By Aaron Klein: Undefeated middleweight contender John Duddy (24-0, 17 KOs) is apparently still in the running for a potential bout with WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik for later this year, according to the website The Irish Independent. Duddy’s promoter, Bob Arum, had this to say, “There’s still a chance of Duddy meeting Pavlik for the belts later in this year or early in 2009.” Additionally, Duddy, 28, has switched trainers, the articles states, dismissing his American trainer Don Turner and moving to trainer Pat Burns, who also trains Jermain Taylor.
It’s unclear why Duddy has decided to make the move, but one would guess that it could have been due to Duddy’s recent disappointing performance against Walid Smichet, in which Duddy won by a 10-round majority decision but took a major pounding by Smichet. At the end of the fight, Duddy’s face was a red masque of blood, with his left eye cut badly, later requiring 23 stitches to close the deep cuts. But the worse part of all, however, was that Duddy despite winning the fight lost out on a chance to fight Pavlik on June 7th. Instead, Pavlik with be fighting Gary Lockett on June 7th rather than Duddy.