Differing But The Same Result: Duddy, Fury Need Changes
By Terence Dooley
Manchester's Tyson Fury and Ireland's John Duddy both faced their own personal moments of truth this past weekend when taking part in make-or-break contests. Fury, 22, rematched John McDermott for the vacant English title in order to eradicate the pong leftover from their controversial first encounter, in which both men fought on roughly even terms only for referee Terry O'Connor to turn in a 98-92 scorecard that completely flew in the face of what everyone else had witnessed. Duddy, 31, took on Junior Chavez Junior in a contest between two men with massively inflated records - now 29-2 (18) for Duddy and 41-0-1 (30) for Junior – in careers more reliant on manufactured hype than in-ring prowess.
Fury triumphed over McDermott by ninth round TKO, putting to bed a rivalry that has spanned nine months; Duddy was soundly beaten on points in Texas; both men will have to improve if they are to go any further in the sport, though in truth it looks like Duddy has reached the end of his road, with the Derry-born boxer simply not canny enough to cut it beyond contender status.
Consider, John has 29 wins with 18 KOs, his record is impressive enough yet he was unable to match Chavez Junior, who has improved a lot in recent times but whose best weapon is his surname. There is an increasing feeling that John, who once looked to the experienced Don Turner for help with ironing out the kinks, will one day find that his granite chin can no longer take the accumulation of abuse, he looks destined for a bad knockout at some point and, in all honesty, would be best of retiring, as he has shown nothing thus far to suggest that he can trouble title-level operators. Indeed, we've yet to really learn if John is a cut above his domestic rivals, with a Duddy-Macklin-Lee round robin the stuff of Irish boxing fans’ imagination at this moment in time.
The arguments in favour of Duddy claim that we've yet to see him at his very best, that there is more to this boxer than his ‘heart over head’ approach. On the occasions when Duddy could uncork his jab the boxer was lauded as having the skills to make fights easy only for him to resort to type whenever there was incoming fire. Attempts to round Duddy by getting him to adopt a defensive posture served to blunt his attack, the boxer’s chief weapon, and, incredibly, made him easier to hit and far less threatening.
No, claims that Duddy has so much more are wide of the mark, he's not been able to produce and will be remembered as the fighter who was lined up for a shot at the world middleweight title only for his handlers to hold him back after the Walid Smichet debacle, when Duddy won on points but picked up so much punishment he was allegedly withdrawn from a potential title fight, presumably due to the fact that the then-champion, Kelly Pavlik, would have badly punished the Irishman.
Duddy may look like the type of fighter who would blend in perfectly on those 1950s-era New York middleweight fight posters but he fights like the typical modern boxer, more athleticism than skill, and his career has been over-hyped. Sure, John brought in the Irish-American fight crowds and will always sell tickets but the sad truth is that the longer Duddy goes on the more damage he will accrue, when your career is going nowhere fast and you are taking more punishment than the English football team it is time to hang them up and leave it to the next generation, which brings us onto Tyson Fury.
Fury, like Duddy, is a fighter with the qualities needed to mine his Irish roots. He may have defeated McDermott but in many senses it was a victory that felt like a defeat. Fury is talented, he looks the business and is an extremely marketable heavyweight; however, he seems to be going backwards in his career thus far. Where was the confident boxer who burst onto the scene eighteen-months ago, where was the dancing, smiling ring entrance? The record books show Fury defeating McDermott twice, and this is all that matters to some, but if you scratch the surface of the two performances you see a fighter in dire need of a shake-up.
Tyson, 11-0 (9 early), did well to outlast ‘Big Bad’ John in the Brentwood Centre on Friday night and, yes, they were boxing under sweltering conditions but the real victor in the fight was gravity, which weighed heavily on both men, McDermott had dropped a 1lb since their last encounter but still looks like an overweight cruiserweight; Fury has put on 23lb since September, ironically his underlying frame looked slightly more toned than is usually the case but those extra pounds created a noticeable drag effect, with Fury seemingly a spent force by the mid-rounds only to catch a second wind in the later rounds to impressively put John away, although McDermott had looked fit to collapse for a few rounds or, if you will, is so heavy that he was bound to be dragged down to earth somewhere down the line. Gravity 1-Overweight Heavies 0 in terms of the fight itself, then, although Fury, it must be stressed, showed us his grittier qualities, not to mention some good combination punching, when he did get down to business.
