John Duddy, the white-hot middleweight contender from Ireland, fighting out of New York, headlines a card titled “Tomorrow’s Champions,” on May 18 at the Beacon Theatre in Manhattan.
Duddy (19-0, 15 KOs), rated No. 8 by the WBO, as well as No. 9 by the WBA and No. 13 by the IBF, faces Dupre “Total Package” Strickland (18-1-1, 7 KOs) in the 10 round, non-title main event.
Strickland lives in Louisiana. He’s been a pro since 2000, and his lone loss came in his third fight. The 37-yearold southpaw has feasted on home cooking, downing subpar opposition in the Gulf states. He owns minimal pop, and is thus the perfect foe for Duddy, who is building to a 2008 St. Paddy’s blowout, perhaps against Jermain Taylor.
Born in Derry, Northern Ireland and now living in Queens (NYC), Duddy is the reigning IBA World and WBC Continental Americas middleweight champion.
Also on the card: New York State middleweight title-holder and Polish knockout artist Pawel “Raging Bull” Wolak (14-0, 9 KOs), fighting out of Mt. Arlington, New Jersey, takes on Anthony Little (7-6, 1 KO) in the eight round co-feature.
Also scheduled to fight on the card is Brooklyn middleweight Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (10-0, 9 KOs), as well as 2004 Irish National Senior amateur champion Henry Coyle (1-0, 1 KO), from County Mayo in Ireland, meets pro debuting Kamel Alolabi; multiple European and Irish amateur champ Aloysius “Alo” Kelly, the light heavyweight from Westmeath, Ireland now living in Queens, is making his pro debut against James Singleton (0-2); WBA top rated lightweight Maureen “The Real Million Dollar Baby” Shea (10-0, 5 KOs), from the Bronx; New York City super flyweight Eileen Olszewski (2-0, 0 KOs) versus Kimberly Tomes (0-2). All fighters are subject to change.
Tickets, ranging between $75.00 and $300.00, are now on sale by calling Irish Ropes Promotions at 212.835.1582 or TicketMaster at 212.307.7171. Tickets are limited and more than $55,000 were sold this past Wednesday when they first went on sale. All tickets include a $4.00 facility fee and TicketMaster purchases are subject to TicketMaster service fees.
For more information about the May 18th show call Irish Ropes Promotions or go on line to www.irishropes.com.