Better late than never, they say – unbeaten Irish middleweight John Duddy racked up the 21st victory of his career versus Italian journeyman Alessio Furlan at a packed National Stadium in Dublin last Saturday night.
The Derryman dropped the brave but limited Italian twice inside the final 30 seconds of the final round, and referee Emile Tiedt stopped the contest just before the concluding bell.
Duddy began the 10th round in blistering fashion, surging forward and flooring Furlan with a devastating flurry of blows. The Italian beat the count, but a savage right uppercut brought the curtain down on proceedings seconds later.
It was hard luck on Furlan, whose stout-hearted refusal to be bossed at least showed he deserved to go the distance before another loss was clocked up on his see-saw career.
Duddy’s coach Don Turner said after the fight that he believes his man is within five fights of a shot at a world title. But in truth, a tilt at a European crown may be a more realistic goal, as the likes of reigning world middleweight champ Jermain Taylor or Joe Calzaghe will hardly be losing any sleep over this.
Turner replaced Harry Keitt as Duddy’s coach a few months back, and admitted that the Ulsterman’s defence was something that needed to be worked on. The veteran cornerman was proved right at the home of Irish amateur boxing last weekend, as Furlan found his way through Duddy’s flat-footed approach to land some stinging head shots mid-way through the fight.
In fairness to Duddy, an early cut over his eye, combined with Furlan’s unwillingness to be a sacrificial lamb, was probably the reason why he stalled his trademark full-frontal assault until the final round when the cut represented less significance in terms of sustaining further injury in the time remaining.
Only then did the Irish crowd see the real Duddy – who had been content to work behind his jab up to that point – as he moved in for the kill and took Furlan out with extreme prejudice as the Italian sought the sanctuary of a points defeat.
Duddy has now been provisionally pencilled in the box at the King’s Halls in Belfast on 25 August, and a shot at a European title is definitely on the cards.
Speaking after the fight, Duddy said: “This is the beginning of hopefully something special in Ireland. Irish boxing is thriving at the moment, with Bernard Dunne leading the way.
“This was a big transitional period for me, coming over to Ireland and working with Don Turner for the first time. Turner has unbelievable experience; he is the man who’s going to take me to the top.
“Don told me to throw right uppercuts and you saw what happened when I did. There was a clash of heads in the first round. We both have a tendency to lean in with our heads, but I’m fed up with being told I don’t look like a boxer so I’m trying to look like one now. ”
Said Turner of his new charge: “He’s still thinking too much in there. Next time he won’t wait so long to knock the guy out. ”
Meanwhile, Ireland’s amateur boxers continued their impressive march across Europe following another medal haul of one silver and three bronze medals at the Maripol senior international tournament in Ukraine last weekend.
Reigning European Union champion Darren Sutherland had to be content with silver after he was beaten in his 75kg final by Ukrainian number one Ivan Senai.
Overall it was another excellent tournament for Irish boxers however, with Sutherland claiming silver and Roy Sheahan, Conor Ahern and Darren O’Neill all winning bronze.
St Michael’s Athy welterweight Sheahan, also a reigning EU champion, had been due to meet Russian number two Bataz Vafaed in the semi-finals on Saturday last but was withdrawn because of an injury to a knuckle in his left hand.
“Roy was withdrawn as a precaution; he has already had an X-ray on the hand and he has gotten the all-clear,” said the Irish Amateur Boxing Association’s High Perfor-mance director Gary Keegan.
“We are very pleased with the squad’s performances in Ukraine against world-class opposition in extremely warm conditions, as it was over 35 degrees under the ring lights.”
In the coming weeks, Irish boxing chiefs will announce their squad for next October’s world championships in Chicago – which will also act as an Olympic qualifier – and coach Billy Walsh admitted that they have some tough decisions to make.
“The Ukrainian tournament [was] our last major competition before Chicago; the lads performed very well out here and once again we are bringing medals home,” he said.
“The Irish team surprised a lot of people in Ukraine and we received a lot of compliments for our performances which is very pleasing. This Ukrainian tournament is geared toward the world championships in Chicago and we will have some tough decisions to make in the near future.”
Irish captain Ken Egan (who helped Ireland to a hat trick of gold medals at last month’s EU Championships in Dublin), Ryan Lindberg, Cathal McMonagle, John Joe Joyce and Eric Donovan were also competing in Ukraine.
Ireland’s quest for a medal at the European Junior Boxing Championships ended in disappointment on 12 July following quarter-final defeats for John Joe Nevin and Mark McCullagh in Sombor, Serbia.
McCullagh, from the Cairn Lodge club in Belfast, was beaten 24–12 by England’s Mike McGuire, while Nevin, from the Cavan BC, was stopped on the 20-point rule in round three by Russian Malik Alojan.
Nevin and McCullagh’s exit brings the curtain down on Ireland’s involvement in the tournament, following defeats to Con Sheehan, Michael Collins and Anthony Cacace.
Clonmel heavyweight Sheehan lost his quarter-final bout to Olig Teifanov from Ukraine, while Collins and Cacace bowed out at the last 16 stage.
In further amateur news, Ireland beat Wales 7–5 at the Clan Naofa Boxing Club in Dundalk recently in a keenly contested Boy 4 international.
Matt McKenna, Niall Keogh, Niall Cooney, Leroy Howard, JP Delaney, Chris Blaney and Stephen Mulligan all emerged victorious for the Hugh McMahon-managed and Jim O’Neill-coached Irish squad.
However, across the Irish Sea, the Welsh edged out Ireland 6–5 in a Youth 1 international at the Hilton Hotel in Newport, Wales, on the same night.
The Newport meeting would have ended 6–6 if Sean Duffy’s walkover was factored into the final score, as Wales won six of the 11 contests on offer to edge the international by one bout.
Tony Davitt, Paddy Osbourne, Patrick Hughes, and Francis Gervin were in charge of the Irish squad in Wales. Larry Durand and Mike Sweeney were the Irish R&J representatives in Newport.
