By Jason Kim: Irish Middleweight contender John Duddy (29-2, 18 KO’s) was easily beaten by fellow Top Rank fighter Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision on June 26th at the Alamodome, in San Antonio, Texas. Duddy, 31, took a beating in the fight and was badly marked up around his eyes after the bout. It was a grueling fight in which Duddy really wasn’t competitive for the most part. After the fight, Duddy’s promoter Bob Arum, perhaps to cheer Duddy up, said this: “As soon as he [Duddy] recovers and as soon as Yuri’s [Foreman] knee heals, we’re going to sell out Madison Square Garden next year.”

First of all, I don’t buy for a second that a bout between two recent losers like Duddy and Foreman will ever sell out Madison Square Garden, not if they’re the main event. I could be wrong, but I don’t either of them as having a big enough following to sell out the 20,000 seat Madison Square Garden. I question whether this is a fight that Arum is doing to help Duddy or to help Foreman. I don’t see this as a match-up that’s good for Duddy.

Really, I think this is a match-up that mainly benefits the smaller, quicker and much more slick Foreman rather than Duddy. I hope Duddy thinks hard before taking this fight, because I see him being in a bad position where he would be serving as the opponent and I don’t think he can beat Foreman. Duddy might be better off taking the smaller pay check and fighting some guys he knows he can beat rather than getting twice in a row and potentially messing his career up.

Foreman is not the type of fighter that Duddy has done good against during his career, and I think he might end up losing almost every round. I think Foreman is better than Chavez Jr., and we just saw what Chavez, a B level fighter, was able to do with Duddy. If Duddy wants to continue with his career and make it last longer, I wouldn’t take the Foreman fight.

I would tell Arum, ‘No thanks, don’t want to fight Foreman and have to chase him around the ring. Please find me someone else a little more stationary.’ Arum might not like hearing Duddy say no to him, but it’s Duddy’s career and he’s the one that would be messed up if he gets beaten for the second consecutive time. Duddy needs to be fighting guys that work with his style of fighting and a guy like Foreman doesn’t work at all with it, from what I seen of him. Chavez was able to give Duddy huge problems by jabbing him from the outside. Foreman would do the same, and mix in quick in and out attacks to give Duddy big headaches.