Healed Duddy Returns to U.S.

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Irish Voice Sport

Healed Duddy Returns to U.S.

April 2, 2008

By Declan O’Kelly

MIDDLEWEIGHT John Duddy, 24-0, will return to the U.S. next week after taking time out in Ireland following his win at Madison Square Garden against Walid Smichet on February 23. “The cuts have completely healed,” Eddie McLoughlin told the Irish Voice on Monday.

The lesions and underwhelming performance cost Duddy a title shot against WBO/WBC champion Kelly Pavlik on June 7. That opportunity has since gone to underdog Gary Lockett (30-1) from Wales.

Pavlik and Lockett had a New York press conference last week, and McLoughlin said that he and Bob Arum met there in passing, where the Top Ranks supremo said he hoped to see them in the opposite corner at the end of the year. It looks like Duddy could return to the ring as soon as late June, with Boston the likely venue.

“Sometimes you have to go one step back to take two steps forward,” said McLoughlin, who added that, “it would be a fight just to get him back in the ring and to get his confidence up.” Duddy’s opponent has not been confirmed but will be about the same caliber or slightly less than Smichet . . .

ACCORDING to an interview on espn.com with Brian Vera’s manager Jeff Wald, Andy Lee’s hopes of a rematch against Vera (16-1) appear to have cooled somewhat. In the piece Wald, also an executive producer of the TV series The Contender, said that he did not see the benefit of his fighter taking on the Limerick southpaw (15-1) again, adding he was proud of his fighter, who was a big underdog, and that better money fights could be found elsewhere . . .

LIGHT middleweight James Moore (15-0, 10 KOs) is back in the gym after a well-earned break following his victory over Juan Carlos Candelo on March 15. It looks like the Wicklow native is lining up a fight against 30-year-old Harry Boy Yorgey (20-0-1) this May in New York. Moore and his team (promoters Celtic Glove Promo-tions and matchmaker Bruce Silverlgade) are working hard on finalizing the matchup with the Pennsylvanian, which could be aired nationally on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights . . .

AFTER the disappointment of a fight in Indiana falling through on March 23, Mayo light middleweight Henry Coyle (6-1, 6 KOs) is back in training in Chicago for a possible fight mid- April in either Indiana or Missouri. Coyle will definitely be in action on May 9 in Chicago on an 8 Count Production card. He will fight an eight round contest against a yet to be named opponent.

“I was in great nick for the March fight, and it was deflating for it to be cancelled but I am back in the gym now and training hard,” Coyle told the Irish Voice Monday, shortly after a sparring session with welterweight Carlos Molina . . .

DERRY light welterweight Paul McCloskey (16-0, 7 KOs) continued his impressive run as a professional with a 100-91 points win over former world champion Cesar Bezan on Saturday night in Letterkenny. The 28-year-old southpaw from Dungiven was just too fast and elusive for his 33-year-old opponent, now 46-10-1, and is fast turning into one of Ireland’s biggest hopes for a tilt at a world title.

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