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"Irish" John Duddy Learns "Blood and Guts" Lesson
By Tim Hocking

"Irish" John Duddy will step into the ring on March 16th, 2007, the day before St. Patrick's Day, at The Theater in Madison Square Garden in an attempt to prove that he has learned from his recent war with Yory Boy Campas. Duddy, 27, is a wildly popular and highly touted middleweight prospect who in his last fight gave boxing fans a true "blood and guts" performance. Duddy was pulled into an all out war last September at Madison Square Garden with a familiar name to Minnesota fight fans, Mexico's "Yory Boy" Campas. Duddy and Campas fought a vicious fight, both getting the best of the other for twelve brutal rounds. In the end, Duddy won a unanimous, but controversial, decision by scores of 115-113, 117-111 and 116-112. Due to the savage nature of the fight, to include three severe gashes (all from punches) over his eyes, Duddy was forced to take a longer time than expected away from the ring. The brutal beating that Duddy took at the hands of Campas once again ignited the flame that Duddy can merely pitch and catch, a tactic sure to put him in harms way as he moves further up the middleweight ladder.

Prior to the Campas fight, however, last June 2006, Duddy performed excellently versus Freddie Cuevas on the undercard of the Miguel Cotto-Paulie Malignaggi fight at The Garden. Duddy worked hard behind a very stiff jab and put brutal combinations together that eventually caused a stoppage in the eighth round. It seemed that Duddy had finally taken the needed technical step forward to prove he was more than making progress towards entering into the world champion contender discussion. Then came the war with Campas.

Now, almost 9 months after a near technical masterpiece versus Cuevas, Duddy must once again make progress towards that goal of "championship contender" against Minnesota's Tony "The Bullet" Bonsante, a "Contender" in his own right. Bonsante having earned the right to face Duddy based on his performance in front of Duddy's Irish Ropes promotional team at the Target Center versus Matt Vanda in January.

The fight will be televised on "On Demand" PPV, the day before St. Patrick's Day, at the world's most historic venue, Madison Square Garden. Duddy, currently ranked #7 by the WBO and #9 by the WBA, is looking to make very big steps forward in 2007, beginning with a statement versus Bonsante. The fight will be a 12 round championship fight for Duddy's "fringe" belts, the IBA World and WBC Continental Americas titles. Bonsante will be putting his IBA Americas belt on the line. Here is what Duddy had to say in speaking with Minnesota Boxing.

First off John, thanks a lot for taking the time today, how have things gone in training camp down in Vero Beach?
Everything went great, the weather was a lot nicer than it is here in New York, you know? We were running there on the beach, running in the sand, it's good for the legs you know. The sparring was good, and the training was good, and I'm looking forward to getting in the ring and fighting on March 16th.

It's been probably over-written and over-discussed over the past 6 months, but in your last fight, you went to war with Yory Boy Campas in a hotly contested 12 round UD victory. You knew Campas well before the fight and knew what he was going to bring to you in the ring. That being said, why did you allow yourself to be drawn into a war?
I suppose it was a little inexperience. I suppose it was one of those experiences that every fighter has to have the challenge of and I was every bit up to that challenge. I thought Yory Boy was the perfect opponent for that challenge. Even though it was a tough fight for me both physically and mentally it was a fight I felt I had to put myself through and find out for me self. I learned, though, I learned a lot from that. I was one of the best experiences I had in the ring, but it also taught me a lesson that you don't always have to fight with your heart first. Use your brain and then let the heart come out later. So I just thought it was a great boxing experience for me self. I'm really lucky to have come through it and experience it because not many people get a chance to experience something like that.

How are your injuries, have they completely healed?
Yes, I'm 100% percent. I get asked that question a lot. People ask me, Johnny, how are your eyes? And I tell them, they are bluer than ever, you know? I've felt great in camp, me eyes are completely healed and have been holding up perfectly in sparring and in the gym. I'm completely ready to go.

Was it true that you had a detached retina?
No, actually, that is 100% false. I had a reporter call me today from me homeland, who actually was me cousin, and he asked me the same question. He said they couldn't believe it when they heard it back home about me eye, and I had to tell them that it absolutely never happened and isn't true. I had a few big gashes over me eyes that have completely healed and I'm ready to go now and totally 100%.

