BOXING: JOHN DUDDY might consider adding one of those "Stadium Tour" logs to his Facebook page. Having survived Saturday night's 10-round experience with Michael Medina at Cowboys Stadium none the worse for wear, the Derry middleweight is already on the books for his next engagement – a prominent role on promoter Bob Arum's al fresco card at the new Yankee Stadium on June 5th.
While attendance at the New York venue is unlikely to approach the 50,994 who paid through the turnstiles at Jerry Jones’ €870,000 ($1.2 million) monument to himself, it’s a safe bet Duddy will enjoy considerably more support from the crowd in the Bronx than he did from the mostly Tex-Mex crowd in Dallas.
Although the main event pitted a Filipino, Manny Pacquiao, against a Ghanaian, Joshua Clottey, Arum’s matchmakers were under instructions to load up the undercard with an Hispanic cast to appeal to Texas’ largest ethic population. While you wouldn’t have categorised the audience as openly hostile, there’s no question that the Nueva Leon-born Medina enjoyed considerably more support than did Duddy.
That may have contributed to the curious scorecard returned by a ringside judge named Arturo Velasquez. In a fight his colleagues Mike Mitchell and Charles Phillips both scored 96-93 for Duddy (our unofficial tally was the same), Velasquez arrived at the same total in Medina’s favour – even though referee Robert Chapa had penalised the Mexican a point for an eighth-round low blow.
Duddy had promised “fireworks” in his fight against Medina, which kicked off the televised portion of Arum’s 10-bout card, but as if by mutual agreement the scrap quickly devolved into one of those technical battles reminiscent of Duddy’s Pat Burns phase. The two battled on even terms over the first half of the bout, before Duddy assumed control in the sixth, and appeared to have beaten the fight out of Medina, whose punches seemed increasingly vitiated of power.
After nine rounds, abetted by the point deducted from his opponent, Duddy had built a sufficient lead that he essentially attempted to coast his way through the rest.
Just before the bell opened the 10th, Duddy stood in his corner and raised a glove to his forehead as he saluted his foe. Medina, who could not have known of Velasquez’ largesse, assumed his position to be similarly desperate, and for the first time all evening took chances. It wasn’t until the last 20 seconds of the fight that he finally lured Duddy into the brawl that represented his only chance, and as they fought toe-to-toe Medina landed the best punch either man had effected all evening – a roundhouse right that stunned Duddy literally seconds before the final bell.
“I wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be,” said Duddy. “He hit me with some nice shots, but they weren’t as clean as they looked. He never hurt me.”
The split decision win stretched Duddy’s career record to 29-1.
Pacquiao held up his end of the bargain, posting a lopsided points victory over the Joshua Clottey to retain his WBO welterweight title.
Duddy seemed almost nonchalant when interviewed in the ring. Asked what was next on his agenda, he shrugged and said, “To fight again. June, is it?”
Yeah. At some ball park in the Bronx.
