Duddy braced for a serious test

BOXING/Middleweight/John Duddy v Howard Eastman:Standing on the pool bank of a leisure centre in Derry, John Duddy knew his life had hit a cul-de-sac.

Four years later and he is the centre of attraction on both sides of the Atlantic, having become a celebrity in his adopted home of New York.

Tonight in Belfast's iconic King's Hall, Duddy plans to show he is worthy of the hyperbole and he knows a victory over Howard Eastman is just what he and Irish professional boxing need at this juncture.

Bernard Dunne came unstuck in just 86 seconds in his litmus test with Kiko Martinez in the summer and last week Wayne McCullough saw his fight with the Spaniard fall through because of the European superbantamweight champion failing to make the weight for the fight in the King's Hall.

There were no such problems at yesterday's weigh-in, with Eastman on the 11st 6lb limit and Duddy just inside it.

As much as Eastman looked relaxed, Duddy appeared edgy, as if knowing the former European middleweight champion was going to take him to a place he has not been before.

To date, Duddy has been tested to the limit only once, by former world light-middleweight champion Yori Boy Campas last year when he sustained awful eye damage, the scars of which remain evident. He knows Eastman offers an even greater threat.

"Eastman is a genuine world-class middleweight. He proved that when he went the distance in two world-title challenges with William Joppy and the legendary Bernard Hopkins so if I beat him then I will be seen as the genuine article," said Duddy, who has spent five weeks training in North Carolina with relatively new coach Don Turner.

"Working with Don has been great. Going to America was the best thing I ever did. I was going nowhere in Derry . . . I knew I had to get away to fulfil my dream. Once I walked into Gleason's Gym in New York I knew that this was the place I was going to learn to be a professional fighter. At first I worked with Harry Keit and he taught me a lot.

"Everything has gone very well and now I face Eastman, who brings more to this fight than any other fighter I have boxed before."

On the supporting bill Dungiven's Paul McCloskey takes on the Bulgarian Tontcho Tontchev for the IBF international light-welterweight title, while Lurgan's Stephen Haughian challenges the Italian Giammario Grassellini for the IBF intercontinental welterweight title.

In Irish light-welterweight and light-middleweight title fights, former senior champion Andrew Murray meets James Gorman and Ciarán Healy takes on Lee Murtagh.