Clinical Duddy Hammers Howe

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Irish Voice Sport

Clinical Duddy Hammers Howe

July 2, 2008

By Declan O’Kelly

DERRYMAN John Duddy (25-0, 17 KOs) returned to action in style as he calmly destroyed Charles Howe at the Castle in Boston last Saturday. The 29-year-old was under pressure to deliver a good performance after the Walid Smichet fight in February. He did so with aplomb.

In his first fight with trainer Pat Burns, Duddy was patient, composed and set up everything off a cutting jab. There was no brawling for the 1,497 fans who turned up in Boston to support him. After the initial adrenaline rush of the first round subsided, Duddy was clinical in executing the game plan he and Burns devised during training camp.

Duddy, who looked tanned and more muscular in the upper body, was all business as he carved out openings in the first session with an authoritative jab laced with great combinations to the body. The second session started with Duddy flipping out a triple jab that pierced Howe’s defense.

In the third, Duddy continued the good work, letting his hands go with five and six punch combinations and moving away. Howe tried to get through with an overhand right a few times, the same punch that caused so much damage in the Smichet fight, but Duddy had clearly put some time into defensive improvement. He moved his head more than he had done so in recent fights, and was hardly tagged at all during the one-sided affair.

At the end of the fifth round Duddy hurt and almost finished Howe. A right followed by three left hooks to the head had Howe all over the ropes, and the bell saved the man from Ohio from a stoppage or a knockout.

The sixth round was one of Duddy’s best rounds of boxing in some time. He simply boxed the ears off his opponent. A clearly disillusioned Howe had to be cajoled by his corner to keep going and not quit, and to his credit he labored on, absorbing heavy punishment on the way.

The only blip on the night was a small cut to Duddy’s right eye, caused by a clash of heads in the ninth stanza, that would require five stitches. Duddy won unanimously, 100-90 on all judges’ cards.

“Tonight I used my jab with good authority and I slowly broke down Charlie Howe. But that man has some chin. I caught him with some body shots and head shot but he took them,” said Duddy afterwards.

“A few times in there I was too close to him and he was able to have a go at me. I was crowding my punches on a few occasions and Patrick (Burns) was able to point that out for me in the corner. Whenever I gave myself a little room and was able to get my punches off I was like, ‘This really works.’”

“John is a super warrior a great fighter, He drilled me, he caught me with some hard shots. It was a good thing I was in shape so I could recover from them. His body shots slowed me down, but I was flat tonight,” said Howe afterwards.

Trainer Burns was satisfied with his fighter’s shift. “I think John got a really professional camp and he learned a lot of things. More importantly the kid was willing to learn as the fight is going on,” said Burns.

“As we were instructing, he was doing. In the first round the Irish came out of him but then he settled down. I think John did a lot of growing tonight. He has a long way to go, but I am happy with his performance.”

Duddy used the performance to showcase the work he had done in Miami. ”I was here to display what Patrick Burns showed me in the gym. I had a great fight against Howard Eastman in Belfast and between that fight and tonight I had a backward step in MSG where I won a 10 round decision. Okay, I got cut and everybody said it was a blemish on my career. I’m 25-0, how is that a blemish?”

On the undercard, cruiserweight Mark Clancy (8-0-1) won a lopsided six round affair against Salah Zabian (6-11). In a somewhat frustrating fight for the Boston-based Clareman, he was in against a showboating opponent who would bait and taunt Clancy and flee every time he got hit.

“I was hoping that I would stop him working to the body but he was giving me too much distance. He was running away from me all the time so it was kind of tough,” said Clancy at ringside afterwards.

“It was hard to follow him too because I did not want get caught making any mistakes. He was just there to survive.” The 32-year-old won unanimously, 60-54 on all cards.

Clancy, who was out of the ring for 13 months due to problems with his right eye, took a blow to the same eye late in the fight. A right hand slap from Zabia in the first caught Clancy’s left eardrum and affected his balance slightly. If he gets the all clear on both fronts, he hopes to be back in the ring in within three months.

In the co-feature Irish Canadian middleweight Donny Orr (13-0, 5 KOs) floored his opponent Roberto Valenzuela (44-38-2) in the first and cruised to a unanimous shutout victory, 80-71 on all three judges’ cards.

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