Cries of ‘These are British heavyweights so what do you expect?’ went up in the aftermath of this grimly entertaining spectacle and the answer to that question is ‘We expect more’, after all, we have produced Lennox Lewis and David Haye in recent times so the average British punter is no longer willing to accept big men who can't dissect the Coleman's. Fury, with his size, ability and intelligence – he is incredibly lucid when it comes to discussing his division – should be able to deliver more.
If change, in the form of retirement, seems to be the answer for Duddy what, then, can we say about Fury? Well his training situation needs to be addressed, prior to this one he ditched the experienced Brian Hughes in order to go back to his uncle Hughie – this chopping and changing showed in the ring.
Tyson needs to decide where his bread is buttered, if it is with his uncle then he needs to knuckle down, shift some weight, tone up and do everything his uncle advises him to do. If he decides to move on again he needs to have a long, hard think. Manchester is awash with quality trainers, there is no reason for Tyson to cast his net far and wide, especially given that he tried working with Birmingham’s Robert McCracken only to bemoan the distance he had to travel. Fury can find what he is looking for on his own doorstep; he should audition local trainers before settling with one who can take him to the next level.
Tyson, though, needs to have a look at Duddy, John has entertained his fans, as has Tyson, yet those same fans have been unable to view Duddy’s career with anything like the objectivity needed to analyse fights; the writing was on the wall for a long time only for the majority of Duddy’s fans to come over all Sly Stallone in Rocky II when it came to reading those words. Tyson, also, needs to have an objective look at his career thus far, with emphasis on the two fights with McDermott, and honestly ask himself if he is backing up claims that he would defeat the likes of Haye and the Klitschkos down the line. Forget the cheerleaders, Tyson, and just use that boxing brain of yours.
Tyson is a believer, this is part of his charm, he has himself set a goal and is moving towards that goal. Nonetheless, he would be meat and drink for someone as epically flawed as Audley Harrison, who would be able to thread his southpaw shots through safe in the knowledge that Tyson's punching lacks the snap needed to bomb Big Aud' out. Audley has been criticised for showing caution in big fights, Fury treated McDermott, who is not a huge puncher by divisional standards, like liquid nitro-glycerine on Friday night. You would expect Audley, the more skilled of the two, to find the shots needed to put Fury away should the two meet anytime soon.
Still, Tyson is two-time English champion in double-quick time and has removed the stench of the first McDermott fight. Afterwards, Tyson sat on the ring ropes and tearfully dedicated the win to his father – John Fury lost to Neil Malpass in his only title fight. All the while, Team Fury kept up a stream of shout outs, chatter and white noise, hinting, perhaps, that there are too many voices around Tyson. If his team gets this vocal on fight night god alone knows what things are like during his training camps and in the run up to the fights. Babble is not good for a fighter; you need a lone voice of reason, especially in a sport in which success leads to a proliferation of people eager to whisper into your ears.
Fury has some ability, he is undefeated and capable of physically developing into an imposing fighter, the one-shot power is not there but this could come if he can find some rhythm, technique, snap and speed, losing weight is the first crucial step on this road. What Tyson needs, more than anything else, is a trainer he can trust, a sole voice whispering in his ear and guiding him to where he wants to be. Another fractured training camp and mid-rounds lapse against a better operator than McDermott could see Fury's '0', and a large portion of his marketability, go out the window – Tyson would have no one to blame but himself if this proves to be the case.
All-in-all, then, it was a mixed weekend for the two boxers; Duddy showing that it is too late to improve on what he already has and Fury proving that if improvements aren’t made the road to glory will end a good few levels below genuine title class. Fights with the likes of Harrison and especially Haye are pipedreams on Friday's form, though Tyson, unlike Duddy, has time and youth enough to reverse the recent downturn in his performances.
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