John Duddy

John Francis Duddy (born 19 June 1979) is an Irish actor and former professional boxer who fought from 2003 to 2010. He challenged once for the vacant WBC Silver middleweight title, losing in his final fight to Julio César Chávez Jr.

Amateur career As an amateur Duddy fought 130 times, winning 100 of his bouts. Duddy won his first Irish national title at the age of 15 as a Light Middleweight in the Junior Division, later winning Irish titles at the Intermediate and Elite Levels. He represented Ireland at European level and during Olympic qualifiers.

Professional career

Debut Duddy turned professional September 2003, and his first fight as a pro was versus Tarek Rashed in the Bronx, New York. He won via first-round knockout. On 22 November, he stopped Jesse Gomez at the Crowne Plaza hotel. His next bout was also at the Crowne Plaza, where he beat Leo Laudat on 21 December but suffered his first knockdown.

Early professional fights Duddy began 2004 by stepping up his opponent quality a notch, when he met Ken Hock on 9 January 2004 in Uncasville, Connecticut. Hock had ten victories against four losses and one draw (tie) coming into his bout with Duddy. Hock became the first boxer to go more than one round against Duddy, but still lost by knockout to the Irish prospect in the fourth round. He then experienced his career's longest lay-off, waiting over nine months before his next bout. When he returned, he once again won by first-round knockout, defeating Victor Paz on 30 October at Middletown, New York. Duddy quickly returned to action after that fight, beating William Johnson on 18 November in Manhattan.

Both the live crowd and the television announcers expected an early knockout in this fight, given that Pierre also had six first-round knockout wins. Duddy proceeded to drop Pierre twice before experienced referee Frank Cappuccino stopped the fight, giving Duddy his seventh first-round knockout, and his ninth consecutive knockout victory.

On 11 June 2005, Duddy was up against Patrick Thompson in Madison Square Garden. Thompson became the third boxer to last the first round, and both fighters boxed to a judge's decision. The score on all three cards was 80–72 in favor of Duddy, who extended his win streak to ten, while his knockout streak ended at nine.

Loss to Lyell On 24 April 2009, Duddy was beaten via ten-round split decision by Billy Lyell, a fighter with seven losses in his twenty-five fights.

Rebuilding On 10 October 2009, Duddy made a successful return to the ring against Michi Munoz. Duddy won a unanimous decision. On 23 January 2010, he fought Juan Astorga in Madison Square Garden. He went on to win by way of TKO in the first round, giving Duddy his 18th KO.

Duddy defeated Michael Medina of Monterrey, Mexico via a split decision on 13 March 2010, on the undercard of the Pacquaio/Clottey WBO Welterweight Championship. In his final fight he was unanimously outpointed by Julio César Chávez, Jr. in a fight in San Antonio on 26 June 2010. Having concluded his boxing career, Duddy decided to enter the field of acting.

Acting career Duddy pursued acting mainly in New York City, where the working-class Irishman found an especially warm welcome among working-class New Yorkers and Irish émigrés. Duddy landed roles in short film, web series, and the Off-Broadway stage. Duddy played the title character in the 2011 production of Kid Shamrock, Bobby Cassidy Jr.'s play based on the life of his father, American boxer "Irish" Bobby Cassidy. In 2012, Duddy played the bartender in the Matt Glasson short film Hard Times and portrayed the character Mark Sullivan in the online series The Wronged One (2010-2012, 2016), a revenge-thriller based on a graphic novel. In The Wronged One, Duddy's character appeared in an episode entitled "The Derry Destroyer" in honor of Duddy's boxing nickname. In January 2016, Latino Review reported The Wrong One had the attention of IFC (U.S. TV network), formerly the Independent Film Channel. IFC contemplated featuring the series on the channel's website.

In 2013, Duddy worked in several media. Duddy played a boxer in the music video for the Bon Jovi song "Because We Can," which debuted in January 2013. In the 2013 production of For Love by Irish actress, Laoisa Sexton's play about 3 single women in Dublin, Ireland and the men in their lives, Duddy portrayed all the male characters. Duddy's work in For Love won praise from Backstage and The New York Times. After the 9 March–April 5, 2013 run at New York City's Irish Repertory Theatre, Duddy continued with an Irish tour of For Love in Derry and Belfast in Northern Ireland and Waterford, Dublin and Galway in the Republic of Ireland. For the 2013 film Grudge Match, Duddy helped Robert De Niro train for boxing sequences choreographed by Robert Sale, the film's boxing technical adviser.

His work with Sale and De Niro on Grudge Match led to Duddy's casting in the Roberto Durán biopic Hands of Stone (2016).

Professional boxing record 31 Loss 29–2

UD 12 26 Jun 2010

30 Win 29–1

SD 12 13 Mar 2010

29 Win 28–1

TKO 1 (8), 23 Jan 2010

28 Win 27–1

UD 8 10 Oct 2009

27 Loss 26–1

SD 10 24 Apr 2009

26 Win 26–0

UD 10 21 Feb 2009

25 Win 25–0

UD 10 28 Jun 2008

24 Win 24–0

MD 10 23 Feb 2008

23 Win 23–0

UD 10 8 Dec 2007

22 Win 22–0

TKO 2 (10), 20 Oct 2007

21 Win 21–0

TKO 10 (10), 14 Jul 2007

20 Win 20–0

UD 10 18 May 2007

19 Win 19–0

TD 9 (12), 16 Mar 2007

18 Win 18–0

UD 12 29 Sep 2006

17 Win 17–0

RTD 7 (12), 10 Jun 2006

16 Win 16–0

TKO 1 (10), 16 Mar 2006

15 Win 15–0

UD 10 4 Feb 2006

14 Win 14–0

RTD 3 (8), 15 Dec 2005

13 Win 13–0

TKO 4 (8), 4 Nov 2005

12 Win 12–0

KO 1 (8), 17 Sep 2005

11 Win 11–0

TKO 8 (8), 22 Jul 2005

10 Win 10–0

UD 8 11 Jun 2005

9 Win 9–0

TKO 1 (8), 18 Mar 2005

8 Win 8–0

KO 1 (8), 4 Feb 2005

7 Win 7–0

TKO 5 (6), 11 Dec 2004

6 Win 6–0

TKO 1 (4), 18 Nov 2004

5 Win 5–0

TKO 1 (6), 30 Nov 2004

4 Win 4–0

TKO 4 (4) 9 Jan 2004

3 Win 3–0

TKO 1 (4), 21 Nov 2003

2 Win 2–0

TKO 1 (4) 22 Oct 2003

1 Win 1–0

TKO 1 (4) 19 Sep 2003

Personal life Duddy married his long-time girlfriend Graínne Coll in 2009 in their native Derry.

One of Duddy's uncles, named Jackie Duddy, was one of the 14 people killed by British Army Paratroopers, during Bloody Sunday.