By Sean McDaniel: Undefeated middleweight John Duddy (25-0, 17 KOs) will be returning to the ring on November 21st against journeyman Sam Hill (17-9-1, 10 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round bout at the Roseland Ballroom, in New York City, New York. Duddy, 29, ranked #2 in the WBO and #7 in the IBF, is within range of a title shot against WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, which might explain the reason why Duddy appears to be taking no chances of getting beaten by taking on another easy opponent in the way of Hill. Who can blame Duddy?
He was almost stopped two fights ago by Canadian Walid Smichet, who rocked Duddy early in the 2nd round and cut his face up badly in the process. Duddy fought well in the second half of the fight and eventually won by a close 10-round majority decision. However, the fight underscored Duddy’s lack of defense including his tendency to get drawn in for brawls. With neither the explosive power or the tough skin for this kind of fighting, Duddy has turned fights that would have probably been an easy win for him, like against the aforementioned Smichet and Luis Ramon Campas, and making them extremely difficult bouts for Duddy.
Duddy has a bout planned for January with light middleweight Ronald Hearns, the son of boxer Tommy Hearns, if both Duddy and Hearns win their next bouts. Given that the fight is at light middleweight, Duddy won’t lose his high ranking in the middleweight division should he lose to Hearns. However, a loss certainly wouldn’t help Duddy’s standing in the boxing community, which already has taken a big hit with his close call with Smichet.
However, Duddy doesn’t have a lot of other options available to him if he wants to move up the light middleweight rankings. Compared to other lower ranked fighters in the light middleweight division like Alfred Angulo, Alex Bunema, Zaurbek Baysangurov, Roman Karmazin, Anthony Small and Jamie Moore, Hearn, ranked #15th in the IBF, easily appears the best option of the bunch.
As for Hill, he’s 38 years-old, and has faced a number of quality fighters like Prince Badi Ajamu, Jermain Taylor, Peter Quillin, Rico Hoye and Sebastien Demers. Though he loses to the better fighters, his good chin often keeps him in the fight until the end in most cases. His offensive skills are mediocre, he has little power and his work rate is poor, perhaps a good reason for him being chosen by Duddy as an opponent.
Hill’s best win of his career, a 9th round TKO over former Olympic Gold medalist David Reid in November 2001, was Hill high point of his career. Since then, he’s lost seven out of his last ten fights, including three straight. However, Hill has a way of making fighters look bad by standing in there with them, blocking shots and taking them, while firing back every once in awhile with a quick flurry. Based on his performances against sluggers like Quillen and Hoye, it would remain doubtful that Duddy will be able to take him out inside the distance.