By Mark Vester
According to promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank, WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (32-0, 29KOs), should he get past Jermain Taylor (27-1-1, 17KOs) on Feb. 16 in Las Vegas, will face undefeated "Irish" John Duddy (23-0, 17KOs) in June.
"We're looking at defending against Duddy in June," Arum told reporters at a Tuesday news conference to announce the Pavlik-Taylor rematch.
Arum was hoping to secure super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe or light heavyweight Bernard Hopkins at a catchweight, but likelihood of landing either became bleak when Calzaghe and Hopkins began serious negotiations to fight each other.
Pavlik and Taylor will collide at a catchweight of 166-pounds, so the middleweight titles are not on the line. Taylor was handed his first loss in September, when he was stopped by Pavlik in the seventh-round of an action-packed bout at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Pavlik was knocked down in the second-round and behind of the cards at the time of the stoppage
Following Pavlik's knockout of Taylor, Arum was already talking about a defense of the titles against Duddy at the post-fight press conference. The fight appeared to be headed for January in Atlantic City, until Taylor exercised his option for an immediate rematch with Pavlik, per the terms of their fight contract.
Last Saturday, Duddy won the toughest bout of his career, a decision over veteran Howard Eastman. He's slated to return to the ring against Matt Vanda on the Feb.2 undercard to Oleg Maskaev vs. Samuel Peter. To make the fight happen, Duddy needs to beat Vanda, which shouldn't be too hard when considering Vanda's recent track record.
Win or lose against Taylor, Pavlik will move back down with his titles intact. Taylor, according to his promoter Lou DiBella, will campaign at super middleweight or even a light heavyweight.
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