Ringside Boxing Report: John Duddy – Julio Jean

“Superbrawl 1”, New England Ringside Promotions’ first major boxing event, drew a sellout crowd to the Park Plaza Castle in Boston on Saturday night. The event started slow and threatened to become a series of one round knockouts between rising stars and sacrificial lambs. Fortunately, the headline fight saved the evening. For the only bout of the six fight event to go past the second round, undefeated middleweight John Duddy beat Haitian boxer Julio Jean in a ten round unanimous decision.

Jean is only the second pro fighter to force a decision on the fast rising star, and the only boxer to fight him for a full ten rounds. Currently the 15th ranked middleweight by the WBA, Duddy has stormed the divisional ranks, leaving a string of early round knockout victims in his wake. Jean has chalked up a mixed record of wins over mediocre opponents and big losses to more seasoned pros. His most notable accomplishment was beating undefeated Eromesele Albert in an eight round unanimous decision.

“Ireland’s” John Duddy vs. Julio Jean

The capacity crowd of 1317 stood and cheered for middleweight John Duddy as he entered the ring behind an Irish flagbearer. Bagpipe music played and one almost expected dancing leprechauns to jump out from the seats and break out in a jig.

For the beginning half of the first round, Jean mounted a ferocious offense, attacking Duddy who actually backed away from him. Jean landed several hard body shots against the Irishman who returned the attack, turning the fight into a downright slugfest. Duddy proved the stronger of the two and soon had Jean playing defense.

The second round started like the first with a ferocious attack by Jean that left him open for left and right hooks from Duddy that had the Haitian backing from Duddy into the ropes. When Duddy came in for the knockout, Jean tied him up. Duddy came in around Jean’s jab but his opponent stayed too close, keeping the Irishman’s power from coming into play. To the surprise of the audience, Jean, who looked shaky at the end of the round, survived.

Duddy went into full offensive mode at onset of the third round, landing with a left hook. Duddy backed Jean against the ropes and delivered a ferocious attack to the body. Jean was clearly hurt and could only keep his gloves and tie Duddy up to avoid the knockout punch. The Haitian fighter looked to be leaning on the Irishman for support and survived the third round.

Jean regained his momentum in the fourth and went on the attack, starting another furious fight between the boxers. Again, Duddy was the stronger fighter and he had Jean backpedaling from him. Jean backed up against the ropes where he spent the rest of the round, at times it looked like he was trying to tire Duddy out by playing rope a dope and tying the Irishman up to frustrate him.

By the fifth round Jean was fighting to survive. He jabbed Duddy to keep him at bay, backing up from the stronger boxer who stalked him the whole round. Jean rushed at Duddy in the middle of the round, and tried to hold him against the ropes to get some breath, but Duddy wrestled him around and pummeled the hurt boxer. Throughout, Duddy grew frustrated by his
inability even knock the durable Haitian down.

Jean spent rounds six and seven backed against the ropes with his gloves up and tying up Duddy. Duddy tried to find an opening for his left hook but Jean wouldn’t drop his hands to punch back.

In round eight, Jean seemed to have regained some wind and nailed Duddy with a straight left that opened a cut on the Irishman’s nose. Duddy countered with a solid straight right that sent Jean backing up against the ropes and tying up to regain composure. To everyone’s surprise, Jean went back on the offensive and traded hard punches with Duddy, who landed several
bodyshots on Jean.

Duddy caught Jean with a right uppercut in the ninth and mounted a furious attack onhis opponent’s body as a hurt Jean played rope a dope again. Jean tried to crowd Duddy again, keeping the power hitter from getting sufficient punching range to do damage. Surprisingly, the Haitian survived the ninth round, demonstrating a solid chin.

Duddy rushed at Jean in the tenth, mounting a furious effort to score a knockout victory. Jean backpedaled from Duddy and rested on the ropes again. He tied up the now obviously frustrated Irishman to break his rhythm. The fight ended when the referee broke a hold for the last time.

John Duddy won a unanimous decision via scores of 100-90, 100-90, 99-91
and improves to 15-0 (13) while Julio Jean falls to 7-7-1 (3).

