SAN ANTONIO – Wednesday afternoon in Alamodome’s cavernous but air-conditioned arena, “Latin Fury 15” participants, managers and trainers joined Top Rank’s Bob Arum on stage for their final press conference before Saturday’s card. Some wore jeans, others wore t-shirts, three even wore blazers. But only one had green Chuck Taylors on.
That would be Ireland’s John Duddy, of County Derry in the North, proudly wearing a color that’s as universally associated with Ireland as any color is with any land. Duddy will fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for the WBC Silver middleweight title in Saturday’s main event.
And yes, Top Rank knows what you might think about that.
“A lot of people say, ‘What the hell is the WBC Silver belt?’” said Bob Arum from the stage on Wednesday. “The winner becomes the WBC mandatory challenger, so it has great significance.”
Duddy confirmed the significance when his turn at the podium came, describing a world title shot – in this case with Sergio Martinez, the middleweight champion – as being a dream of his since childhood. But first he must beat Chavez.
“I’ve had this fight on my mind for a long time,” Duddy said of battling the son of Mexico’s most famous champion. “It’s a crossroads fight for us both.”
One of the themes of this week’s promotion has been Duddy’s family in Northern Ireland, specifically the uncle after whom he was named, John Francis Duddy, who was killed during a demonstration on Jan. 30, 1972 that came to be known as “Bloody Sunday.” Last week, a 10-volume tribunal report exonerated the Irish citizens killed that day, concluding all were unarmed. Duddy’s uncle, known colloquially as Jackie, will be honored with the tolling of a 10-count before Saturday’s main event.
While last week’s Saville Report brought joy to long-suffering members of Duddy’s family, on Wednesday Duddy emphasized how important it was to him to have their permission before using his prizefight as a way of honoring Jackie Duddy.
“My family were thrilled with this decision,” Duddy said when asked about the tribunal’s finding. “But I was never a part of that (struggle). I don’t want to seem to be jumping on the bandwagon.”
Duddy confirmed, though, that he would be fighting in his uncle’s honor with the blessing of his aunts and uncles Saturday, and also the blessings of his father – who will be in Alamodome.
But neither father nor son is likely to see much green in the Alamo City, at least not without it accompanied by Mexican red and white. Asked if he thought maybe his opponent would be the crowd favorite at an event alternately called “La Furia de Mexico,” Duddy was quick but charming in his answer.
“No maybe about it,” he said. “They better be for Chavez.”
Then he smiled and promised there was a chance he’d convert the crowd and have them “singing ‘Juan’ Duddy” by the end of the night.
SALVADOR SANCHEZ REMEMBERED
Leading Saturday’s “Latin Fury 15” telecast will be Salvador Sanchez II, the nephew of Salvador Sanchez, a Mexican fighting legend who made nine professional appearances in Texas, including four in San Antonio. The younger Sanchez is eager to garner a fraction of the acclaim his uncle won in a career defined by 10 world title fights.
“To be here, where my uncle defended his title, is an honor,” said Sanchez, Wednesday afternoon.
RAUL MARTINEZ WANTS TO BE YOUR CHAMPION
Local interest will also focus itself on Saturday’s second televised card when Raul Martinez and Gabriel Elizondo, two friends who grew up together in San Antonio’s amateur program, put their camaraderie aside and prove there are no friends in the prizefighting ring.
“It’s a great privilege, a great honor, to be fighting on this card,” said Martinez from Wednesday’s podium. “I want to show San Antonio they’ve got a future world champion here.”
Martinez also acknowledged the city’s last world champion, Jesse James Leija, whose Championfit Gym hosted an open workout Tuesday.
ALAMODOME CONFIGURED FOR 15,000
Saturday night, Alamodome will have roughly half its seats curtained-off. An upcoming convention will take the south side of the building, with the north side reserved for boxing. This is great news for local fans. A quick peek at the ringside area Wednesday revealed that upper-deck seats are also covered in curtains, meaning that every seat Saturday will be a good one.
Top Rank officials confirmed ticket sales have been pleasantly brisk, but plenty of seats still remain available.
