By Chris Williams: Unbeaten Julio Cesar Chavez (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) stayed undefeated on Saturday night, easily defeating John Duddy (29-2, 18 KO’s) by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision to win the WBC Silver middleweight title at the Alamodome, in San Antonio, Texas. The final judges’ scores were 120-108, 116-112 and 117-111, all for the 24-year-old Chavez. I had Chavez easily the winning the fight by 11 rounds to 1. Duddy looked horrible throughout. Chavez didn’t look all that great either, but good enough to beat a fighter like Duddy. Chavez once again proves that he can beat a B level fighter.

Below is the round by round action of the fight.

In the 1st round, Duddy came right at Chavez Jr., but was caught with looping left hooks a number of times on the way in. Chavez wasn’t messing around with his jabs or right hands, but mostly timing Duddy with lead left hooks to the head. It was target practice for Chavez for the most part. Near the end of the round, Chavez landed a couple of nice fight hands to the head. Duddy looks tight and uncomfortable. It was an easy round for Chavez.

In the 2nd, Duddy comes out fast looking to make up for his poor showing in the 1st round, landing hard shots to the body of Chavez on the inside. Chavez returns fire with powerful hook to Duddy’s ribcage. Duddy looks to be trying to turn it into a brawl. Chavez landed a hard right hand and is blocking most of Duddy’s wild swings. Chavez clearly throwing with more power and looking much more composed than Duddy at this point in the fight. It looks like Duddy is trying to go back to his old style of brawling, and Chavez accomodated him in this round. However, Chavez landed the harder shots in the round. The question here is whether Chavez Jr. can keep it up for 12 rounds.

In 3rd round action, Chavez greets Duddy with powerful overhand right to start off the round In close, Chavez nails the wide open Duddy with a right uppecut to the head. Duddy looks uncomfortable with the accuracy and power from Chavez. Also, the Texas crowd is cheering for every punch that Chavez lands, and this doesn’t seem to be helping Duddy either. Duddy trying to brawl on the inside. Chavez lands a hard right hand from the outside. Duddy very vulnerable when Chavez is on the outside. Duddy getting nailed with hard jabs to the head. Chavez fires a big right hand that lands cleanly. Duddy comes back with some hard body shots and tries to stay on the inside. Chavez connects with a hard uppercut that snaps Duddy’s head while on the inside. However, Duddy keeps firing back. Another Chavez round. At this point, it looks like Chavez has won all three rounds so far. However, Chavez tends to fade late in his fights and Duddy is forcing him to fight a lot harder than the other B level fighters that have been spoon fed to Chavez in his seven year pro career. Duddy is better than most of them, but not by much.

In 4th round action, Chavez blasts Duddy with a hard right hand that knocks Duddy backwards from the impact. However, Duddy quickly comes right back for more, landing a couple of good right hands of his own. Chavez connects with a hard left hook. Chavez fires in two right hands that connect cleanly to the head of Duddy. Chavez still throwing with a lot of power, and Duddy still looking god awful on defense. If he was better at making Chavez miss or at least blocking some shots, the fight would likely be very close. Chavez is kind of slow and doesn’t throw a lot of punches. Chavez ends the round with a nice three punching combination that all connect cleanly. Another round for Chavez.

In the 5th, Duddy comes out fast, landing two left hooks that had knockout intention written all over them. Duddy worms his way back on the inside, but still getting clocked at close range as well as on the outside. However, he’s pushing Chavez, making him work hard. You have to wonder whether Chavez can keep this up without running out of gas. Chavez landing well to the body and finishes the round strong with a powerful left-right combination.

In the 6th action, Duddy blasts Chavez with a powerful right hand counter shot that snaps Chavez’s head. Chavez looks okay, but that couldn’t have been good to take a shot like that. Chavez’s defense looking kind of poor this round. Chavez slowing down, not moving as much and becoming the usual plodder that he often is in his fights. Duddy connects with a hard left hook to the head. Chavez fires back a 1-2 combination, but not as much steam on the shots. This is clear round for Duddy, the 1st of the fight as far as I can see. I now have the fight scored 5 rounds to 1 for Chavez.

In the 7th, Chavez lands a big right hand at the start of the round. And follows with a huge left hand. Duddy now fires back a combination of his own. Chavez lands two short punches on the inside, but Duddy fires back two of his own. Chavez ends the round with a nice combination. This is another round for Chavez.

In the 8th, Chavez continues to land hard right hands and combinations on the inside. Duddy trying to keep things close, but getting picked apart on the inside. His punches don’t have the same steam on them compared to Chavez.

In the 9th, Chavez lands a big right hand that appears to hurt Duddy. However, Duddy keeps coming forward trying to land his own shots. Chavez fires in a nice left to he midsection followed by a crunching punch to the head. Duddy just takes it, looking like a glutton for punishment and keeps plodding forward. Duddy doesn’t look good as Chavez is now nailing him at will with punches. This is a huge round for Chavez.

In the 10th, Duddy immediately is on top of Chavez, nailing him with shots. It’s as if he knows he has to score a knockout to win and is trying to take Chavez out of there. Chavez and Duddy fighting in close, exchanging shot for shot. Chavez nails Duddy with a hard left hook that sends him backing up. Chavez fires a right hand that lands cleanly, but doesn’t stop Duddy from coming forward looking to land some of his own. At the end of the round, Duddy doesn’t look all that good as he walks back to his corner. He’s taken a heck of a lot of punishment in this fight, more than usual when he facing his B level opponents. Chavez is clearly a little better than the usual 2nd tier fighters that Duddy has faced thus far in his career, but not by much. Chavez still looks very mediocre and not championship level to me. Something is still missing from him in many areas.

In the 11th, Chavez nails Duddy with a hard combination to start the round. Duddy looks hurt from a right hand to the head. Duddy backing up after eating a hard right hand. Chavez fires a huge right hand that flies right through Duddy’s guard connecting to his head. Duddy can’t block a punch to save his life, but then again, he’s been fighting like that all through the bout. No real change. Duddy backed up now with his back against the ropes as the round ends. Another easy round for Chavez. Duddy still fighting back, but he looked in bad shape after eating some massive shots in that round. Basically, he needs a knockout to win. I doubt he’ll get one.

In the 12th, Duddy looking fired and unsteady as he lands a shot, almost tripping over his own two feet. Chavez looks in command of the fight, which isn’t saying much. Chavez fires off a couple of hard body shots. Duddy firing back at close range with shots of his own. Duddy fighting as he’s backing up, and looking weak. Chavez catches up to hi and they both flurry on each other as the round ends. Chavez wins this round as well.

Overall, Duddy looked horrible. No defense, zero power, slow on his feet and looking like a B level fighter. Although Chavez looked better, he still looked nothing like the top fighters in the middleweight and junior middleweight division. I think Chavez would have been knocked cold by Alfredo Angulo and dominated by guys like Antonio Margarito, Sergio Martinez, and Kermit Cintron. I scored the fight 11 rounds to 1 for Chavez.