- This article is about John Duddy, the Irish boxer. For the Scottish murderer, see Massacre of Braybrook Street.
John Duddy (born June 19, 1979 in Derry, Ireland) is a Middleweight boxing prospect. Duddy is nicknamed "Ireland's John Duddy".
John Duddy has won all sixteen of his professional bouts, fourteen by knockout, and nine of them in the first round. He has been featured on undercard bouts on ESPN, among other television channels.
Before becoming a professional boxer, Duddy left his native Ireland to settle in New York City, as it is more lucrative for boxers to fight often in the United States than in Europe, and, by moving to New York, Duddy knew his image would be more marketable.
Duddy had his first professional fight on September 19, 2003, against Tarek Rashed, in The Bronx. He won by a first round knockout.
On November 22, he stopped Jesse Gomez at the Crowne Plaza hotel. His next bout was also at the Crowne Plaza, as he beat Leo Laudat on December 21.
Duddy began 2004 by stepping up his opponent quality a notch, when he met Ken Hock on January 9 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 he still ended up losing by knockout to the Irish prospect, when Duddy beat him in the fourth round.
Duddy then experienced his career's longest lay-off, when he had to wait nine months and a half before his next bout. When he returned, he once again won by first round knockout, defeating Victor Paz on October 30 at Middletown, New York.
It would not be too long before Duddy returned to action after the fight with Paz, however, as he beat William Johnson on November 18 at Manhattan.
Duddy's last fight in 2004 came on December 12, against the until then undefeated Glen Dunnings, who managed to become the second boxer to go more than one round against Duddy during their fight, held at Brighton Beach, but who ended up being knocked out by Duddy in five rounds.
Duddy's first fight of 2005 came on February 4, when he beat Chuck Orso in White Plains.
On March 18, Duddy boxed Leonard Pierre as part of an undercard that had most fights featuring at least one Irish fighter. This undercard was televised in the United States by ESPN, and Duddy and Pierre fought the semi main event of the crad, headlined by Heavyweight Kevin McBride, who would later defeat Mike Tyson. Pierre came into this fight undefeated after sixteen bouts.
Both the live crowd and the television announcers expected an early knockout in this fight, given the fact that Pierre also had six first round knockout wins. Duddy proceeded to drop Pierre twice before experienced referee Frank Capuccino stopped the fight, giving Duddy his seventh first round knockout, and his ninth consecutive knockout victory. The famous former boxer Micky Ward, who is also Irish and who provided commentary from the ESPN studio for that fight, expressed pleasure with Duddy's performance that night.
On June 11 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 John Duddy, who extended his win streak to ten, while his knockout streak ended at nine.
External links
- Duddy's boxrec page
- FightBeat.com Interview with Duddy