By Tim Williams: Undefeated Irish middleweight John Duddy (25-0, 17 KOs) gets back to work in November against a still unnamed opponent on the 1st at the Roseland Ballroom, in New York City, New York. Duddy, 29, is expected to face a solid, but beatable, fighter on November 21st, someone good but not enough so to possibly hurt him or cut him and mess up his potential fight with Ronald Hearns in January. The fight against Hearns is the one that Duddy is looking forward to. Hearns, the son of the famous welterweight Tommy Hearns, is ranked #11 in the WBC and #13th in the WBA and win over him will go a long way towards establishing Duddy as a potential threat in the light middleweight division.
Duddy is currently ranked #2 in the WBO, #5 in the WBC and #9 in the WBC middleweight division. However, after narrowly defeating middleweights Howard Eastman and Walid Smichet, Duddy was advised by his team to move down to the light middleweight division where he might have a better chance at winning a title. It’s a surprising move, however, because at #2 in the WBO, Duddy is poised for a big money title shot in the near future against champion Kelly Pavlik.
A move down to the light middleweight division, although it would seem like a good move due to Duddy’s medium sized frame and moderate power, might be an ill-advised move for him. Duddy doesn’t figure to have the work rate or power to defeat power punchers like James Kirkland and Alfredo Angulo, nor the boxing skills to contend with crafty fighters like Sergio Martinez and Joe Greene.
While Duddy may be good enough to beat IBF light middleweight champion Verno Phillips or Sergeii Dzinziruk, the WBO champion, that’s not given especially in the case of Dzinziruk. Even under the best circumstances, however, Duddy probably wouldn’t be able to hold onto a title for more than a fight or two before being destroyed by one of the younger fighters like Kirkland and Angulo.
Duddy was poised for a shot against Pavlik last Summer, but received a severe beating from Smichet in the early rounds of their bout on February 23rd. Duddy was able to rally and win the fight by a 10-round majority decision, but he was stunned by a number of huge shots in the 2nd round from Smichet and received badly cuts over both eyes, needing 30 + stitches to repair the damage. That was a fight that was supposed to have been an easy win for Duddy, yet he was almost beaten.
While he showed good heart in the fight, his defense was shockingly bad. In his last fight against Charles Howe, a C-class fighter, Duddy looked much better and showing some slight improvement in his defense. His new trainer Pat Burns has been working hard with Duddy trying to teach him to stop taking so many shots to the head, but he’s still got a lot of work to do, because Duddy was still slugging way too much in his fight with Howe. Duddy’s power, work rate and speed will be a problem for him if he does decide to stay at light middleweight, because the fighters in this division are slightly quicker than the middleweights and have a much better work rate than what Duddy has faced thus far as a middleweight.
I suppose I can understand why he was moved back down a weight class, considering that he’s not that big a puncher, but I think it may be a bad decision in the end. Duddy’s power will be just as much not a factor in the light middleweight division than it was in the middleweight class. His best weapon, his excellent jab, will be the key for him here, yet he won’t be able to beat the knockout sluggers like Angulo and Kirkland with just his jab, and he’ll be easily out-boxed by Greene and Sergio Martinez if Duddy ever fights them.
I don’t see many easy fights for him in this division, and see this as a minefield of better fighters that Duddy would have to tiptoe around if he wants to find any success at all. Duddy probably would do well to move back up to the middleweight division where he would appear to have better chances against fighters like Felix Sturm and Arthur Abraham. Pavlik, naturally, will destroy Duddy if they ever fight but at least Duddy will get a huge payday, which is a lot more than he’ll get if he stays at light middleweight. I have doubts whether he’s good enough even to beat Hearns, and I think that’s a really bad match-up for Duddy given Hearns’ long arms and good jab.