America At Large: A Times Square landmark, Gallagher's Steak House has done a flourishing business since it opened in 1927, including the years in which it functioned as a wide-open speakeasy during the Prohibition, during which Runyonesque era luminaries from the sporting and theatrical worlds mingled freely with a somewhat more respectable clientele consisting primarily of gangsters.
With its red-and-white checkered tablecloths the saloon calls to mind another New York restaurant, the one in which Al Pacino ventilated Sterling Hayden in The Godfather, and the unconfirmed suspicion is Gallagher's is historically no stranger to the sort of mayhem which visited it last Wednesday, when Goofy and the Sultan started trading blows over lunch.
Having just triumphed in his first New York main event, unbeaten Derry middleweight John Duddy will perform on pay-per-view television when he goes after his 14th win on an Indian Reservation in Florida on December 15th, and the formal announcement of the card was the raison d'etre for the gathering. I'd spent half an hour chatting with Duddy, manager Eddie McLoughlin, and trainer Harry Keitt before leaving, and, moments after I had left Lance (Goofy) Whitaker and Sultan Ibragimov, an aggregate 493lb worth of heavyweights, came crashing through the table and landed in a heap on the chair I had just vacated.
These press conference brawls rarely result in injury to the combatants. (There are exceptions: when Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson engaged in one of these things a few years ago, Tyson bit Lewis on the, uh, thigh, though we suspect Mike's aim was just bad.) More often than not if anyone gets hurt it's going to be an innocent bystander or a would-be peacemaker, and in this case it was the latter, Ibragimov's manager Samson Lewkowicz, who got knocked cold.
When Duddy laces on the gloves in Florida next month, the Derryman will be fighting for his 10th different promoter in 14 fights, which is believed to be a modern-day record. While the career path mapped out by the McLoughlin Brothers is a unique one, it does have an historical precedent: when Ray Charles Leonard turned professional after the 1976 Olympics he similarly heeded George Washington's advice to "avoid entangling alliances" and remained a promotional free agent. It is a model Eddie McLoughlin admits to having consulted. There is one big difference: Leonard's career was bankrolled by television money from its outset.
"We know we're going to make really big money only when television is interested," said McLoughlin, "so you either sign up with a promoter, you promote it yourself and risk losing 20 or 30 thousand dollars a show - or you do it the way we've done it. We haven't been looking to beat anyone for big numbers. We've mainly been looking to get him seen - but John was responsible for selling $63,000 worth of tickets for his last show (in which he stopped Canadian Byron Mackie in four at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom)."
Thus far Duddy has fought for promoters Cedric Kushner, Bob Arum, Lou DiBella, Sal Musemeci, Joe DiGuardia, Rick Cappiello, Bobby Hitz, Northeast Promotions, and New England Ringside. It's safe to say every one of the above would love to sign Duddy. So would Don King and Dino Duva, both of whom have made runs at him, but McLoughlin is looking at least three fights down the line with no intention of tying his fighter up with anybody. "But we're always willing to listen," added Eddie McLoughlin.
The Florida card will be promoted by Warriors Boxing. Assuming all goes well, the plan calls for Duddy to fight again in late January/early February, either in Las Vegas, or on a Russell Peltz show in Philadelphia. (A proposed joint appearance with Kevin McBride atop another New England Ringside card in Boston appears to have fallen by the wayside, as negotiations have heated up again between McBride and King.) The big step-up is still three fights away - a fight for the North American middleweight title at the Madison Square Garden Theatre on St Patrick's Eve.
"No disrespect to John's next two opponents, but we've already reserved the Theatre for the night of March 16th," said McLoughlin. "It will be promoted by Irish Ropes. We're registered as a promoter in New York State, and we've even got a name for the show: "The Shamrock Express Rolls Through Madison Square Garden". Duddy will face his most formidable opponent to date that night in the form of former IBF champion Luis Ramon (Yory Boy) Campas.
At 34, Campas is closing in on 100 pro fights, and appears to be a big step up for Duddy. The Mexican's record is 87-8, but those losses include five to world champions (Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Fernando Vargas, Jose Luis Lopez, and David Santos). Yory Boy has spoiled the career of many an up-and-comer like Duddy. In his last fight he knocked out fellow Sonoran Eseban Camou, who was 17-0 at the time. (Duddy will presumably be 15-0 by St Patrick's Day.) Duddy doesn't yet have an announced foe for December 15th. McLoughlin had lined up 23-10 Florida journeyman Darrell Woods for the date, "but Woods has stopped answering his phone."
Duddy's fight at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino is scheduled to be the co-featured bout of a card the promoters are billing as "Global Warfare". In addition to the Irishman, the dramatis personae will include a Nigerian (heavyweight Samuel Peter against Robert Hawkins in the main event), a Colombian (welterweight Juan Urango against former WBC lightweight champion Cesar Bazan), a Canadian (light-heavyweight Dale Brown), and, of course, a Russian. (Ibragimov will engage Goofy in a rematch of the Donnybrook at Gallagher's.
Could a similar brawl in Dublin now be described as a "Gallagher's" at Donnybrook?
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