World Title challenger steps in for Duddy

dlofnep

John Duddy has been hit with a late change of opponent for his headline bout on the next Hunky Dorys Fight Night at the National Stadium on October 20th.

The New York based Derryman had been set to meet Pablo Navascues but the Spaniard has been forced to withdraw courtesy of an ongoing ankle injury which had seriously disrupted his preparations for the bout.

Stepping in to fill the void is Uruguay’s Noe Tulio Gonzalez Alcoba.

The South American is fresh from a battling bid for Felix Sturm’s WBA middleweight title in Germany this summer and believes he can work his way to a second world title shot with a win over Duddy.

Duddy of course has world title ambitions of his own and with talk of a challenge to the new middleweight kingpin Kelly Pavlik early next year Gonzalez could prove a deadly obstacle.

The sole defeat of Gonzalez 15 fight career came at the hands of Sturm in June but the 28-year-old’s points defeat in Stuttgart suggested that he is capable of mixing it with the very nest in the middleweight division.

“This is a dangerous fight for John,” said promoter Brian Peters. “With Kelly Pavlik’s impressive win over Jermain Taylor last weekend the middleweight picture has really opened up and John is perfectly positioned to take advantage of that. He’s highly ranked with all the major sanctioning bodies and a very marketable challenger for any of the champions, including Pavlik.

“All of that will go out the window though if he can’t get past Gonzalez and he is a tough, hard man. He’s just coming off the back of that points defeat for the WBA title and he made Sturm work very hard to retain his title. One judge only had Sturm winning by a margin of 116 – 112 so I expect Gonzalez to really push John and there’s no doubt it’s a risky assignment given the kind of options on the table for John now.”

Gonzalez’s performance in defeat against Sturm is all the more notable given that the German is best known for his highly controversial points defeat to Oscar De La Hoya in 2004.

The Argentinean based fighter’s trip to Germany was his first time fighting abroad and he says the experience gained in Germany will make all the difference against Duddy.

“I learned a lot from my fight with Sturm and that defeat will make me a better fighter.

“I know that Duddy will be a very hard fight but my dream is to become world champion, for me and Uruguay. My life hasn’t been easy and I want to make it better. Beating Duddy will be the next step to another world title fight and realising my dream.”

Also featuring on the night of the Celtic Tigers at the National Stadium is Irish middleweight champion Matthew Macklin, undefeated light welterweight Paul McCloskey and unbeaten Lurgan prospect Stephen Haughian.

The full 9 fight card will be confirmed next week.

Tickets for the “Celtic Tigers” Hunky Dorys Fight Night at the National Stadium, Dublin on October 20th are priced from €50 and are available from Ticketmaster.ie and all usual outlets.

Big Ears

The good news about this is that Alcoba is better than Navascues but with that said Sturm should of made much better work of Alcoba than he did .
It's looking quite like Duddy is going to face Pavlik before a Taylor rematch is made .

Although on the undercard no opponents have been made I like the look of it .

Matthew Macklin , Paul McCloskey , Stephen Haughian and Lukasz Wawrzyczek are all fighting , all good prospects and Macklin is always great to watch .

theone

have to agree about macklin his fight for the british title against jamie moore was top notch.

not sure if I want duddy to win this,I might sound unpatriotic but if he does he gets to fight pavlik and I don't want that, duddy could be on the end of a hiding in that one.

cowzerp

theone wrote:

not sure if I want duddy to win this,I might sound unpatriotic but if he does he gets to fight pavlik and I don't want that, duddy could be on the end of a hiding in that one.

So to save him losing to Pavlik you want him to lose this 1? that does not make sense, and we would love to see a genuine title challenge from 1 of our own, there is no dishonour in losing in a title fight and this could be his 1 and only chance at a shot-and in boxing there is always a chance that duddy could pull off a win..and if not, lessons would be learned.

theone

cowzerp wrote:

So to save him losing to Pavlik you want him to lose this 1? that does not make sense, and we would love to see a genuine title challenge from 1 of our own, there is no dishonour in losing in a title fight and this could be his 1 and only chance at a shot-and in boxing there is always a chance that duddy could pull off a win..and if not, lessons would be learned.

makes sense to me I'd love an Irish fighter to be middleweight champion,but can't see duddy beating pavlik would love it if he did but can't see it,Do you honestly think duddy will beat pavlik,Duddy can bang and Pavliks defense isn't the best but either is duddy's.I love seeing irish world champions but i don't like watching any fighter let alone an irish one getting hurt.

The same with bernard dunne one of our own, nice bloke, great boxing skills but not an iron chin.

can you imagine him fighting rafael marquex or israel vasquez.do you think he would have a chance beating them.