FRIDAY WEIGH-IN ON THE RIVER
The weigh-in for “Latin Fury 15” will happen along the River Walk at 1:30 P.M. on Friday afternoon at the Arneson River Theatre, just north of La Villita. It is open to the public.
Anyone willing to brave June’s humidity will be rewarded with perhaps the most picturesque setting in which any boxing weigh-in has yet been conducted.
FINANCE: WORLD BANK POSTPONES INDIA LOANS
Inter Press Service English News Wire May 27, 1998
Inter Press Service English News Wire 05-27-1998 WASHINGTON, May 26 (IPS) — The World Bank today postponed consideration of $865 million in new loans to India as part of a Washington-led protest against India’s recent nuclear tests.
Voting on the loans was put off until “a date to be determined” after several of the lending agency’s 24 executive directors had asked for the delay, the Bank said in a statement.
Bank officials declined to name the countries requesting the postponement. However, at the summit of the “Group of Eight” leading powers in Birmingham, England earlier this month, the United States, Japan and Canada led the drive for international sanctions against India.
Washington invoked the 1994 Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act and imposed sweeping sanctions against New Delhi May 13. That law requires U.S. executive directors at the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and Asian Development Bank to oppose loans for India. bankofindianow.com bank of india
The World Bank had been expected to approve some $2 billion in such loans before June 30, the end of its fiscal year. The four loans to have been decided this week included three from the Bank itself and one from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), its private-sector affiliate.
Now in limbo were $130 million to support India’s renewable energy program, $450 million to develop the national electric power grid, $275 million to improve the highway network in the state of Haryana, and a $10 million IFC loan for a tractor factory.
Other loans in the pipeline included two health projects and an “economic restructuring” package for Andhra Pradesh state. It was not yet certain whether those loans also would be subject to delay, a Bank spokeswoman told IPS.
This week’s postponement effectively added to sanctions that could top $20 billion in frozen lending, loan guarantees, and other economic aid from U.S. and international agencies, according to economists here.
Washington’s sanctions so far have cut off some $500 million in export projects, pending but not approved by the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im), as well as $3.5 billion in projects still in their very first stage. Also halted was $10.2 billion in insurance and financing by the U.S. government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
U.S. companies have been among those to suffer. Seattle-based Boeing Co. had been counting on $200 million in Ex-Im credits for the sale of 10 737 jets to the Indian private carrier Jet Airways — a deal worth about $500 million. Boeing also was competing against Europe’s Airbus Industrie for billions of dollars in business from the national carrier, Air India.
Indian government officials played down the likely impact of sanctions and arguing that any withdrawal by the United States or Japan — which already had halted its bilateral aid program — would serve only to heat up competition for lucrative Indian contracts in fields ranging from state development projects to private business deals. in our site bank of india
U.S. officials moved yesterday to counter the notion that Washington might be isolating itself from Western nations more intent on pursuing business opportunities in India. European foreign ministers had signaled their support of U.S. efforts to block loans to New Delhi and implement other measures intended to win Indian compliance with the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), according to State Department spokesman James Rubin.
“The Europeans, contrary to the impression one gets from international media accounts, are moving toward imposing what is effectively a sanction for India if it doesn’t join the CTBT as a result of the test,” Rubin told reporters.
India is the World Bank’s biggest borrower. Last year, it received some $1.5 billion in loans and credits from the Bank and its soft-loan window, the International Development Association.
The Bank’s portfolio of active loans to India as of the end of June 1997 was $15.1 billion.
The World Bank and other multilateral lenders account for some 70 percent of India’s borrowing from overseas and New Delhi has been especially dependent on these loans to finance power and transportation infrastructure — key to attracting foreign investment and enabling economic growth.
While that funding has been key to some of India’s most ambitious and crucial infrastructure projects, it also has been assailed for backing environmentally unsound projects that trampled on the rights of local communities. Notable examples include a 2,000-megawatt coal-fired power project at Singrauli, often referred to as India’s “power capital.” The Bank itself has admitted that the effort, aimed at helping end the desperately short supply of electricity to Indian industry and homes, has been an environmental, health, and economic disaster for peasant communities living in the area.