The fight before the Campas fight, against Freddie Cuevas, you really did a great job in boxing, moving in and out, keeping your distance, and painting Cuevas with your jab. Now your critics would say that you can punch but that you take a lot of punches too and that's exactly what happened in your fight with Campas. So when you step into the ring in this fight do you feel like you need to win a certain way to prove your critics wrong?
I think personally that you get the win first. No matter what you get the win. Even though against Yory Boy I was hurt quit often, more than what I should have been, I showed another side of myself. I showed that when the going gets tough I'm able to push through it. So I think with any performance whether I'm fighting Tony or anyone else I think my goal in me next fight is always to show that I can move me head, I can use me brains so to speak, rather than me brawn or just being a two fisted puncher. So I'm confident that those things I have been working on in camp I can show in the ring and consistently improve on me next performance.

Minnesota fight fans reading this interview just finished watching one of the states biggest rivalries as nearly 9,000 fans packed the Target Center to watch Tony Bonsante defeat Matt Vanda by UD to earn the right to face you this Friday. Were you made aware from Eddie McLoughlin (Irish Ropes Promoter) and folks on your team that you would potentially be facing the winner of that fight?

Yes I was aware of that, and actually I was supposed to make a trip up to MN for that fight too but Eddie ended up going with another person from my camp. At first, I was told the name that was being discussed was Matt Vanda, but that just shows that you can never count Tony out because he came into that fight and really took it to Vanda, almost getting him out of there. My personal opinion is that Vanda must not have trained properly for the fight because he was beaten so handily by Bonsante. Bonsante really took it to Vanda. Vanda didn't do what he needed to do to take care of Bonsante and win the fight. And that just shows that Tony is not someone you want to mess around with in there, you know? So I'm just excited to get in the ring with Tony because he can obviously hit hard and he is someone you don't want to take lightly, you know? He's not someone I want to stand in front of and trade punches with. So I just look forward to show what I can do against a fighter of Tony's level on March 16th.

There is obviously a lot of tape out there on Tony Bonsante since he was a featured fighter in the first season of The Contender. Do you watch a lot of tape before a fight and if so, what have you learned about Bonsante?
I've seen about four of his fights in The Contender series and he is surely someone who can box and he hits hard so I'm not going to want to stand there and get hit by him, you know? He can put punches together he's strong and knows what to do in the ring. So we've been working on my strength in training camp and I'm confident that I can execute the things we've worked on in the gym and box him and either get him out of there or take a decision, to me it doesn't really matter. But I'm also confident that if we stand there in the middle of the ring and go toe to toe, go to war, I know how to do that too after me last fight, you know (laughing). I know that I have that inside of me. So if I need to spill me guts out there I'm willing to do that as well. So either way I look to put on a spectacular performance on Friday night and get the victory.

What does it mean for you to bring in St. Patrick's Day in New York City?
Actually, it is very special to me and something that I never would have imagined would come true when I came over here. It's very special to be fighting in front of me country on this holiday and to be in MSG fighting Tony Bonsante. This fight is going to be broadcast on PPV and broadcast live back to the homeland so all of my countryman will be able to watch the fight. I hope to show that I'm moving my career forward and improving on me fight game and take home a victory.

Any predictions for the fight?
A victory. You know, to me, it doesn't really matter if I get him by knockout or take a decision. I just want to continue to improve and take a victory against a proven fighter in Tony Bonsante.

What are you looking to achieve in 2007, John?
The same thing I was looking to achieve last year. And that is consistent improvement and continuing to move forward in this game. Last fight against Campas was a headliner on MSG network and now this fight is a headliner on PPV so I'm making progress in that regard, you know? So I am just looking to continually move forward, work hard in the gym and prepare properly, and I know if I do that everything else will take care of itself.

Anything you would like to say in closing John?
I would just say thanks a lot for calling and I hope all of the fans out there either get out to Madison Square Garden for the fight or if they can't get to the fight they order it from their local cable subscriber as its going to be a great show between John Duddy and Tony Bonsante on March 16th.

www.minnesotaboxing.com would like to thank John Duddy for taking the time to speak with Minnesota fight fans. Likewise, special thanks to Irish Ropes publicist Bob Trieger for helping set up this interview.

Please send questions or comments for Tim to timandanita17@yahoo.com