight as a pro was fight Tarek Rashed in
The Bronx. He won via first round knockout. On 22 November, he stopped Jesse Gomez at the
Crowne Plaza hotel. His next bout was also at the Crowne Plaza, where he beat Leo Laudat on 21 December but suffered his first knockdown.
Early professional fights
Duddy began 2004 by stepping up his opponent quality a notch, when he met Ken Hock on 9 January at
Uncasville, Connecticut. Hock had ten victories against four losses and one draw (tie) coming into his bout with Duddy. Hock became the first boxer to go more than one round against Duddy, but still lost by knockout to the Irish prospect in the fourth round.
Duddy then experienced his career's longest lay-off, waiting over nine months before his next bout. When he returned, he once again won by first round knockout, defeating
Victor Paz on 30 October at
Middletown, New York. Duddy quickly returned to action after that fight, beating
William Johnson on 18 November in
Manhattan.
Duddy's final fight of 2004 came on 12 December at
Brighton Beach, Brooklyn against the then undefeated Glen Dunnings. Dunnings became only the second boxer to go more than one round against Duddy, when he was knocked out in the fifth round.
Duddy's first fight of 2005 came on 4 February, when he beat Chuck Orso in
White Plains.
St. Patrick's Day events
On 18 March, Duddy fought the undefeated prospect Leonard Pierre as part of an Irish themed "day after
Saint Patrick's Day card". This undercard was televised in the United States on ESPN, with Duddy and Pierre fighting the semi-main event of the card, which was headlined by
heavyweight Kevin McBride, who later defeated
Mike Tyson.
[9]
Both the live crowd and the television announcers expected an early knockout in this fight, given that Pierre also had six first round knockout wins. Duddy proceeded to drop Pierre twice before experienced referee Frank Cappuccino stopped the fight, giving Duddy his seventh first round knockout, and his ninth consecutive knockout victory. The famous former boxer
Micky Ward, who is Irish-American and who provided commentary from the ESPN studio for that fight, expressed pleasure with Duddy's performance that night.
On 11 June 2005 Duddy boxed against
Patrick Thompson in
Madison Square Garden. Thompson became the third boxer to last the first round, and both fighters boxed to a judge's decision. The score on all three cards was 80-72 in favor of Duddy, who extended his win streak to ten, while his knockout streak ended at nine.
In his next eight fights, he knocked out six of his opponents, including first round knock outs of both
Joseph Brady (17 September 2005) and
Shelby Pudwill (16 March 2006). On the undercard of the 10 June 2006
Miguel Cotto-
Paul Malignaggi Top Rank Pay-Per-View fight, Duddy took on the experienced fighter Alfredo Cuevas, who in 2004 went the 12 round distance with current
middleweight champion
Jermain Taylor. It was Duddy's eighth fight in less than a year and his third at Madison Square Garden, but he showed no signs of fatigue, fighting Cuevas for 7 rounds before Cuevas retired on his stool with a broken nose and several deep cuts.
Duddy's next fight came against
Yori Boy Campas, again at Madison Square Garden. Against an opponent with ten times more professional experience, Duddy went the distance, winning in a unanimous decision after 12 rounds.
On 16 March 2007, he beat
Anthony Bonsante at Madison Square Garden. Duddy won with a unanimous 90-81, 89-82 and 88-83 decision when the fight was stopped after the ninth round by referee
Steve Smoger, due to heavy bleeding from Bonsante's forehead caused by an earlier accidental headbutt.
Return to Ireland
On 14 July 2007 Duddy fought the first of his two scheduled fights in what has been billed as his
"Homecoming"
to Ireland. In his first at the National Stadium in Dublin, his opponent was
Alessio Furlan. Duddy was ruled the winner by TKO with only 10 seconds to go in the 10th and final round. John then went on to defeat Prince Arron in 2 rounds on October 20th in the National Stadium, Dublin. Duddy fought
Howard Eastman at the King's Hall in
Belfast, Northern Ireland on 8 December. The fight was expected to be his toughest to date. In front of 5,500 supporters, Duddy recorded a ten round 96-94 points victory. The fight was close and exciting with the crowd encouraging Duddy's promotional team to consider a return to the Belfast venue in the near future.
[10] [11] [12]
Loss to Lyell
In his latest bout on April 24, 2009, Duddy was beaten via ten-round decision by Billy Lyell, a fighter with seven losses in his twenty-five fights.
Boxing writer Dan Rafael accused Duddy of having a "carefully manufactured record" and said that Duddy was "exposed" after his first loss.
[13]
After First Loss
John will be fighting again on
October 10 2009 against
Michi Munoz.
Personal Life
John has a wife named Grainne.
Ratings
| Organization
| Rank
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| WBO
| 2
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| WBA
| Unranked
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| WBC
| 5
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| IBO
| 12 *
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| IBF
| 7
|
| IBA
| 10
|
| NABO
| Unranked
|
| Boxrec
| 30 *
|
*Indicates computerized ranking
Notes and references
- "John Duddy"
- Ireland take Gold
- Talks to John Duddy
- Prospect Watch: The Fighting Irishman John Duddy
- The Boxer
- Phenomenon
- Ireland’s Warrior - John Duddy
- Who is John Duddy?
- Official WBA Ratings as of July 2006
- Duddy to take on veteran Eastman, BBC News
- Duddy the only show in town, ''Belfast Telegraph''
- Duddy to face Eastman in Belfast, RTE
- Froch Takes out Taylor in the Final Minute