Yuri Foreman vs. Jimmy “The Dream” LeBlanc

The biggest disappointment of the night was the non fight between the undefeated, Belarus born light middleweights Yuri Foreman and South Boston based Jimmy “The Dream” LeBlanc that ended by TKO in the first round. Foreman dominated every second of the 2:49 they fought, backing the outmatched LeBlanc around the ring and punching at will. “The Dream” couldn’t even dodge punches from the far quicker Foreman and ended up backed against the ropes, a passive target. Having nowhere else to go, LeBlanc crouched down to the ground and grabbed Foreman’s legs. Foreman backed LeBlanc against the ropes again and dropped
him with a rapid combination. Realizing that he was hopelessly outmatched, LeBlanc seemed to quit in a manner that some at ringside considered highly questionable.

Yuri Foreman stays perfect at 20-0 (8) while the Massachusetts State Boxing Commission made moves to withhold the purse of LeBlanc, who drops to 11-10-4 (3) after this display.

Jorge “The Truth” Teron vs. Marcus “Bad” Luck

Marcus Luck, who previously beat Jimmy “The Dream” LeBlanc, came after lightweight Jorge Teron in the first round, bobbing and weaving in and out of the tremendous reach of “The Truth”. Luck drew premature jabs from the six footer, forcing him to miss high, and giving him an opening to land hard bodyshots. Teron tied up the shorter fighter, counterpunched and dodged Luck’s knockout attempts. Late in the round, Teron turned the tables when he backed Luck against the ropes at round’s end.

In round two, Luck rushed in to land a hook and got caught by a stinging straight right. Unfazed, the Virginian pressured Teron and backed him against the ropes. Teron tried to hold him at bay with his long jab, but Luck ducked another punch and found an opening for his left hook and more bodyshots. Teron tied up Luck until the referee could break them out. Now Teron started pressuring Luck, who appeared reluctant to punch back. Luck backpedaled until the round ended.

Round three came stillborn with Luck withdrawing from the fight due to an injury in his left hand.

Bronx based Jorge Teron moves to 10-0 (8) on the strength of the second round stoppage while Marcus Luck loses for the first time in five contests, going to 6-9-1 (3).

Chris Traietti vs. Bernard Higgens

The match up between local college student Chris Traietti and newcomer Bernard Higgens started with a bang as the super middleweights rushed to the ring center and began a slugfest. Higgens repeatedly attempted to crowd Traietti, coming come in under his jabs but the taller fighter either dodged Higgen’s uppercuts or caught him flush with hooks.

Undeterred, the neophyte fighter continued his furious attack, searching for an opening for the uppercut when Traeitti caught him flush with another left hook and backed Higgens to the ropes. In a flurry of punches, Traietti knocked the dazed Higgens to the deck.

Higgens came back up for the count and again came after Traietti. Traietti backed Higgens to the ropes again and hit him with an overhand right, dropping the debutante for the second time.

Higgens came back up for the count again to resume his attack on the Westfield State Psychology major. Forthe third time, Traietti backed Higgens against the corner. Higgens tried to tie up Traietti but he couldn’t close the range quickly enough and the Quincy native landed multiple hooks, dropping him again and this time Higgens didn’t make the count. Traietti won by TKO at the bell to the end of the first round.

Chris Traietti sees his record to 3-0 (2) by spoiling the pro debut of Bernard
Higgens.

Eddie Soto vs. Anthony Hartman

The second bout of the evening was an underwhelming affair at super lightweight as Rhode Island fighter Eddie Soto pounded at will on Ohio based novice Anthony Hartman. The Midwesterner spent the fight backing from Soto, trying to avoid the corners. Soto caught Hartman with a combination to the body but missed the headshot.

Soto backed his rival to the ropes and scored flush with a right hook that sent Hartman running for cover. Hartman turned his back to Soto, seeking refuge between the ropes in his antagonist’s corner as Soto descended upon him with both hands until the referee pulled him off.

By this point, Hartman had lost whatever fight he had. When Soto landed with another hook that sent Hartman back to the canvas, the outmatched fighter stayed down for the count.

Eddie Soto improves to 4-0 (3) while Anthony Hartman descends to 0-2 (0).

Simeon “Dynamite” Dunwell vs. Sylvester Beard

The first fight of the evening ended before it had a chance to begin. At the bell the fighters rushed to the ring center and started a furious slugfest that ended when lightweight newcomer Beard slipped and accidentally ducked a hook by Dunwell.

Beard got back up and the two fighters resumed their attack. Dunwell proved the quicker fighter and hit flush with a left hook. He backed the dazed Beard to is own corner in a fury of rapid fire punching, knocking Beard out.

Simeon Dunwell wins by TKO at 1:01 of the first and climbs to 2-0 (2) while Sylvester Beard loses his maiden voyage as a pro.