I'm all for supporting one of your own but you have to be realistic and try and think with your head not your heart ,hard to do i know but necessary.

dlofnep

I agree with Paul. If Duddy is going to lose, then there would be much more honour in losing to the world's #1 than anyone else. I say John should go for it, he's not going to get significantly better than he is.. He's young, gutsy, hits hard enough and isn't a bad boxer. I say we rally behind him and give him the support he deserves.

Big Ears

I have to say I'd rather see Duddy get valiantly bombed out by Pavlik then never fight for the undisputed title . Sure he could wait forever and probably get himself an alphabet title , probably the WBO as if that was vacated as it is it would be Gary Lockett v Duddy for that title .

Although it does look as if Lockett is fighting Abraham next and Pavlik mightn't have to vacate that title for another while , but I'm rambling here the point is I would hate to see Duddy giving up a chance to be seen as the Champion.......the real Champion in his division and with Duddy because of his decent enough punch and Pavlik's decent enough chin(it's not poor but he can be hurt) John does actually have a chance . Where as Bernard simply doesn't have any chance as he hasn't got the power to trouble Marquez or Vasquez .

dlofnep

Agreed.

King of Kings

agreed + 1
although duddy would need a huge learning curve to take on pavlik - then again it's 9 months away. which in boxing prob means next summer.
then again - i'#ll be cheering him either way

theone

I didn't say I wouldn't support him where did people get that from,I was just being realistic.

I couldn't enjoy a boxer I like get bombed out,I couldn't enjoy it if i thought he didn't have a chance.If i thought he had a glimmer of beating pavlik I'd be 100% behind him.I'm still gonna support him but not 100% .I don't see the point of supporting someone you think is gonna lose I hope i'm wrong though I'd love to see him beating pavlik but can't see it.

cowzerp

So do you think its better for duddy to be able to tell his grandchildren that he lost in a world title fight or that he just lost against a contender? plus in boxing there is always a chance of an upset.

theone

I think they'd rather it if they were able to talk to their granddad.

Big Ears

theone wrote:

I think they'd rather it if they were able to talk to their granddad.

It's more damaging for a fighter to take a 12 round beating than be knocked out , it's one of the reasons why there have been no recorded fatalities in UFC and very few in MMA in comparison to boxing . The Yori Boy Campas fight is likely to have caused John more damage than being blown away easily by Pavlik would(most likely) .

dlofnep

Big E is correct.

theone

of course a twelve round beating is worse,but duddy doesn't give up very easily he's a very game fighter.So it won't be a quick ko from pavlik.

walshb

Isn't Duddy in the sport to be the best, to fight the best and to be admired by the world?
If NOT, get out I say. I say that Duddy should grab the Pavlik branch by both hands and give it his absolute best shot. What's the worst that can happen? He gets KO'd early.
He has absolutely nothing to lose here. Pavlik has everything to lose.

I think Pavlik will win, but Duddy is tough, can bang and has a slight punchers chance here. Initially when I heard the report of this fight, I thought a brutal night of punishment for John. After studying Pavlik a bit more I can see weaknesses that could favor John. Pavlik is there to be hit, and HARD. If Duddy nails him hard, who knows. Taylor had him out on his feet but didn't have the real power to finish the job......Could Duddy??

theone

If you were a boxer would you be prepared to fight someone that you admit to yourself that you can't beat,not publicly obviously all boxers think their the greatest ,whats the point in fighting a battle that you know in your heart you can't win.

That irish mentality of treating a gallant loser like a winner is admirable but why? goes back to thinking with your heart instead of your head.

That was the crux of why roy keane went awol in saipan,I don't agree with the way he went about it but i agree with his thinking on it.

Duddy's defense is non existent ,taylor has defense but he just tires or switches off and goes into backup mode after a couple of rounds.Furlan is not known for his devastating power and he had duddy struggling so imagine what pavlik will do to him.

yomchi

This is gearing up to be a grea night of boxing!

who's going from here?

walshb

theone wrote:

If you were a boxer would you be prepared to fight someone that you admit to yourself that you can't beat,not publicly obviously all boxers think their the greatest ,whats the point in fighting a battle that you know in your heart you can't win.

That irish mentality of treating a gallant loser like a winner is admirable but why? goes back to thinking with your heart instead of your head.

That was the crux of why roy keane went awol in saipan,I don't agree with the way he went about it but i agree with his thinking on it.

Duddy's defense is non existent ,taylor has defense but he just tires or switches off and goes into backup mode after a couple of rounds.Furlan is not known for his devastating power and he had duddy struggling so imagine what pavlik will do to him.

