Back in 2003, John Duddy, an amateur boxing star back home, relocated from his native Derry to Queens, New York, where he’d become a phenom during an exciting seven-year professional career.
His entertaining fighting style, matinee idol looks, and warm personality made him wildly popular star beyond New York’s vibrant Irish community. Duddy was a crowd puller and at the peak of his career with a 29-2 [18 KO] ledger when he suddenly announced his retirement in 2011. The news was stunning as a potentially mega all-Irish middleweight clash with Andy Lee in the works.
As the “Derry Destroyer” put it, he “no longer had the enthusiasm and willingness to make sacrifices to honor the craft of prizefighting.”
Duddy, who was the #2 middleweight in the world at one point, was only 31 but a man of conviction. No matter how lucrative of an offer was on the table, he never looked back at his decision, but today he’s at peace. He’s found a new passion as the athletic director of Moving Brains Foundation, training people with Parkinson’s disease through a unique program he co-developed with neurologist Jose C. Cabassa and Reese Scott.
“I missed the routine of it all,” Duddy said about his time after boxing. “Boxing was my life. I started when I was 5, but it no longer made me happy. I asked myself, is this all it is? I loved my childhood dream and then, all of a sudden, it was like I woke up. I remember being all alone living in North Carolina. I liked trainer Don Turner and the three sparring partners, but I felt alone.”
The absence of boxing for the first time in his life left Duddy in a new position. He wasn’t training but as he said, he was fiddling around a wee bit, as people asked him if he’d coach them. John had several jobs outside of boxing, focusing on becoming a professional actor. His cinematic credits include “Emerald City” (2016); “Hands of Stone” (2016), the Roberto Duran biopic in which he plays Scottish boxer Ken Buchanan; and “A Bend in the River” (2020). They’ve also been roles in short films, web series, music videos and Off-Broadway theater.
One day in 2019, he received a call from Cabassa, who had a friend in the same acting class as Duddy. Cabassa had ideas about Duddy helping to train people with PD. Moving Brains Foundation brands itself as the first physician-monitored, skill-based, moderate to high intensity Parkinson disease fitness program in New York City.
“Dr. Jose said he was located right around the corner from a boxing gym in East Harlem and the idea was to help these people get on their feet,” Duddy recalled. “I had learned the basics of boxing from my father, through the Irish amateur program and from my trainer, Harry Keitt. I knew what I was talking about, and the first step was getting them to walk up the stairs into the ring. Dr. Jose wanted them to be challenged more than they had ever been.
“They started hitting the bags, shadowing boxing, and learning combinations. They started developing a real boxing foundation. I had no interest in training them as regular fighters but training them to fight that invisible person that is holding them down. PD doesn’t go to sleep, but we slowly peck away. They’re real champions! The goal is to make their lives better. Boxing is a brutal sport with stigma. Dr. Jose said good boxing training can really help. They’re just touching the bags. It isn’t about landing with force; it’s about learning a technique and having a solid base to avoid falls and losing balance.
“We started in 2019, restarted in July 2021 after the pandemic, and haven’t stopped. Our PD fighters – that’s what we call them – are very friendly and active. Some of them love boxing. There are no drugs to help them like activity and training. I’ve seen some shutdown, but they come around with the help of the medical staff who are always there. We’re teaching them to step back, step forward, step to the right and then to the left. We never want their feet together to give them a chance to lose balance. They’re eager and ready to go. I love working with them. This isn’t about beating people up like I did for years.”
A USA Boxing certified amateur Muay Thai and mixed-martial-arts ringside physician, Cabassa has been treating people with PD for more than 20 years and specializes in managing complex motor and non-motor complications. His greatest success, he believes, has been being part of this boxing fitness program, having doctors and athletes working together to improve brain health.
“Coach John Duddy is still a world champion but now in health as the athletic director of Moving Brains Foundation,” Cabassa said. “I’m proud to see him develop as a healthcare leader. I met John and he was very humble and willing to try to use his skills in a different way. Coach Reese Scott, a Mendez Boxing trained alumnus, USA Boxing coach and already a trailblazer, formed Women’s World of Boxing around my office. I dropped by the gym one day and talked to Reese, called up John, got a little funding, and the rest is history.
“Both John and Reese have fully embraced this model of working together, taking risks but following science and seeing results. We can not only challenge our fighters with boxing techniques on a professional level, but also push them further with resistance, cardio and conditioning exercises. Results have been astounding, not only with what we see they are able to do, but the feedback we get from family and other doctors.”
For a man who made a living trying to knockdown people as a power punching boxer, “Ireland’s John Duddy is now at peace with a renewed passion for boxing, teaching people with PD how to slip the punches that PD is throwing, and to keep them strong on their feet with power.”
