 He secured the world welterweight title against British-born Australian champion Tom Meadows on March 29, 1889 in an exhausting 45 round bout at San Francisco's California Athletic Club.The purse was $1,000, and light gloves were used.One reporter wrote that spectators lost interest when both fighters occasionally ceased boxing in the latter rounds, with Meadows leaning on a post, and Duffy folding his arms in the center of the ring.