So are you honestly saying that every fighter who fought for a world title always thought they were capable of victory?

That is not the case. I'll give just one example and that's Michael Spinks challenging Tyson in 1988. He knew damn well he hadn't a chance and he was scared stiff in the ring. What got him there??....Money, and plenty of it.
This is a chance in a lifetime and maybe Duddy believes he can win, or maybe he believes he hasn't a HOPE....

But commercialism and big money is now the real driving force in all sports.
So a lot of athletes now are more involved for the money, than the glory.
I am not saying Duddy is one of them. I am just explaining why I believe
it occurs.

So what does Duddy do. Does he plod away and always refuse the big fights because he believes he cannot win? What's the point in that. Not only does he not make the money, he also still has to take punishment. He's better off making one good payday and losing, than winning a bunch of fights nobody cares about and making peanuts. By the way, I don't celebrate failure and I really hope he gives it 110% if he gets the chance...

theone

walshb wrote:

So are you honestly saying that every fighter who fought for a world title always thought they were capable of victory?

That is not the case. I'll give just one example and that's Michael Spinks challenging Tyson in 1988. He knew damn well he hadn't a chance and he was scared stiff in the ring. What got him there??....Money, and plenty of it.
This is a chance in a lifetime and maybe Duddy believes he can win, or maybe he believes he hasn't a HOPE....

But commercialism and big money is now the real driving force in all sports.
So a lot of athletes now are more involved for the money, than the glory.
I am not saying Duddy is one of them. I am just explaining why I believe
it occurs.

So what does Duddy do. Does he plod away and always refuse the big fights because he believes he cannot win? What's the point in that. Not only does he not make the money, he also still has to take punishment. He's better off making one good payday and losing, than winning a bunch of fights nobody cares about and making peanuts. By the way, I don't celebrate failure and I really hope he gives it 110% if he gets the chance...

I'm saying from my point of view I myself can't see the point of fighting if I don't think i can win.Money isn't that important to me,so i'd rather win and cement a legacy then just fighting someone for money.

Thats probably one of joes problems all frank warren wants to do is make money hatton had to break away from warren to secure the big fights,warren got hatton tszu but how long did that take.

Where did i say that you celebrate failure I don't know you from adam why would I make a judgement like that about you.I said the Irish mentality not you specifically.Honestly don't know where you got that from.

cowzerp

theone wrote:

I'm saying from my point of view I myself can't see the point of fighting if I don't think i can win.Money isn't that important to me,so i'd rather win and cement a legacy then just fighting someone for money.
.

No you said you rathered he LOST the fight before this 1. so its better he loses to a nobody than to a good boxer? you are just blabbing on at this stage..

Big Ears

Who said Duddy didn't think he could win ? , if he didn't then he shouldn't take the fight but I believe he does think he has a chance .

You said yourself that Duddy's defence is poor(and it is) but saying he has a poor defence and would take a long beating against Pavlik is almost contradictory as John isn't going to be able to take Pavlik's power for more than a few rounds .Either he knocks Pavlik out early or he gets knocked out(early) .

theone

cowzerp wrote:

No you said you rathered he LOST the fight before this 1. so its better he loses to a nobody than to a good boxer? you are just blabbing on at this stage..

can you understand english? is it your first language? have you read what i was referring to at all you just picked up something i said earlier in the thread and applied it to what i said there.

Just because i don't agree with you dosen't mean i am blabbing as you call it .........

theone

Big Ears wrote:

Who said Duddy didn't think he could win ? , if he didn't then he shouldn't take the fight but I believe he does think he has a chance .

You said yourself that Duddy's defence is poor(and it is) but saying he has a poor defence and would take a long beating against Pavlik is almost contradictory as John isn't going to be able to take Pavlik's power for more than a few rounds .Either he knocks Pavlik out early or he gets knocked out(early) .

At least you read what I said unfortunately I can't say that about everybody else,it was almost contradictory but not quite Duddy wouldn't give up very easily(thats when i said he was a game fighter) hopefully his corner would throw in the towel if they thought he was going to get hurt.

We both want to see him win and the majority of posters here want the same I'm assuming, I just don't want to see him get hurt in the ring.

I'll keep it short don't want to be accused of babbling again,don't really think thats a good argument meself but each to his/her own.

nacho libre

theone wrote:

At least you read what I said unfortunately I can't say that about everybody else,it was almost contradictory but not quite Duddy wouldn't give up very easily(thats when i said he was a game fighter) hopefully his corner would throw in the towel if they thought he was going to get hurt.

