Boxer John Duddy remembers uncle slain on Bloody Sunday

Derry boxer John Duddy lost an uncle on Bloody Sunday

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CAHIR O'DOHERTY,

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For the citizens of Derry, the dramatic report by the Bloody Sunday inquiry on Tuesday was a vindication almost 40 years in the making. The tribunal, which took 12 years to compile its report, found that all those killed in Derry on Sunday, January 30, 1972 were unarmed and that the British Parachute Regiment had lost control and opened fire without warning.

For U.S.-based pro-boxer John Duddy, 30, a Derry native and nephew of 17-year-old Jack Duddy who was killed on Bloody Sunday, it’s a validation of everything his relatives have fought for, for decades.

“Talking to my father on the phone last night I found out that this statement was coming from the inquiry,” Duddy told the Irish Voice on Tuesday from his training camp in Texas.

Duddy admitted that until the report was finally released on Tuesday his relatives had feared another whitewash was in the making and were bracing for the worst.

“Everyone I know was still so tentative and so nervous because they were expecting the worst, even though they knew the people who died were innocent. Even as late as last night I could hear the nervous tension in my father’s voice. I’ll be talking to him later today and I am sure now I’ll hear the relief this time,” Duddy said.

Duddy, a champion middleweight who’s currently training to meet Julio Cesar Chavez on June 26 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, was the nephew of Jack Duddy, also a boxer, who was the first person to be shot dead on Bloody Sunday when he was killed by a single bullet to the chest in the courtyard of Rossville Flats. Witnesses said that he was unarmed and running away from soldiers.

“His name was John, but everyone called him Jackie,” said Duddy.

“His full name was John Francis and I was named John Francis after him. He was a boxer too. Jackie was 17 and he was my father’s idol when he was growing up -- my father was 12 at the time he was killed.

“My father always talked about how he would follow Jackie into the boxing gym. It was one of the main reasons why he became a boxer and it’s one of the main reasons I am one now, you know?

“I’m 31 next week,” said Duddy. “Bloody Sunday was always something that was never really talked about when I was growing up. So for me personally it’s great to see justice.

“I’m just glad to see that my aunties and uncles and my father will be able to talk about it. It won’t be a subject that’s hushed up when kids are about anymore.”

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