 According to Cyber Boxing Zone, Duffy fought three additional fights in 1889, an exhibition with Patsy Kerrigan on April 24, a no decision bout with Jimmy Conley in May, and a second no decision benefit bout with Johnny Reagan in Brooklyn on August 26, though these bouts were less well publicized.Just over a year after his win over Tom Meadows, while still reigning champion, he died of tuberculosis, then known as consumption, on July 10, 1890, at the age of 25, at his home at 5 Endicott Court in North Boston.He had been diagnosed with an incurable lung and heart ailment around six months earlier, though may have suffered from the illness for at least a year.