We both want to see him win and the majority of posters here want the same I'm assuming, I just don't want to see him get hurt in the ring.

I'll keep it short don't want to be accused of babbling again,don't really think thats a good argument meself but each to his/her own.

We want him to win of course but it's just not going to happen. I'm sure he believes he can win you can't go into a fight with a negative mindset. It's impossible not to get hurt when you step into a boxing ring, i assume what you mean is you don't want to see him taking unnecessary prolonged punishment. With Pavliks power, i don't see that happening, it'll be a short fight.

cowzerp

theone wrote:

not sure if I want duddy to win this,I might sound unpatriotic but if he does he gets to fight pavlik and I don't want that, duddy could be on the end of a hiding in that one.

Losing to a basic fighter is better than to a champ.

theone wrote:

can you understand english? is it your first language? have you read what i was referring to at all you just picked up something i said earlier in the thread and applied it to what i said there.

Just because i don't agree with you dosen't mean i am blabbing as you call it .........

i understand that your waffling and trying to get off the fact that you want duddy to lose before his title shot-stupid comment and if he gets beaten in 1st fight he could get hurt anyway and wont get a big payday and thats why he's boxing pro-where's your logic.

walshb

theone wrote:

I'm saying from my point of view I myself can't see the point of fighting if I don't think i can win.Money isn't that important to me,so i'd rather win and cement a legacy then just fighting someone for money.

Thats probably one of joes problems all frank warren wants to do is make money hatton had to break away from warren to secure the big fights,warren got hatton tszu but how long did that take.

Where did i say that you celebrate failure I don't know you from adam why would I make a judgement like that about you.I said the Irish mentality not you specifically.Honestly don't know where you got that from.

theone, I know you never said I celebrate failure. That's why I use the words, 'by the way'.
I assumed from this you would interpret that....

walshb

Guys, entering the ring believeing you can win is a great thing and would be preferrential to a fighter, but history has told us it is NOT always the case. There has been many examples of fighters who know in their hearts they have no real chance. This was the point I was making earlier and if by 'theone' view, that Duddy shouldn't be fighting, then we wouldn't have any fights would we. Like I said, maybe Duddy deep down knows he can't win, will that prevent him or should he simply refuse because he may have a niggling doubt. That's NOT CERTAIN fighters. It is more the actions of a great great fighter who may have to face another great great fighter.

Neither great wants to take the RISK of losing to the other.

I do not believe Duddy is thinking this. He is possibly being given the fairytale and
only a fool would refuse it. He has nothing to lose, a nice payday and most importantly, a punchers chance

Big Ears

The card so far:

John Duddy v Noe Alcoba(former WBA Middleweight challenger)-10 rounds middleweight

Matthew Macklin v Alessio Furlan-10 rounds middleweight

Paul McCloskey v Christian Frias-10 rounds Light-Welterweight

Stephen Haughian v Thomas Hengstberger-8 rounds Light-Welterweight

Lukasz Wawrzyczek v TBA-8 rounds Middleweight

Sergey Kravchenko v TBA-6 rounds Light-Heavyweight

Michael Sweeney(making his debut) v TBA-4 rounds Cruiserweight

John Timlin v TBA-4 rounds Heavyweight


A good card for me , it'll be interesting to see how Duddy deals with Alcoba compared to Sturm and how Macklin deals with Furlan compared to Duddy .

McCloskey has got an opponent with what appears a very padded record(20-2-2 but wins were mainly against fighters with unknown records) , I get the feeling they are trying to get McCloskey into the European rankings and go for the European title as Paul's age(just turned 28) and talent mean he shouldn't be getting bogged down in the UK/Ireland scene too much .

Stephian Haughian has been given an easy one and the only question is how long it will take him to stop Hengstberger .

I really like the look of Wawrzyczek , I just hope his bout is given some airtime as to me he looks a good prospect who could win a European title someday(my god is he featherfisted though) .

Always interesting having a new fighters debut and lets hope Sweeney is decent , anyone have any info on his amateur career ?

megadodge

Is this the Michael Sweeney from the West, once boxed out of Monivea (Galway) then Ballinrobe (Mayo) ? Won the Intermediate Heavy title a year ago ?

walshb

Sweeney had an article written about him several days ago in the Star I believe. He is fighting at cruiser and yes he was the intermediate champion. He took a two year layoff from the ring and is back now...

http://archives.tcm.ie/westernpeople/2005/01/19/story23181.asp

Article written in 2005.......

megadodge

Yeah, that bout with Andy Lee (which I have mentioned here before in questions over Lee's chin) was gonna be my main reference to him.

