The former Ring ABC member recorded what was a convincing points victory over American, Charles Howe, at The Park Plaza Castle in Boston having won each of the ten rounds.

But while the 29-year-old Derry man is still being considered for a tilt at the world middleweight title against holder, Kelly Pavlik, Duddy's manager and promoter, Eddie McLoughlin, is now preparing for a possible IBF title fight against junior middleweight champion, Verno Phillips, after it was suggested that he should step down a weight division.

Indeed, Duddy's management team, Irish Ropes, have already opened negotiations with Art Pelullo, Phillip's promoter for a September fight that could take place in either the United States (New York or Las Vegas) or Ireland, with both Dublin and the King's Hall in Belfast considered potential venues.

Duddy's new Miami based trainer, Pat Burns, who helped steer Oscar de la Hoya to Olympic glory and Jermaine Taylor to a world middleweight title in 2007, would prefer him to drop six pounds and drop down to the junior middleweight division.

The month he spent training Duddy at the Phantom Gym in Miami has convinced Burns that Duddy's optimal weight may be at 154 lbs and not 160 lbs. Duddy weighed-in at 158 lbs last Saturday night but Burns is confident he can make the step down comfortably.

"I think John can make junior middleweight with ease," said the veteran trainer. "When I asked him about it, he said 'No problem.' The more I saw of him, the more persuaded I became that 154 lbs should be his optimal fighting weight.

"But the final decision rests with Irish Ropes, of course, but that's my opinion and John is on board with it too. His management has to make a decision on that. It's something we would like to buy into. I believe John would be a big 154 pounder while I think he's just an average to small 160 pounder."

He went on: "It's better to be the big guy in the division than the small guy in the division and (Kelly) Pavlik is definitely the big guy in the middleweight division. But that's a decision John's team have to make, I've voiced my opinion but it makes it a lot easier when the kid believes that he should be down another division.

"He's got a long way to go but I'm happy with his performance. He's a great kid. I think he's a great representative of his country but he certainly loves Boston and New York. He seems to have a nice fan base, everybody seems to like him. If he stays a gentleman out of the ring, I think he has a real opportunity."

Total Domination

Duddy needed to impress on Saturday night having been heavily criticised after his performance against Canada-based Tunisian, Walid Smichet, and the Derry man dominated from the opening bell against Howe.
Indeed, the tough American had no answer to his damaging combinations behind an effective left jab, however, he refused to go down and Duddy who turned 29 earlier this month, had to settle for a unanimous verdict from the three ringside judges. (100-90, 100-90, 100-90).

Worryingly, for the second consecutive fight Duddy sustained a cut around his right eye following an inadvertent clash of heads in the ninth round but it was nowhere near as severe - or as costly - as those sustained over both his eyes in his last outing against Smichet in Atlantic City.

Although there were no official knockdowns, Duddy stunned Howe in the second when he followed a left to the body with a hard left hook.
On several other occasions, notably in the fifth, seventh and eighth rounds, Duddy appeared to have his opponent in serious trouble late in a round, only for the bell to come to the American's rescue.

Burns said before Saturday's bout that he wanted to get Duddy back to using his boxing skills, to work his left jab and to stop getting involved in "bar room brawls" in the ring and he was ultimately pleased with his performance.

"One thing I wanted him to do was really use the jab and not let his Irish get up in him. When he gets hit he's like a guy coming out of a bar. He's looking for a fight. I certainly didn't want that," continued Burns.

"He was a little like that in the first round but then he settled down. I put a lot more emphasis on the jab because the last few fights I saw on tape he was brawling. He threw a hell of a lot more jabs in this fight than I've ever seen before. I thought he hurt him three or four times, but the bell rang. Sometimes he smothered himself after he hurt him,' noted Duddy's new trainer.

"That's something else we're going to have to work on. He has a tendency to coast a bit in the middle of a round and then come on strong right at the end, so when he got the guy in trouble a couple of times, he hadn't left himself enough time to finish the job.

"I also talked to John about not listening to the crowd. You can't allow the crowd to fight for you and I think he did a lot of growing-up tonight. As I've said, he's got a long way to go, but I'm happy with his performance."

And Duddy believes he has benefited from his new training regime and is optimistic about his chances of a title shot later this year.

"It's a matter of putting it into practice," said the former Ring ABC member. "It's really up to me to put what I do in the gym on the main stage and I'm enjoying it. I'm 25-0 now and the future looks bright.
"I made a point that I don't have to be brave all of the time. Just because I can take a punch doesn't mean I have to. I had trouble convincing myself. I proved that I can move my head a lot more.

"I caught him with some beautiful shots and I thought that he was ready to go, but Charlie has a great chin. I have big plans and I'm still undefeated and I'm hoping to get a shot at a world title," concluded Duddy.