By Sean McDaniel: Talented middleweight contender John Duddy (26-1, 17 KO’s) will be returning to the ring on October 10th against a still to be determined opponent at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Duddy, 30, is coming off a 10-round decision loss to Billy Lyell in April in a fight that Duddy was never really competitive in.
Although the loss was disappointing for Duddy, it was a good learning experience because it showed that Duddy needs to knuckle down on his boxing skills and learn how to block more punches and use his jab more often. Those were two of the biggest issues for Duddy in his fight against Lyell, because he was hit often by lead right hands from Lyell and seemed unable to block any of his telegraphed punches.
The loss hurt Duddy badly in the rankings, because he was ranked in the top 5 at the time of the loss, and it took Duddy out of a position where he could fight for a title. However, Duddy is still ranked high at number #9 in the World Boxing Organization (WBO), and he still could be close enough for WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik to look his way in the future and give him a much deserved chance at his title.
The recent loss for Duddy was the second time that he missed out on an almost sure fire chance against title holder Pavlik, the first being after Duddy struggled to beat Canadian based slugger Walid Smichet by a 10-round majority decision last year in February.
While Duddy ended up winning the fight, he was cut badly above both eyes which required 33 stitches to repair. The time off for healing wiped out the chance against Pavlik, who chose to fight Gary Lockett instead.
Duddy is still sticking it out as a middleweight despite his struggles in recent fights. Duddy would probably have a much better chance to compete at light middleweight where he wouldn’t be out-sized like he sometimes is fighting in the middleweight division. The loss to the 5’9″ Lyell had nothing to do with Duddy being the smaller fighter, because Duddy had a two inch height advantage over Lyell. The problem for Duddy in that fight was that he couldn’t stop Lyell from bombing him from right hands and wasn’t able to answer back often enough with his own shots to keep the fight close.
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Diamond Title Approved for Cotto vs. Pacquiao Bout
According to Fight News, the World Boxing Council Board of Governors has agreed to have the new WBC Diamond belt to be on the line for the November 14th bout with Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto. The best part of this for Pacquiao and Cotto is that they won’t have to pay the sanctioning fees for the Diamond belt in this instance.
The bout will take place at a 145 catch weight rather than 147, the normal weight limit for the welterweight division. In the future, the WBC Diamond belt will be available for elite fighters in catch weight bouts. It will be interesting to see how other fighters respond to the title in the future.
Reportedly, Cotto and Pacquiao like the idea of the Diamond title to be on the line for their fight. However, it will likely be a case by case basis, because some fighters might be turned off by the idea of fighting for this trinket, seeing it as a ploy by the WBC to squeeze out a sanctioning fee by having a title on the line that doesn’t have much value.
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