By Jason Kim: Middleweight contender John Duddy (29-1, 18 KO’s) will be fighting on the undercard of the June 5th bout between World Boxing Association light middleweight champion Yuri Foreman and challenger Miguel Cotto at the Yankee Stadium, in New York. It was hoped that Duddy, 30, could be fighting unbeaten Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on that card, with the winner facing fellow Top Rank fighter WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik later in 2010, but Chavez recently tested positive for the banned drug Furosemide before his recent bout against Troy Rowland and was subsequently suspended for seven months by the Nevada Athletic Commission.

Duddy still plans on fighting Chavez, only not on June 5th. Duddy will instead be facing a still to be determined opponent on the 5th of June. However, the winner of the Chavez-Duddy fight, which will be taking place later in 2010, will likely be fighting Pavlik in late 2010, that is, if Pavlik is still the WBC/WBO middleweight champion by then. Pavlik has a fight coming up next month on April 17th against Sergio Martinez and there’s no guarantee that Pavlik will win that fight.

Duddy struggled to beat light middleweight contender Michael Medina on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey fight on March 13th at the Cowboys Stadium, in Arlington, Texas. Duddy ended up winning by a 10 round split decision, but took a lot of shots by the weak-punching Medina. Duddy was even staggered at the end of the 7th, and was saved by the bell. It’s extremely fortunate that Medina didn’t hurt Duddy earlier in the round because he would have had a good chance of taking Duddy out.

Medina had little power to speak of during the fight, and it was good bit of match-making having him fight Duddy rather than a middleweight contender with power like Daniel Jacobs or Gennady Golovkin. Those fighters would be very formidable opponents for Duddy, and I’m not sure that Duddy would escape a fight against either of those guys on his feet.

Duddy has won three straight fights since losing a 10 round split decision to Billy Lyell last year in April. Duddy’s wins since that fight have come against Michi Munoz, Juan Astorga and Medina. Hopefully, Duddy is pitted against a 1st tier middleweight – rather than a light middleweight like Medina – in his fight on June 5th.

I’m not counting on it happening, but it would be nice for a change to have Duddy facing a top contender in the middleweight division. I’d settle for Duddy being put in with the likes Matthew Macklin, Roman Karmazin or Daniel Geale. I don’t see that happening. Most likely, it will be more 2nd tier fodder put in with Duddy. Gee, I can’t wait.