Duddy vs. Chavez Jr.: The Second Battle of the Alamo -- Eastside Boxing

By Dan Fitz-Simons, Eastside Boxing

When John Duddy enters the Alamodome in San Antonio on June 26th to a capacity crowd of 15,000; most of the seats will be filled by fanatical Chavez Jr. fans, who live within a stone’s throw of the Mexican border. Duddy, 29-1 (18KOs) is on a rebound from his only defeat to Billy Lyell in 2009. Yet the fact that his last 3 wins were all against fighters of Mexican descent (Munoz, Astorga, and Medina) was no accident. Thanks to Top Rank’s promoter, Bob Arum, Duddy is now known and despised by thousands of Mexican fans, who will pay top dollar to watch their young hero humiliate the arrogant Irishman..

The undefeated 24-year old Chavez Jr. 41-0-1 (30KOs) is training under Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Gym solely for the Duddy match. Yet Freddie may have his hands full with young Julio, who sometimes looks as though he’s bored in the ring. Nevertheless, if Chavez becomes committed to Roach’s techniques, he could present a formidable challenge to Duddy. Julio’s 41 wins is an accomplishment, and at 24, he still has time to improve. He also has a crowd-pleasing Mexican temper, and if cornered can explode, blasting his way out with both hands. Craig Hamilton, Duddy’s manager, thinks Chavez will be John’s toughest opponent.

However, Chavez also has some unresolved problems. Mike Quarry once complained that he had to spend his entire career in the shadow of his brother Jerry. Julio Jr. has a similar burden; only in his case it’s his legendary father. In addition, he has several tactical flaws including: lack of hand speed, low work output, careless defense, limited punching power, and a nagging weight problem. Although Julio likes to fight in close, he’s sometimes lethargic, opening himself up to dangerous counter punches. Moreover, while his resume is impressive at first glance, many of his opponents were cherry-picked B and C level fighters.

Chavez is ranked a little ahead of Duddy by Boxrec; however, both are roughly at the same level, which makes for an interesting contest. Both Duddy and Chavez have fought Matt Vanda, but Duddy defeated Vanda more easily. The best punch for both fighters is the left hook. Duddy has slowly climbed back up in world rankings: the WBO lists him at #14, the WBC at #8. His new ratings are not due to any outstanding talent, but rather to the fact that he fights a lot. As a result, Duddy should be in prime condition. His boxing skills have improved, his problem with cuts has diminished, and he has an iron jaw.

Duddy usually does well against sluggers like Chavez and won’t hesitate to mix it up on the inside. He has a dangerous upper cut that could cause Julio problems. While not a banger, Duddy is a solid boxer-puncher, as was evidenced by his 1st round KO of Juan Astorga. Moreover, Julio’s stand-up style could set up an easy target for Duddy’s body shots. On the other hand, Duddy’s speed and footwork are only adequate, he lacks lateral movement, and still takes too many head shots. Harry Keitt, Duddy’s trainer, envisions a bloody slugfest with the Derry Destroyer emerging the clear winner. We’ll soon see if he’s right.

Source: eastsideboxing.com

Does Barrera legend seemingly overshadow Chavez, Jr vs. Duddy main event? -- Examiner

By Matt Stolow, Examiner.com

I never knew what Big George Foreman meant by saying he originally came back to soon until he stood over Michael Moore and had reclaimed the heavyweight world championship as dramatically as it could ever be done.

Now I'm looking over names Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. and John Duddy, and fight friendly San Antonio and thinking marketing whiz Lester Bedford already owes me for the piece I did on him on the Pacquiao card recently.

This is Cowboys Stadium vs. San Antonio AlamoDome and it just seems the "Whataburger Man" should naturally be doing the play by play like the late NFL's John Facenda.

So its got to be about come backing Marco Antonio Barrera. He came back a year ago on actually a decent and necessary pay-per-view card in England I bought one Saturday afternoon to both redeem Amir Khan coming off a first round KO loss and for Frank Warren to pay back Don King who delivered MAB with a quick, bloody technical knockout for Khan but here we are and all I can believe is previous reincarnations of Barrera have been premature.

