By Dan Ambrose: A potential fight between fringe junior middleweight contender John Duddy (29-2, 18 KO’s) and middleweight contender Andy Lee (24-1, 18 KO’s) could be taking place on the undercard of the March 12th HBO clash between WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (46-2-2, 25 KO’s) and WBO junior middleweight champion Sergeii Dzinziruk (37-0, 23 KO’s) in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Lee, 26, was recently rejected as an opponent for Martinez by HBO, who prefer the unbeaten Dzinziruk as an opponent for Martinez. It’s pretty to see why. The tall and skinny Lee was bombed out in seven rounds when he took on the tough 2nd tier fighter Bryan Vera in March 2008, and Lee still hasn’t picked up a win over a credible top tier opponent since then. Lee has won nine straight fights, albeit against nothing but B level fighters. It would be an insane risk for HBO to have agreed to put on Lee vs. Martinez given Lee’s lack of fights against top level fighters.

A fight between Lee and Duddy is pretty much the equivalent of Lee facing more B level opposition, as Duddy is nothing but a fringe junior middleweight contender, ranked #14 by the WBC. He was easily beaten in his last fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in June, and that pretty much shows you how good Duddy is.

Hopefully, Lee and Duddy aren’t being groomed as a future opponent for Sergio Martinez because it would be an awful mismatch to see Martinez fighting either of these guys in my view. I think Lee is the better fighter between him and Duddy, but that’s saying much. Lee really needs to start taking on top tier middleweights and prove he can beat those guys before they start talking title defenses for him.

I want to see Lee against someone like Daniel Jacobs, Paul Williams, David Lemieux, Roman Karmazin, Kelly Pavlik, Domenico Spada, Gennady Golovkin or Fernando Guerrero. As for Duddy, put him back in with a fringe junior middleweight contender like Erislandy Lara, Lukas Konecny, Sergio Mora, Alfredo Angulo, Kermit Cintron or Antonio Margarito. If Duddy gets blasted out, which I think he will, he can spent the remainder of his career in the 2nd tier ranks.