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John Duddy
Photo © Brendon Pierpaoli, DHB
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The summer time always seems to showcase some scorchers and last night on ESPN2 there was no exception. In the All State Arena in Chicago, Illinois, the televised four-card event on Friday Night Fights featured three knockouts, one decision and the one and only former world champion Pernell Whitaker in studio.
Coming off his disheartening knockout loss last December at the hands of IBF super bantamweight champion Israel Vasquez, twenty-nine year old Armenian Art Simonyan, 14-2-1 (7), was looking to bounce back with a victory and grasp some confidence, but the more than confident USBA super bantamweight champ Agapito Sanchez, 35-11-3 (18), had other plans for the night.
A match-up that was a ‘must win’ for both opponents had the crowd ready for something to go down and from the start it was obvious that Sanchez was searching for the knockout as he threw looping right hands and long winded haymakers. The usual dirty tactics by Sanchez left Simonyan with a gash over his left eye after a clash of heads in the opening round that looked more as if Sanchez was using his noggin for a battling ram. Round two Simonyan used a dirty tactic or two of his own but lack of movement had him eating Sanchez’s lunging shots.
For most of the bout Simonyan was sucking up shots left and right from Sanchez while the thirty-five year old southpaw continued his punishment of looping right hands. At 1:30 in the fifth round a looping right hand ended it all giving Simonyan his second consecutive loss. Simonyan was a sitting duck refusing to show any movement in this bout and he was eventually capped off for doing so, or should I say lack of doing so?
Once again undefeated Irishman John Duddy, 11-0 (10), entertained the crowd with yet another knockout victory when he punished and put away journeyman Patrick Coleman, 29-12 (20), in the eighth rounds of a middleweight contest. The twenty-six-year old hard-hitting middleweight came out his usual self: fast, hard and unrelenting. After an eight-month lay off Coleman found himself in a world of hurt when Duddy went to work with his punishing body shots and massive left hooks.
In round one Duddy went to work downstairs and fed Coleman all the left hands to the face he could handle; round two Coleman picked up somewhat of a defense but also continued to absorb Duddy’s brutal attack. In round three Duddy staggered Coleman with a left hand and even though it wasn’t ruled a knockdown the replay clearly showed that it could have easily gone in that direction. The fight was mostly Duddy picking apart the fight veteran, backing Coleman up with his onslaught of punishment and in the eighth round for only the second time in his fifteen year career Coleman was stopped. After a night of non-stop fist sandwiches Coleman was full and a final left hook and solid right hand floored Coleman giving Duddy a TKO victory at 2:30 in the eighth and final round.
Duddy, who came to the States two years ago from his home country of Ireland, has set the middleweight division on fire and with this step up he has proven that although at this time he is a prospect, in the near future he can and very well will be a serious and lethal contender.
To my man Patrick Coleman, I must say that you have a massive amount of heart!
Other bouts of the night
Undefeated heavyweight prospect Malachy Farrell, 10-0 (8), gave his hometown of Chicago what they wanted, a hometown KO victory over the less than threatening Clinton Boldridge, 3-4 (3). Although this bout was a sloppy non-fundamental work of art against a thirty-nine year old opponent that shouldn’t have been in the ring in the first place, it was crowd-pleasing.
Leon Pearson, 11-14-3 (1), dropped another loss, seven in a row to be exact, and this time it was from the hands of the middleweight prospect Rudy Cisneros, 5-1 (4), who won the four round unanimous decision, giving Cisneros his fourth straight victory.
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© Copyright / All Rights reserved: Doghouse Boxing 1998-2005
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By "Big Dog" Benny Henderson Jr. (July 23, 2005)