I know Erik "El Terrible" Morales came back recently and promoter Bob Arum is trying to maneuver Antonio Margarito into the Manny Pacquiao sweepstakes but Marco Antonio Barrera?

Haven't we and MAB suffered enough? "I can't explain it, " said Bedford." It's hard to tell these guys "No". It's hard to tell these great fighters to see an end. Who knows, maybe he has a lot more to offer. I know there will be lots of fans in San Antonio glad to see him, either way."

This card with Chavez, Jr. and Duddy would be going on without MAB anyway.

This card is being set up for 17,000 fans and is the first big event for new Alamodome chief Marc Solis, a San Antonio native, boxing friendly, who has been toiling for a few years and with wife building a family in Corpus Christi.

I see this event as a better fit for San Antonio than Dallas.

San Antonio once hosted Barrera vs. a young Manny Pacquiao in 2003 and years later a more mature well-known Pacquiao vs. Mexico 's Jorge Solis.

But today, Dallas, is DALLAS and it already looking down at all but a Pacquiao vs. Mayweather, Jr. at its 100,000 seat, $1.2 billion temple in nearby Arlington.

So Monday afternoon they will host a big press conference with Mexican food and BBQ to welcome Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr, John Duddy, Bob Arum, and even come backing Marc Solis and Marco Antonio Barrera.

It will quickly be drowned out by fight week for Mayweather vs. Mosley but it will be good fun while it lasts.

Source: examiner.com

Marco Antonio Barrera To Return On June 26th Duddy-Chavez Jr Card? -- Eastside Boxing

By James Slater, Eastside Boxing

When he was last seen in a ring, Mexican legend and former multi-weight world champion Marco Antonio Barrera was being out-pointed by the much faster Amir Khan, on the way to an eventual TD loss that came about due to a nasty cut Barrera picked up due to a butt that was ruled accidental. Afterwards, the then 35-year-old all-time great insisted that Khan never hurt him with any of his punches, and later still Marco's promoter Don King tried to get the decision overturned..

It was not to be, however, and Barrera, who slipped to 65-7(43) disappeared for over a year. Now, according to Box Rec, "The Baby Faced Assassin" will return to action on June 26th; when he will fight an as yet unknown foe on the Julio Cesar Chavez Junior-John Duddy bill in San Antonio, Texas. It's not clear which weight class Barrera will box in, how many rounds his comeback bout will be set for, or whether or not his opponent will be of the world class variety.

Prior to his upset loss to Khan in March of last year, Barrera had won two fights on the spin against limited opposition; these wins having followed his back-to-back points losses to Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao in 2007. Unless we're in for a real surprise, Barrera will almost certainly face a "so-so" type fighter in June.

The Khan fight showed us that Barrera can no longer handle speed, and it also showed us that he is even easier to hit these days (he was never all that tough to nail, even in his prime). The TD loss also showed that Barrera, if matched right, could perhaps still win a biggish fight or two. Certainly, though he was only able to really tag the elusive Khan with one good shot to the head in the entire 5-rounds, Barrera did not look like the typical "shot" fighter.

That fight was at lightweight, although Barrera's two wins before the loss to Khan took place at or around the light-welterweight mark. Who knows what weight the one-time bantamweight will come in at on June 26th. One thing that does spring to mind upon reading about Barrera's in-the-works return, though, is the possibility that he may soon be hooking up with one-time fierce rival Erik Morales. As fans know, "El Terrible," three years younger than Barrera, made his own successful ring return, up at full welterweight, back in March. Morales, 49-6(34) is set to try to follow up his points win over the useful Jose Alfaro with another winning fight, again in Mexico, on July 24th (thus far a TBA). Could we, then, soon be seeing a Barrera-Morales IV?

When last seen together, the two one-time heated rivals were all smiles as they posed for photos. Still, though the hatred they once had for one another has faded, it doesn't mean they won't fight again; especially if big money were offered. But would a fourth fight between the two legends generate big money? And at what weight would the two ageing warriors fight at?

We'll have to see how Barrera does on June 26th (and Morales on July 24th) before we can tell if there is any serious chance of the two "doing it again," but would you be shocked if they did fight for a fourth time?

Source: eastsideboxing.com