John Duddy is not a happy chappie. Nobody knows how much New York's most charismatic Irishman has earned from 25 straight wins as a world-ranked fighter. Only that it's less than he bargained for, a lot less.

That's why a sorely disgruntled Duddy has fallen out with the McLoughlin brothers, Eddie and Tony of Irish Ropes' fame.

This is the company that vowed to take John to the stars and back. For five years, it looked like boxing's happiest marriage, so why all the bitterness and talk of divorce ?

Thomas Hauser, Ali's biographer and top investigative journalist, has been finding out. An avid Duddy fan, Tom is saddened by a turn of events that has left the pride of Derry in meltdown, and cost him valuable time and money. And as in most boxer/manager flare-ups, money is again the root of all evil.

In a nutshell, the McLoughlin brothers both manage and promote Duddy, which, John feels, has not been in his best interest.

It's in a brilliantly researched 4,000-word inquiry that Hauser probes for answers to a few pertinent questions.

Like why Team Duddy rejected the $150,000 offer of a title fight with IBF (world) champion Verno Phillips, which John himself desperately wanted.

Especially when the 38-year-old Phillips, beaten ten times in a hard-to-market career, was willing to risk all in an Irish ring, possibly Belfast?

Duddy's flaws had been exposed in February last when he beat a tough guy called Smichet in New York, but ended up looking like he had just gone through the windscreen.

It would be mid-summer before he was fit to box, and win, again, by which time new trainer, Pat Burns, had a novel idea.

Why not drop John down a weight to light-middle (11 stone)?. He would then face lighter punchers, and hopefully his own punches would have a more punitive effect.

"Make the match with Phillips, whatever it takes, I told Eddie," recalls Duddy. "The champ's manager wanted options on my next two fights, if I won, but I still said: I don't care; make the deal!"

The McLoughlins, however, didn't want to know.

Instead, John suddenly learned he would be boxing on a low-key New York show for a modest purse of $20,000, and next against Tommy Hearns' son, Ronald, for a purse of $75,000.

"It just didn't make sense," sniffs John. "Two fights of little consequence for considerably less than I could have got for beating Phillips. I simply had no control over my own destiny, and began to question other things."

Duddy's contract with Irish Ropes specified that he would be paid $20,000 a fight in his first year; $50,000 a fight in the second, and $75,000 a fight during year three, all minus an agreed 20 per cent in managerial fees to Tony McLoughlin.

From a St Patrick's Day battle against Bonsante in 2007, however, Duddy's take-home pay, writes Hauser, was little more than $30,000 out of ticket sales alone of $550,000, and from a thrilling bout with Yory Campas, also in New York, Irish Ropes reported ticket sales of $264,000, plus another $25,000 from TV rights. Duddy's share: a paltry $20,000, minus Tony's $4,000 cut.

"As John's trainer for 17 of his early contests, the only money I ever got was from him," says boxing legend, Harry Keitt.

"So if he got less, I got less. I wish all boxers had John's character. He could be excused for thinking the numbers didn't add up."

The McLoughlin brothers point out that they gave Duddy 'extras' beyond the terms of his contract. Like an apartment in Queens, and second-hand car, plus $250 a week in pocket-money. "Originally, Tony told me the payments would be every week, but they were not," declared John.

"I'm disappointed John didn't face me like a man.... and talk about what's bothering him," Eddie told Hauser. "If he had looked good against Hearns on HBO, it could have led to a title shot."

Pat Burns, John's new trainer, then added his tuppence worth. "John has integrity and a lot of Irish charm," he commented.

"Whether Eddie and Tony, or matchmaker Borzell, did right by him is in the numbers. And right now, the numbers I'm hearing don't sound good."

Duddy will be 30 in June, and nine months without a fight has left him restless and frustrated. Hopefully, not for much longer.

What claims do Irish Ropes now have on him, fans will ask ?. Answer -- none, thanks to some smart legal work by his top advisers, Craig Hamilton and attorney Gary Friedman, both of whom expect he'll be in action again soon.

"There should be a common purpose between a boxer and manager," says John, "and that wasn't the case between Tony McLoughlin and myself.

The common purpose seems to have been more between Tony and his brother. Right now, I'm ready to explode. I feel sorry for the guy I fight next !."

Nothing prepares a fighter for boxing business more than the business of boxing, writes Hauser. And Duddy has maintained his dignity through it all.