By Chris Williams: Middleweight contender John Duddy (29-1, 18 KO’s) isn’t bothered that he’ll probably be facing a large pro Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) crowd on Saturday night when he faces the 24-year-old Chavez Jr. for the WBC Silver middleweight crown at the Alamodome, in San Antonio, Texas. Duddy, 30, speaking with Irish-Boxing.com, said “It should be a great experience for me. I’m using to fighting in big fights in front of big crowds. Inside the ring they have no control of what can happen. So I’m looking forward to a good fight. Training went well, so I think I’ve a good chance of winning.”

Duddy may have fought previously in front of large crowds but he’s never faced a crowd that will be a firmly behind the young Chavez Jr. as he will be in this fight on Saturday night. It may not bother Duddy, but it could psyche up Chavez Jr. and make him want to brawl more with Duddy. As long as Duddy is up to the task there could be no problems with that. However, Duddy has a history of cutting up around the eyes, so if Chavez can connect with a lot of big shots, then there’s a good chance he could slice Duddy’s face up like it was in his fight against Walid Smichet two years ago.

Duddy cuts in almost every fight around the eyes, but he was cut especially bad in the Smichet fight and needed 33 stitches after the fight to sew up the damage that Smichet had done with his punches. Chavez Jr. hits at least as hard as Smichet, although he tends to space his punches out more than Smichet. Nevertheless, Duddy could get end up getting cut in a number of places around his eyes and be in bad shape because of it if the cuts are as bad as they were in the Smichet fight.

There’s also the judges who will be scoring the fight. That could be a problem for Duddy, because the large Mexican crowd will likely be cheering loudly after every punch that Chavez Jr. lands and this could influence the judges. Chavez could find himself winning a lot of rounds that might otherwise go to Duddy. The fight is in Texas, and there’s sometimes problems there with home fighters winning questionable decisions.

Chavez Jr. isn’t technically the hometown fighter, because he comes from nearby Mexico. However, you can pretty much consider him fighting in his hometown because most of the fans that come to the fight will be there to support Chavez, and not Duddy. Hopefully, the judges get the scoring right and give the decision to whichever fighter looks the best.

However, Duddy might want to look at going for a knockout at some point in the fight to make sure he gets the win. Chavez Jr. is a fighter that is being considered for a big money fight against Miguel Cotto in the future, and when you have a lot riding on a fight like this, the more popular fighter can end up winning controversial decisions.