I have seen him numerous times and have a buddy who spars him quite regularly. He is a skilful boxer with a good punch (throws a beautiful right uppercut), but despite quite good success over the years I always thought he lacked belief in himself and often looked like he wasn't that well conditioned. There were times also when I thought he just didn't look that interested, maybe the two year break did him good.

When he won the Inter title he beat Peter Lee from Oughterard, who's a very tough operator. Sweeney built up a nice lead in the first two rounds, with the uppercut working beautifully, but Lee (as he does) built up a head of steam and kept plowing forward. Sweeney's lead evaporated and he was holding more and more. He got a public warning and was warned severely that anymore holding and he was out. It turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to him. Instead of just 'surviving' and hoping his lead held up, he started boxing again and won a close but fair decision. Up until that last round I would have questioned his desire in a tough battle, but he proved himself to have some mettle.

Having said that, I reckon when he comes up against a tough opponent with good stamina in the pros, there will be serious questions asked of him and we'll see whether he has it or not.

dc69

duddy's opponent has now dropped out due to a torn retina,his opponent will be a 19yr old boxer from england named prince arron,god i hope he destroys this kid.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/boxing/7046179.stm

heres some info on him
http://www.britishboxing.net/boxers_72809-Prince-Arron.html

looks like any fight hes won has been on points,i cant see him lasting all the way!

dlofnep

The undefeated Derry man had been set to meet Noe Tulio Gonzalez Alcoba but the Uruguayan has had to withdrew after yesterdays pre fight medical revealed he was suffering from a detached retina. Sadly the injury looks to have ended the 28-year-old's career.



Stepping in to fill the void is England's Prince Arron. The regally named Manchester boxer has 10 wins from his 12 professional outings and the ambitous youngster is promising to derail Duddy’s world title plans when they clash on Saturday night.



Brian Peters Promotions

stagolee

Nuts, I was looking forward to that fight.:(

A 6'3" middleweight with no knockout power who has only twice ever fought beyond 6 rounds, I admire this Prince Arron bloke for stepping up but he is going to get a battering. From Duddys perspective it will probably be less productive than a good days sparring.

Originally I thought "there must be better option out there", but maybe not with 4 days notice. Theres no doubt in my mind that this will not be a competitive fight. It is simply a way to make sure the undercard fighters don't loose out on their night under the lights.

I'll still watch it but only for the rest of the card.

yomchi

Nuts on that one. I was looking forward to seeing Duddy and Alcoba go at it. The rest of the card is good, o it'll be an interesting night none the less.

dlofnep

Ricky Hatton's brother added.

http://www.bernarddunne.net/p_release17.php

stagolee

On the plus side we should get to see more of the undercard as the Duddy Vs. Aaron fight shouldn't last all that long.

Big Ears

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/boxing/7048048.stm
http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=10784
Best of look Johnny...........you're gonna need it .

Full card pretty much done and dusted for Saturday(there has been a few changes)

John Duddy v Prince Arron-10 rounds Middleweight

Paul McCloskey v Laszlo Komjathi-10 rounds Light-Welterweight

Matthew Macklin v Alessio Furlan-10 rounds Middleweight

Stephen Haughian v Thomas Hengstberger-8 rounds Light-Welterweight

Matthew Hatton v Samuel Leppiaho-8 rounds Welterweight

Lukasz Wawrzyczek v Martin Kukuls-8 rounds Middleweight

Sergey Kravchenko v Andrei Tolstihs-6 rounds Light-Heavyweight

Michael Sweeney v Leonid Dmitrichenko-4 rounds Cruiserweight

John Timlin v Aleksandrs Selezens-4 rounds heavyweight


A bit disappointing that Duddy's opponent had to pull out(and of course him possibly having to retire ) and also that McCloskey is fighting Komjathi instead of Frias .

Plenty of quality on the left of the card , not enough on the right .
Matthew Hatton is now promoted by Brian Peters , so we might be seeing a bit of him over here . I had thought Hobson was doing a good job with him(getting him two good quality wins in America) but maybe he wasn't happy having not got a British shot yet and Ricky isn't with fight Academy either so not much chance of many more American adventures(unless Woods was to go over there) .

dlofnep

TBH - He wasn't all that anyways, his biggest claim was going the distance with Sturm, which ALOT of people have done. He was decisevely outpointed.

In anycase, this is only a warmup.

c1979

pretty **** replacement for duddy ko round 4

joker77

I'm heading along to the fight tomorrow evening - I've never been to a night like this in the National Stadium so not sure quite what to expect. I've heard there's no bar and no alcohol allowed - is this true?