By Mark Vester
On the undercard to Miguel Cotto-Michael Jennings at New York's Madison Square Garden, unbeaten middleweight contender John Duddy (26-0, 17KOs) won a ten round unanimous decision over Matt Vanda (39-9, 22KOs). Duddy is high on the list to fight WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik in the summer. The scores were 98-91, 97-93 and 98-91 for Duddy.
The two fighters came out with hard punches at close range. Duddy established his jab in the first minute and used his footwork to circle around Vanda and double up on his punches. Duddy continued with the jab in the second to create openings. Vanda started to jab his way in during the second round action. They traded some hard right hands in the final minute.
Duddy went back to his jab in the third. Vanda did not offer much in return and spent the entire round covering up. During the fifth, Duddy went back to well with the jab with combinations that followed afterwards. Duddy was sticking and moving in the sixth. vanda landed a few good rights as Duddy backed up but not enough.
Vanda was getting closer in the sevent and landed a very hard left hand that drew a reaction from the crowd. Duddy went back to the jab and refused to brawl. Vanda began to let his hands go in the eight round and Duddy came right back with hard combinations. There was a lot of reaching by Vanda in the ninth. Duddy would respond with combinations as Vanda walked in.
Vanda tried to go for broke in the tenth and final round and really put on a show. He let his hands go, got Duddy in some minor trouble and began to catch Duddy with hard shots. The Irish favorite, knowing he was well ahead on the cards, used his legs to run out the clock.
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