Duddy’s world wrecked by Lyell

John Duddy’s world title ambitions went up in smoke today when he lost a shock split decision to little known outsider Billy Lyell in the Prudential Centre in Newark, New Jersey.


Lyell was seen as no threat to Duddy’s plans for a shot at World middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik later this year but he repeatedly caught the Derry man with a series of right hands throughout the ten rounder.

Last year a 1.4m dollar pay-day with Pavlik disappeared after a bloody battle with Walid Smichet and now the chance may have gone for good after this stunning defeat. Lyell was given the decision by two of the judges, 98-92 and 97-93, while the other judge somehow handed it to Duddy 96-94.

Duddy has beaten much better fighters than Lyell, who came to the ring with an ordinary record of 18 wins and seven defeats. While Duddy was ranked in the top ten by all the major governing bodies, Lyell was at 122 in the independent ratings.

It is a crushing blow for Duddy who seemed to have his career back on track following his acrimonious split from promoter Eddie McLoughlin and his Irish Ropes company at the start of the start of the year.

But from the opening bell he didn’t look sharp and early on picked up a cut around his left eye, while Lyell finished with a cut over his nose. After the fight Duddy immediately went to hospital to have his cut examined and left Lyell to conduct the post-fight press conference by himself.

To the majority of ringsiders the decision was never in doubt as Duddy (pictured), failed to land punches with any authority while being picked off by Lyell, who is trained by Pavlik’s coach Jack Loewe.

Having felt that he was progressing into a better, all round fighter this is a stunning blow and he must now sit down with coach Pat Burns and work out where it all went wrong.

Coach Burns said: “It was one hell of a fight and it could have gone either way. It was very, very close and a very tough fight from start to finish. I don’t know how the guy had seven defeats.”

Duddy has always been one for working at a high tempo but today he was struggling to handle the pressure of Lyell, who started quickly and never let up.

The Derry man failed to put his combinations together as he normally would and incredibly found himself being out-|worked in many of the rounds.

Such is his popularity that one defeat will not spell the end for the 29-year-old but it is going to be a long road back towards world title contention.

The problem I see over and over with upsets like these is the idea that good fights only happen at the top.
It's great to fight for title belts.
But I'd watch most any of Micky Ward's epic fights, title OR non title just because of the kind of warrior he was.
Fighters just don't seem to have that mentality anymore, that every fight is a tooth and nail fight to survive.
Duddy needs that kind of drive.
But also, we fans need to show our fighters an appreciation for that kind of drive. Even if Duddy never makes it to a title fight, he shouldn't be given up on. He can put up a good fight so he shouldn't be summarily dismissed just because of this disappointing performance; instead I hope his fans stay loyal and that he sees that loyalty so he can continue entertaining and competing. And I hope people still pay to see him.
Of all times this is when he needs fans the most - not when/if he's at the top...
Just look at Giovanni Lorenzo. He was a shoe in to fight Arthur Abraham just a year ago. All he had to do was stay undefeated by beating Raul Marquez. Granted Marquez is a better fighter than Lyell, but Giovanni looked much worse than the scores portrayed in their fight. And Marquez won, and stole that title shot...
However, there's already rumblings of Lorenzo being right back up there as Abraham's opponent, after just one win.
Duddy can be back there too. And I hope he is. He has put on some great shows of heart and strength. Frankly, now is the perfect time for Duddy and Lorenzo to face off... both top middleweight contenders with only one loss each... winner gets a title shot... and the fans would get a cracker of a fight.
27-1 Giovanni Lorenzo vs
26-1 John Duddy
It just makes sense IMO.
Good luck to him either way!

Im quite glad really.
Now as a person i like Duddy, hes a nice guy, decent personality and general good guy.

But im a bit fed up of Irish fighters going to america and making loads of money with medium talent. Duddy has probably earned more money than some better contenders ever will do. I think he will still get a world title fight just because of his connections.

i like john Duddy, such a shame

I laughed when I read this. Duddy is soo cocky and now he loses to some unheralded journeyman fighter. I wonder what his excuse is going to be now? His non-performance just cost him a lot of money in potentially big future fights.

I think everyone 'likes' John Duddy as a fighter to watch...but this is still a satisfying result for a number of reasons. Not the least of which it hopefully shelves plans for Pavlik to make yet another easy title defense.

Unless of course, Billy Lyell is the next in line...