By Sean Mcdaniel: In somewhat of a comeback fight, undefeated middleweight contender John Duddy (25-0, 17 KOs) defeated Charles Howe (17-5-2, 9 KOs) by a one-sided 10-round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the The Castle, in Boston, Massachusetts. The final judges’ scores were 100-90, 100-90 and 100-90. However, despite winning the fight by lopsided scores, the 29 year-old Duddy showed little in the way of improvement over his previous form in his last fight, a 10-round majority decision over Walid Smichet in February.
As usual, Duddy stood straight up in a traditional European style of fighting, constantly came forward trying to slug it out with Howe, and despite the huge gulf between them in terms of boxing talent, Duddy was hit cleanly by Howe much too often for the likes of me. And, like always, Duddy was cut up, receiving a cut on the right side of his eye in the 9th. He did, however, show good power – at least when the was putting his hands together, that is – staggering Howe, 33, in the 2nd, 5th and 10th rounds with big shots to the head.
It looked as if Duddy could have possibly taken Howe out late in the 10th, but he seemed to have mercy on him, letting him off the hook and not going for the kill when he had him. I guess I’m not surprised, because the whole fight was more like one big sparring session rather than a fight that was supposed to have been a competitive one. Obviously, Howe was brought in as a sacrificial lamb, a none-risky fighter – read: no power, no hand speed, no defense and few, if any, boxing skills – selected to make Duddy look good without beating him almost senselessly like Smichet had done in February.
With all that going for Duddy, you’d have expected a little more domination that what one saw on Saturday night. Since, after all, Howe was nothing more than a 3rd tier fighter that was going up against Duddy, ranked #2 in the World Boxing Council, #2 in the World Boxing Organization, #6 in the World Boxing Association and #10 in the International Boxing Federation middleweight division. With those kind of rankings, wouldn’t you think that Duddy had the goods to not only dominate but destroy an over-matched opponent like Howe?
The first round was surprisingly close as Duddy came out looking ramrod stiff, standing straight up, walked into a lot of jabs and right hands from Howe, who looked wild with most of his shots. However, with Duddy coming in leading with his face, Howe’s accuracy wasn’t as bad as it would have otherwise been. They almost immediately went into a clinch, where Howe showed off some of his nifty boxing skills, hammering Duddy with rabbit punches to the back of his head.
After they were broke apart, Howe tagged Duddy with a couple of good shots to the head, neither one even close to being blocked by Duddy. It seemed as if Duddy’s reflexes were on a second delay, reacting only after the shot had landed to his head. Duddy finally answered back with some jabs and right hands, shooting out his rights in quick snapping fashion without much shoulder and body put behind the punches. Unlike most other fighters, Duddy doesn’t seem to put his body behind his shots, instead standing almost vertical and throwing punches that look like something a fighter from 100 years ago might have thrown.
At the same time, his arms, both short in length, make it necessary for him to get in real close in order to get his shots in. He could get by a little better if he were able to bend at the waist like most fighters, leaning forward as they throw, but not Duddy. He stands straight up every time, which makes it almost impossible for him to land unless he gets really close. I suppose this is why an ordinary fighter like Howe was able to hit Duddy repeatedly in the early rounds, making them closer than they should have been.
Howe was knocked out in the 1st round of his last fight against a fighter by the name of Joey Gilbert, a fighter not even ranked in the top 15. Maybe that’s who Duddy should have been fighting rather than Howe, you know? Ah, probably too risky, I bet.
In the 2nd round, Duddy staggered Howe with a right hand, who immediately fell up against the ropes, giving Duddy some free target practice. However, after pasting him with some tasty left hands a couple of choice rights, Howe still stood, almost taunting Duddy for his lack of finishing power. He immediately grabbed Duddy in a clinch, and on the break, tagged Duddy with a clean right hand to the head.
In the 3rd round, Duddy continued to eat right hands from Howe, one of them being a really big right hand at the start of the round, as Howe caught Duddy as he was coming in at him trying to get in his own shots. Duddy then unveiled a new wrinkle in his offense, an ability to throw speedy combinations, one after another similar to the punching style of Floyd Mayweather Jr. It looked good, really good, in fact, and did a number on Howe, who didn’t know what to do except take the shots. Howe still continued to occasionally land some big shots in the round, and it seemed odd that Duddy wasn’t able to take him out. He should have been considering his better boxing skills and power, yet Howe continued to hang around.
Duddy hurt Howe at the end of the 5th round, tagging him with a left-right combination right before the end of the round. The 6th round had good action with a lot of the fight being done with both fighters against the ropes, trading shots. Duddy did most of the punching, naturally, but Howe would answer back every once in awhile and catch Duddy to the head. The 7th round was mostly dull, with little action to speak of. Duddy seemed to be taking the round off for some reason. He came back strong in the 8th, working over Howe along the ropes and hitting him with his speedy combinations to the head. It looked good, Duddy hitting Howe with six shots in a matter of seconds and looking like a cross between Mayweather and Joe Calzaghe. Unfortunately, he didn’t always use the punches, and reverted back to his old style of fighting. In the 10th round, Duddy hurt Howe near the end of the round, tagging him with a good right hand. As I said before, he didn’t go after him, looking as if he didn’t want to take him out for some reason.