By Jim Dower: John Duddy (29-2, 18 KO’s) gave a good account of himself on Saturday night in his 12 round decision loss to unbeaten Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) in San Antonio, Texas. Duddy, 31, has nothing to be ashamed of because he fought remarkably well during the first half of the fight and if he could have maintained the high pace of the fight then he would have had an excellent chance of beating Chavez Jr.

In looking at that fight, I can see one area where Duddy may have blown the fight. He failed to throw many body shots during the bout, and that’s a big departure from the way that Duddy usually fights. He seemed more preoccupied with throwing shots to the head as he looked like he was hoping to score a knockout over Chavez.

By neglecting throwing to the body, Duddy missed out on the chance of wearing Chavez down in the later rounds. Instead, it was Chavez who was the one that was throwing powerful body shots and having Duddy flinching a lot of the time, even when Chavez wasn’t looking to throw body shots.

I don’t know if the outcome of the fight would have been any different had Duddy thrown more body punches, but I think it couldn’t have hurt him any. He would have at least had the chance of tiring Chavez out. And by keeping him close, Duddy would have limited some of the powerful right hands that Chavez was repeatedly nailing him with while on the outside.

Duddy also could have worked harder during his training camp on his stamina. He didn’t look as well conditioned as Chavez Jr. and didn’t appear to have the stamina to fight hard for 12 rounds without tiring. With a little more training and more of an emphasis on throwing body punches, Duddy would have stood a much better chance at winning the fight.

The other things that Duddy did wrong in the fight was retreating to the ropes and letting Chavez nail him. Duddy did that frequently in the fight and Chavez was able to take advantage of that by nailing him with heavy punches.

Duddy didn’t appear ready for Chavez’s late surge at the ends of every round. He should have seen that Chavez would throw a lot of shots at the end of the round to steal it and influence the judges. It worked well, because Duddy was never prepared for Chavez’s round stealing tactics and took punishment in the final seconds each time.