Duddy happy to wait for title tilt

JOHN DUDDY may thank Jermain Taylor for exercising his rematch clause with Kelly Pavlik in the new year, with a world title shot for the Irish man four months later than expected proving well worth the wait.

Providing there are no slip-ups against former contender Matt Vanda in February and an as-yet unnamed opponent in March, the unbeaten Derryman — who beat two-time world title challenger Howard Eastman in Belfast last Saturday to move his professional record to 23-0 (17 KOs) — will fight Ohio’s Pavlik (32-0, 29 KOs) for his WBC/WBO world middleweight belts next June.

The American’s promoter Bob Arum revealed to the Irish Examiner on Tuesday that the match had been made and Jim Borzell, matchmaker for Duddy’s promoter Irish Ropes, confirmed the pact last night.

Borzell met with Arum in New York on Tuesday but said Arum’s declaration that the fight would be at the Cleveland Browns Football Stadium was wide of the mark and that there was some way to go before a host city was confirmed, let alone a venue.

Wherever it is held, Borzell believes Duddy can only benefit from facing the extremely dangerous puncher later rather than sooner. An original showdown was planned for New York’s Madison Square Garden in February 2008 but that plan was shelved when Pavlik was forced into the ring for a rematch with Jermain Taylor, a fight that will take place in Las Vegas on February 16.

Pavlik stunned former undisputed middleweight champion Taylor in their first meeting in Atlantic City in late September when he survived a second-round flooring to knockout the WBC/WBO titleholder in the seventh round of a thrilling encounter that many, including the WBO, consider to be the fight of 2007. Taylor has now exercised a rematch clause in the original contract and he and Pavlik will contest a non-title fight at super-middleweight.

Duddy, who defeated fellow top-10 contender Howard Eastman of England in Belfast on Saturday, may have found a February date with Pavlik too hot to handle with his defensive skills still under question as he beds in with new trainer Don Turner. But two more fights against seasoned opponents will, Borzell thinks, get the Irishman to Pavlik in just the right condition come the summer.

“When we saw the Pavlik-Taylor rematch come up we saw it as a disappointment initially but after contemplating it we feel it works completely in John’s favour. He’s now got Howard Eastman under his belt, we’ll have Matt Vanda and then somebody else on March 15, probably of higher value than Vanda. So John’s defence will have improved some more by then and we’ve gained some valuable time in that regard.

“Of course it also gives Kelly more time because who’s to say he’s at his peak right now. There’s every possibility he could get better himself.

“So this match could be a gun fight, an old-style western gunfight. Remember that we’ve got a kid that wears armour for a chin — John has the ability to take a punch.”

As for the choice of venue, Borzell questioned Arum’s suggestion that the Duddy camp had requested the Browns NFL stadium. That Irish Ropes would wish to send their man into Pavlik’s backyard, where he commands a loyal following as passionate and as large as Duddy’s fanbase was, he added, a piece of misinformation.

In fact, the Irishman’s team believe their man’s pulling power in his own right should be a significant lure to get Pavlik to fight on the east coast. Duddy has sold out the 4,000-seat Madison Square Garden in his last three fights there as the main event and filling the 14,000-seat main arena with the champion would not present a problem. Pavlik’s fans travelled in huge numbers to see their man win the title on the New Jersey shore at the Boardwalk Hall and would do so again be it there or at New York’s Garden.

“Does he think we’re insane? I think Bob has gone a little bit overboard there,” Borzell said. “Kelly gets to determine where he wants to fight, we’re not in that position, but if they think that John’s fan base is insignificant and shouldn’t be accounted for they’re wrong.

“If they think about where they could put it they could increase their live gate tremendously by putting it on the east coast in AC (Atlantic City) or New York City.

“I didn’t discuss a venue at all with Bob. Certainly we didn’t request the Cleveland Browns stadium. But of course we would want to take advantage and he should want to also take advantage of the fan base that we have here in New York.”

Getting a large number of Irish fans across the Atlantic to Cleveland would pose significant problems for the challenger.

There are no direct flights from Irish airports and only one daily from Britain, a morning flight from Gatwick, while the nearest major airport hub is Detroit, which is more than two and a half hours away by road and still without a direct flight from Belfast, Dublin or Shannon.