John Duddy will fulfil a long held ambition on 8 December when he headlines at the Kings Hall in Belfast.
The unbeaten Derry middleweight will follow in the footsteps of legendary local fighters such as Rinty Monaghan, Freddie Gilroy, Johnny Caldwell, Barry McGuigan, Dave McAuley and Wayne McCullough when he ducks between the ropes at the famous venue.
It promises to be a real treat for Belfast fight fans and Duddy can’t wait: ‘I’ve always wanted to fight at the Kings Hall and now I’m going to get the opportunity.
'When I turned professional the two venues I wanted to fight in were Madison Square Garden in New York and the Kings Hall.
'I’ve been lucky enough to fight at the Garden now a few times so to add the Kings Hall to the list will be something special.’
The venue has always been synonymous with boxing, but it really came to the world’s attention in the mid-80’s, when Barry McGuigan headlined there en route to winning the world title.
Duddy is hoping that his career can follow a similar route.
The 28-year-old said, ‘Obviously everyone knows about the Kings Hall from the McGuigan days. That’s over 20 years ago now, but people still talk about the atmosphere during those nights and it would be great if we were able to generate that kind of atmosphere again in December.’
While plans to face world middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik are on the backburner for the time being, Duddy feels he is closing in on a world title fight.
'Definitely that’s something to look forward to for next year but obviously I need to keep winning and that’s what I intend doing again on December 8th.'
