Pavlik vs. Duddy In June?

According to ESPN, undefeated middleweight John Duddy (23-0, 17 KOs) may possibly be going up against World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (32-0, 29 KOs), if Pavlik has his wish granted. Pavlik’s promoter, Bob Arum, said “We’re looking at defending against Duddy in June.” Before then, Pavlik has a rematch scheduled with former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor in January, but most expect Pavlik to come out on top as he did in the first fight when he stopped Taylor in the 7th round. For his part, Duddy, 28, has a fight scheduled with Matt Vanda in February, but that’s a bout that Duddy will likely win easily.

On last Saturday night, Duddy decisioned British middleweight Howard Eastman, beating him by 10-round decision in Belfast, Ireland. The fight was expected to be a close one. However, Duddy immediately smothered the power-punching Eastman, mostly keeping the fight on the inside and preventing Eastman from getting proper leverage on his shots.

Still, however, Eastman was able to land some monstrous uppercuts in many of the rounds, in particular in the 5th round when he landed repeated right uppercuts to the head of Duddy. Clearly, this is something that Duddy needs to work on before facing someone as powerful as Pavlik, as he punches harder than Eastman and would likely keep the fight on the outside rather than letting Duddy smother him as he did Eastman. Pavlik, though, is dangerous on the inside as well and more than a match for Duddy at close distance. Now it’s up to Duddy to see whether he’ll be interested in signing on for a bout with the dangerous Pavlik.

It’s a risky fight for Duddy, because he would seem to be at a disadvantage against Pavlik, whom is thought to be the best middleweight in the division at this stage in his career.