Top American coach Don Turner believes that unbeaten Irish middleweight John Duddy has the guts to go all the way to the top. However, Turner admits that the Derryman’s defence is an area he must work on ahead of his 21st professional fight in Dublin this weekend.
New York-based Duddy will meet Italian puncher Alessio Furlan at the National Stadium on 14 July and has promised Irish fans a night to remember. The 27-year-old Ulsterman finished up training in the Pocono mountains in Pennsylvania last Thursday, and arrived in Dublin last weekend before his first professional fight on Irish soil.
Don Turner, who has worked with 19 world champions including Evander Holyfield and Larry Holmes, was appointed as Duddy’s coach in April following an amicable parting of the ways with previous trainer Harry Keitt. The veteran corner man is confident that Duddy will become the first Irish world champion he has trained.
“He has what it takes to go all the way to the top,” he says. “I look at how much guts a fighter has to win, that they’re not afraid, because boxing is 90 per cent mental. Duddy has that.
“This guy gets hit and it’s my job to teach him not to get hit. He’s just as good as anybody in the middleweight division. He’s responded very well to what I’m teaching him to do and he should be fighting for the world title soon.
“All he needs to do is throw combinations – it’s the missing link. When he has an opponent hurt, that’s when he has to throw five more punches, not let him off the hook.”
Duddy, meanwhile, believes that Turner will be the one that can steer him to the top.
“Turner has me doing stuff I did as an amateur like throwing combinations, working on my hand speed, and pressuring correctly,” he explains. “I’m going to put on more pressure than I did my past few fights, more up-tempo, coming at my opponent from all angles.
“Once I get him on the ropes, I don’t want to let him off the hook. We’ve been working on a lot of small things from a different perspective. I think Don Turner is going to bring the best out of me.
“They’ll see the new John Duddy in Dublin. The guy who shows up will be a lot different to the guy who fought in the National Stadium as an amateur. It’s going to be explosive and action-packed and there won’t be any need for seats there because the crowd will be on their feet!”
Meanwhile, Irish boxing chief Gary Keegan wants Ireland’s Olympic hopefuls to make his mind up for him.
The Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) sent a nine-man squad to the Ukraine for a Multi-Nations tournament and training camp, which began on 5 July. According to IABA High Performance director Keegan, who joined the training camp last Sunday, the Ukrainian trip will play a vital part in their preparations for October’s World Champion-ships in Chicago.
The World Championships have a massive significance this year, as they will also act as a qualifier for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Boxers reaching the quarter-finals in the Windy City will qualify for the Olympics, although heavyweights and super heavyweights must reach the semi-finals to book their tickets for Beijing because of the lower entry level in these weight categories.
Following on from Chicago, there will be two further Olympics qualifying tournaments in Liverpool and Greece early in the New Year, which will very much be a last-chance saloon for European boxers.
“The Ukrainian trip will play a vital part in our preparations for the World Championships and I will announce our squad for Chicago after we come back from the Ukraine,” said Keegan before leaving for the training camp.
“Our World Championship squad will be picked on the basis of how we perform in training camps such as in Ukraine, which will feature some of Europe’s top nations. It has been an incredible year for Irish boxing as we have won medals in almost every tournament we have entered since January, and the European Union Champion-ships were the icing on the cake.
“I was also delighted with the performances of our cadets last week. But the World Championships in Chicago is a crucial tournament for us and everything is targeted toward that.”
In further pro news, undefeated Irish middleweight Andy Lee dropped Thomas Hengstberger in Germany last Saturday night to chalk up his 10th win as a professional.
The ex-Irish Olympian floored the Austrian with a straight left just 1 minute and 22 seconds into the second round in Cologne. Hengs-tberger got back up on the count of seven but the referee ruled that he was in no condition to continue and halted the contest.
The Austrian puncher had won 12, lost four and drawn two of his 18 professional fights before Saturday’s scheduled eight rounder. But Lee, who has yet to lose a round as a pro, looked much sharper from the opening bell, before bringing proceedings to a premature conclusion with his clinical left.
Speaking after the fight, Lee, who had been in training camp with Wladimir Klitschko in Austria before his meeting with Hengstberger, said he was delighted with the win: “All my training and preparations paid off on Saturday night and I am thrilled to take my unbeaten record into double figures and I’m pleased with my performance.
“I felt very sharp in there but I had to keep my concentration because Hengstberger is an experienced fighter and I couldn’t take anything for granted.
“I’m very happy with the way things are going at the moment and the important thing for me is to maintain my unbeaten record and keep winning.”
Last Saturday’s victory was Lee’s 10th in the 18 months since he signed a contract with legendary coach Emanuel Steward and the Kronk Gym in Detroit.
It was a good night for Kronk boxers in Cologne overall, as Lee’s stablemate Jonathan Banks racked up his 17th straight victory over Gustavo Enriquez.
Lee and Banks were boxing on the Klitschko/Lamon Brewster undercard. Klitschko won the main event and after a sixth round TKO.
