Expectations are running high for what seems to be an evenly, well-matched fight, as the son of a Mexican legend, Julio Cesar Chavez Junior (40-0-1, 30 KO’s) and Ireland’s John Duddy (27-1, 17 KO’s), prepare to slug it out. Duddy, from Derry, Ireland has had a busy year, between marrying his long-time girlfriend; some largely-publicised promoter issues; and some tough times in the ring, including his first-defeat at the hands of journeyman, Billy Lyell; however, he’s possibly looking forward to a high-profile fight with Chavez Jr, after the Irishman came away with a recent victory, against Jorge Munoz.
While Chavez Junior has not had the disappointment of defeat just yet, he came very close with a controversial draw against Carlos Molina; not-to-mention a slender victory over the same fighter, in their rematch. However, he only scraped-by, with a split decision against journeyman, Matt Vanda, last year, which prompted a riot between opposing fans in Sonora, Mexico. However, regarding Duddy’s charge and the Irish, who could forget the high-pressured battle that Chavez Jr encountered, at the hands of another fiery son of Ireland, Oisin Fagan, which showed Chavez Jr struggle greatly, to come to terms with the resilient and tenacious Dubliner and his fiercely tough attitude, when they were both novice-professionals, at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, back in 2004.
Chavez Jr gives Fagan his dues. “My fight against Fagan was one of the toughest fights of my career. He’s was aggressive and very tough and I expect this fight with Duddy to be similar. However, that fight was a long time ago. I have improved much, since the Fagan fight and believe that I will be victorious.”
In that fight, Fagan, who seemed to be winning as he entered the penultimate round, let a definite 10-9 score in his favour, be reversed with a ‘flash-knockdown,’ to turn the scores against him 10-8 and with that came a too-close-for-comfort victory, for the visibly battered and bruised, Chavez Jr. Furthermore, in the following year, Team Chavez turned down a rematch with Fagan on no less than 3 occasions, only confirming his caution.
Over the next few years, Chavez gained another 20 lbs and seems to have acquired more power, knocking out 30 of 40 opponents, thus far in his career. However, he couldn’t stop Fagan in his tracks. Duddy hopes surely, to mimic the toughness Fagan showed in that fight; indeed, Duddy and Fagan are both famous for their cast-iron jaws, Irish tempers and their propensity to give any fighter in the world a good fight; regardless of the skill-factor.
Duddy, with the help of some sympathetic refereeing has yet to be stopped in his professional career, while Fagan has only been stopped twice before, albeit under bizarre circumstances- once, when he broke his leg against Amir Khan in December of last year and once, when a undetected head-butt broke 4 bones in his face against Isaac Mendosa, in Tulsa, 2004. Incredibly, Fagan fought on, which he also did against Khan even with a broken leg but this time, with half his head caved-in against Mendosa, the referee only stepped in to stop the bout, a mere 20 seconds from the end of the fight; citing, “too much blood”, even though Fagan strongly objected to the stoppage.
Ray Sanchez was the next opponent that Chavez seemed to have trouble with, but he ended the Albuquerque fighter’s dreams with a 6th round KO after an entertaining fight. Most recently, Chavez Jr stopped Jason LeHoullier with an impressive first round TKO, for the WBC Latino title and has a fight scheduled in November against Troy Rowland, at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas.
Duddy hasn’t had all things go his way during his career either, even though he only picked up his first defeat in April against Ohio’s Billy Lyell, in New Jersey. Before that, Duddy was lucky not to have been stopped early, against Walid Smichet at the Garden, in February of last year, when he fought on through adversity, numerous cuts and gashes, ending in a controversial majority decision for the Madison Square Garden favourite, Duddy.
The possibility of the Chavez Jr V Duddy fight is at the very least, an exciting prospect. Both fighters seem to have been protected somewhat on their way up; whether that was with suitably hand-picked opponents or some kind of favouritism on their promoter’s card. On the plus side, they’re both definitely popular and have huge fan-bases, which will generate a lot of interest. Furthermore, I guess the worst-case-scenario we can hope for, is to see which one of these contenders turned out to be the most ‘over-hyped’ of the two, on their respective journeys.
