Duddy's Path to Chavez Jr. Continues

Popular Irish middleweight John Duddy (29-1, 18 KO's) won his third consecutive fight over a Mexican opponent by earning a split decision over Monterrey resident Michael Medina (23-2-2, 18 KO's) on the Manny Pacquiao - Joshua Clottey PPV undercard Saturday.

The plan for Duddy, who has been working with Bob Arum's Top Rank Inc. promotional firm since a nasty split with former promoters Irish Ropes and a one off fight with Kathy Duva's Main Events, is to fight Arum stable mate and popular Mexican ticket seller Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO's).

Duddy, a proven draw with Irish immigrants on the northeast, and Chavez Jr., a draw with Mexicans and Mexican - Americans, is sure to drum up big business on pay per view.

Duddy is expected to fight next June 5th at Yankee Stadium in New York on the undercard of the Yuri Foreman - Miguel Cotto junior middleweight title fight. His opponent will not be Chavez Jr., who will be serving a suspension until June 14th due to testing positive for a diuretic in his system following his decision victory over Troy Rowland.

Chavez Jr., son of the legendary former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., has one common opponent with Duddy - tough Minnesota veteran Matt Vanda. Chavez Jr. struggled to a hard fought split decision in his first fight with Vanda before soundly outpointing him in a rematch. Duddy has only fought Vanda once and earned an easy unanimous decision.

Previously Duddy was mentioned as a possible challenger to middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik. However, a surprise loss to Youngstown's Bill Lyell last April derailed those plans for the time being.

Chavez Jr. has been cruising along against less than stellar opposition on Top Rank's Latin Fury PPV cards. Due to his popularity among Mexican fans he's still been able to generate a fair amount of interest for all of his fights despite sometimes fighting unknown opponents.