Boxing: Duddy one step from ultimate Garden party

Saturday, February 23, 2008

By David Kelly

Of course that assumes that Duddy is victorious tonight when he faces Walid Smichet in Madison Square Garden on the same bill as the heavyweight clash between Wladimir Klitschko and Sultan Ibragimov.

IBF World titleholder Klitschko is now recognised as the main man in the division just as WBC champion Pavlik is recognised as the No.1 at middleweight despite Arthur Abraham and Felix Sturm holding the IBF and WBA versions.

Duddy goes into the fight in the early hours of tomorrow morning knowing the stakes could hardly be higher. Win and he gets Pavlik and a purse of around 1.5m dollars; lose and it's all off.

The Derry man though didn't ever bother watching Pavlik-Taylor II.

Instead, he was finishing off his training regime in North Carolina with coach Don Turner.

" I just focus on myself and what I have to do, the rest can look after itself," says Duddy, whose extreme dedication and focus is one of the main reasons he is now in the top ten of all the world's governing bodies.

" People were talking about Taylor and then they started talking about Pavlik when he won the world title last year. I just don't bother about that because it's all about me winning. If I don't win those things mean nothing.

"I'm focused on this guy and beating him, that's all I've been thinking about because he's a tough, durable guy."

Smichet lost a points verdict to Sebastien Demers in his last fight, which was for the IBF international title but the victor had previously challenged Abraham for the world title.

Nevertheless his record suggests that will win by late stoppage or a late stoppage victory.

Then the 28-year-old can turn his attention to Pavlik who last weekend took everything that Taylor could throw at him and just kept coming back for more and more.

Pavlik is as tough as they come - just like Duddy - and it is little wonder that promoter Bob Arum has been desperate to make the fight ever since the champion won his first clash with Taylor.

Taylor, who will now campaign at super-middle, tried his best to win the re-match with short, quick bursts but Pavlik simply walked him down and outworked him, particularly in the later rounds.

The fight demonstrated that if Duddy is to upset the odds on June 7 at the Garden - assuming he wins tonight - the key to victory will be workrate and speed.

Though it is worth noting that one cannot underestimate the boxing ability of Pavlik who makes very god use of a jolting jab fro which everything else flows.

The re-match did not live up to the fireworks of the first encounter when Pavlik got off the floor in the second to stop Taylor in the seventh but the quality was just as good and it would appear that the man from Youngstown Ohio is improving with each fight.

There's many a slip between cup and lip as they say but all Irish fight fans will be hoping such a fate does not befall Duddy because a world title clash in the Garden is what we all want to see.

Meanwhile, Amir Khan seems to be on course for a world title shot by the end of the year but will it be on ITV.

Promoter Frank Warren's deal with ITV to screen Commonwealth lightweight champion Khan's fights runs out in June. Will Setanta come calling?

I wouldn't bet against it.