Bloodied Duddy still delivers

THE much vaunted John Duddy ‘Homecoming’ gave fans what they wanted in the form of a stand-up fight with Alessio Furlan that went to within 25 seconds of the final bell before referee Emile Teidt halted proceedings.

Duddy had the teak tough Italian on the floor in the first round when he delivered two lightning fast left hands to the head but Furlan dragged himself up and clawed his way into the fight.

In fact he went from strength to strength, exploiting an overhand right that caught Duddy time and time again to the head, cutting the Derryman over the left eye and exposing a wide open gap in his defence.

By the fourth round Duddy had dropped his tempo, his right hand was almost redundant and the whole rhythm was ruined when Furlan was sent to the corner a couple of times to have the tape on his gloves tended to.

The Italian just about drew that round but he had legitimate claims to the fifth when he caught Duddy with a succession of big right hands to the head and the Derryman struggled.

Duddy was back on top in the sixth round and, while he was not coasting by any means, he was in control for the remainder of the fight which came to an end two minutes and 32 seconds into the 10th when he delivered two perfectly placed right hand uppercuts to Furlan’s chin.

It was rough justice for the Italian who had made such a contribution to a memorable night’s boxing.

‘‘I is really annoying to be stopped 20 seconds from the end of a fight but it was a great fight and I am proud to have been a meaningful part of the great show,” he said.

But he revealed that his mind was not totally focused on the fight with the news that his son was in hospital.

“I am not making excuses but my son, Samuel, who is five years old is in the hospital in Turin following surgery on his stomach for a bad infection so my mind was not very focused tonight,” Furlan he said.

“But I wanted to be here. I did not want to leave the Irish fans without their fight and I hope I did not disappoint them. I apologise if I did.

He took the European middleweight champion, Sebastian Sylvester into the 12th round in a title fight last March and he insisted that the German, at the moment, is stronger than Duddy.

“At the moment he is stronger but it depends on where they fight. If the fight was to take place in Germany then Sylvester definitely gets the advantage,” he said. ‘‘Here in Ireland things might be different but in Germany Sylvester is stronger than Duddy showed tonight.”

And he advised Duddy against going for a world title shot at the moment, insisting that the Derry man still has some work to do.

“He has got a great heart but he definitely needs to improve some skills otherwise he will not win a world title,” he said.

The gash over Duddy’s eye required some 16 stitches afterwards and while it could delay his next fight scheduled for the King’s Hall on September 1, he was not bothered.

“It was a great night. I have never experienced an atmosphere like that in my whole life,” he said. “Ireland is my home. I boxed here for 14 years and the Derry people have always come down here to support me as well as the Dublin fans as well. To come back to the National Stadium and box where I performed before as an amateur is special.”

He was not upset by the fact that he failed to execute an early finish after he had Furlan on the canvas in the first round.

“Don (Turner) has been working on things with me in the gym and, as he says, it is not going to happen overnight,” he said. “He told me in the corner after the second round ‘throw a right uppercut’ and I was thinking too much about that. That is what my problem was. I was trying to impress him too much. Finally I did it but it was in the 10th round and when I threw the right uppercut and I dropped him twice and stopped him.

Eddie McLoughlin, one of the two brothers who look after Duddy’s interests, said they had pencilled in of September 1 for a shot at the EU title.

“We have to see how the scars of war have healed up. We are not going to put him in if he is not right and it won’t be the end of the world if it is put back a few weeks,” he said.

Duddy admitted that because of the attention he has generated in New York a lot of people were talking about a world title fight.

“We are very fortunate in that we have control of our own destiny,” he said. “We are being realistic, taking it in steps. We can sit back and see if Don Turner can take us to that level. It is another level that we have to move to and time is on our side. We have our future in own hands.”

Don Turner said Duddy did very well considering the fact that they had only worked four weeks together.

“I have had fighters for six months and they did not show one punch,” he said. “I think he has great potential. When he learns the punching transition he will be a much better fighter.

“I know John can punch harder. He just has to learn the correct leverage. We have only been working together for three weeks and he has been doing what he has been doing for 14 years. But his defence was better than before and it can get better. He just has to move his feet.”