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Sidewalks with Tom Deignan

Ring Dreams on the Big Screen

May 31, 2007

by Tom deignan

BY now, the rise of Derry boxer John Duddy is a well-known story both in boxing circles and the Irish American community. The undefeated middleweight is a Top 10 contender in both the WBO and the IBF. He is currently in Ireland following the announcement of a mid-July fight to be held in Dublin. Duddy will then return to New York to begin training.

It is the place that Duddy has been training for the past few years, the Irish Ropes gym, that perhaps deserves much more attention.

Now, with the production of a new documentary movie called Irish Ropes, perhaps more people will appreciate this quintessential New York Irish story.

This is the story of Duddy as well as fellow Irishman Eddie McLoughlin, and the adversity he has overcome. Then there is the gym McLoughlin operates in the furthest reaches of Queens and the inner-city New Yorkers for whom he provides a safe haven.

That does not include just aspiring boxers. Indeed, the story of Duddy, McLoughlin and Irish Ropes goes well beyond the sweet science. Aside from starring in the new documentary, they are also in the process of raising $100,000 for New York school kids.

Spend some time around Irish Ropes as Queens artist and filmmaker Bob Sarnoff has done, compiling footage for his documentary (clips are available on YouTube.com) and it becomes clear that McLoughlin’s gym is a place where New York’s tough present collides with its equally gritty past.

In the Irish Ropes gym on any given day, Irish accents mingle with voices shaped by today’s mean streets in Brownsville, East New York or other tough Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods.

That is one of the first things that struck Queens filmmaker Sarnoff, whose documentary was going to be featured at a June 9 Irish Ropes fundraiser for New York youth.

McLoughlin, Duddy and the crew at Irish Ropes are currently spearheading a fundraiser aimed at raising $100,000 for two Brooklyn public school students and a teacher.

The fundraiser at Rosie O’Grady’s in midtown Manhattan has since been re-scheduled for September because of Duddy’s upcoming Dublin fight.

“We apologize for any inconvenience the postponement may cause,” McLoughlin has said. “The students have been notified and they understand that we are still committed to the fundraiser and them. It’s just that John is going into training earlier than we had originally planned and he won’t be available for the fundraiser.”

Either way, Sarnoff’s documentary which is being shopped to TV stations in Ireland and the U.S. offers a peek into some of New York’s toughest, yet also most inspirational, lives.

McLoughlin’s own immigrant journey is nearly as fascinating as Duddy’s rise to prominence in the ring.

McLoughlin himself dreamed of a career as a boxer. However, a nearly fatal motorcycle accident in Westmeath left him without a leg.

McLoughlin eventually relocated to the Rockaways, in Queens, the “Irish Riviera” which has become one

of the city’s toughest neighborhoods. There, McLoughlin used his love for boxing to erect a world class gym.

As seen in Sarnoff’s documentary, McLoughlin seems a bit like a character out of a 1940s Hollywood movie: a gruff Irish saint with a common touch. But in the year 2007, there are no longer Irish kids roaming the streets. Instead, black and Hispanic teens find their way to the Irish Ropes.

But just like the troubled kids from the bygone days of the Bowery Boys, today’s New York teens still seek discipline and a dream to strive for.

That comes in the form of the annual Daily News Golden Gloves boxing tournament. Sarnoff’s movie explores how numerous amateurs train for the event. Legendary Irish Golden Gloves competitor Gerry Cooney offers memories from his glory days.

Irish Ropes is Sarnoff’s second documentary, following No Rooms Lobby, about an SRO building on 116th Street. No Rooms Lobby won Best Docudrama at the 2005 Bare Bones International Film Festival in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“Knowing Eddie McLoughlin and John Duddy does not make me an expert on the Irish,” Sarnoff says. “But these two men have wonderful gifts of gab, can turn a phrase. Their colorful, wonderful use of language is refreshing.”

When the documentary Irish Ropes hits TV screens, viewers will see not merely an insightful movie. They’ll see that Duddy, McLoughlin and the Irish Ropes crew are the latest in a long line of Irish immigrants who came to the U.S. and served the disenfranchised, whether through sports, schools, the church or even politics.

(Contact at tomdeignan@ verizon.net.)

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