Duddy/Lee fight deal a long way from done

Plenty of interest on both sides but nothing concrete

• Irish middleweight John Duddy to fight at MSG on October 10
• Irish middleweight Andy Lee beats Anthony Shuler in Indiana

Reports emanating from Ireland last week suggesting that Irish promoter Brian Peters was hoping to put an Andy Lee/John Duddy fight together for November seem more speculative than definitive.

“I see the deal for this fight as a 50/50 one because to me the status of both men is on a par, but to make it that bit more attractive to them I'm prepared to offer a €35,000 ($50,000) bonus to the winner,” Peters was quoted in numerous outlets.

“Dangling the carrot of a bonus of this nature should certainly make the fight more interesting to both parties. Although there is a lot of serious talking still to be done.”

It would seem that some talking has been done, but only with one side.

When asked about the Peters offer, Duddy management advisor Craig Hamilton said, “I can tell you this. Peters has on several occasions, through his underling, extended offers to me. 

“I don’t know how serious these offers are, but I can tell you the offers that have been made to us make no sense for us to take or even consider at this point.

“Andy Lee is a capable fighter if you are going to fight him. First of all what we are trying to do is to get John into the ring against a world champ and Andy Lee isn’t one, so the world doesn’t go through Andy Lee.

“He would then be reduced to being an opponent we would fight for money and we would fight to position John for a world championship fight.

“At this point, the offer that was made was not adequate enough that we would seriously consider it, and if that is the best offer that can come out of Ireland it may very well be that the best place for the fight would be somewhere in March here (New York) if we are looking to do that.”

Hamilton also confirmed that he has never spoken to HBO or Showtime on Duddy’s behalf about a possible Duddy/Lee fight on any cable channel.

While Peters has been in touch with Hamilton, Emanuel Steward, who is Lee’s manager as well as trainer, confirmed Monday that the Irish promoter had not been in touch with him.

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Nster.com