By Mark Vester
At Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, middleweight contender John Duddy (29-1, 18KOs) won a ten round split decision over Michael Medina (23-2-2, 18KOs). The scores were 96-93 for Duddy, 96-93 for Medina, 96-93 for Duddy. Duddy is being groomed for a June fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
The action started slow. Duddy took his time, moving forward with the jab and using it to set up other punches. Medina started the second round with a combibation of good punches to the body and then to the head. The pace switched often, with Medina landing the better shots. The third round was more of the same, with both guys landing good punches. Medina landed a good right hand to push Duddy back. Medina was able land a quick right hand often through Duddy's defense.
The fourth round was close. Both fighters were able to land some good punches. Medina started moving forward in the end with punches to push Duddy back. During the fifth, Medina was countering with some good punches. Duddy was working a decent jab but didn't do much of anything else. The sixth was more of Duddy just boxing and using his jab. Near the final minute they started to exchange punches with Duddy landing some good shots to the body. And then Medina came back with some hard body shots to push Duddy back.
The action was fought at a good pace by Medina in the seventh. In the final seconds he rocked Duddy with a hard right hand. The eight round was once again. Neither guy was impressive. Medina lost a point for a low blow at the end. The ninth had Duddy landing a good counter hook. Duddy started landing more good counters to shake Medina up in the final minute. Then in the final twenty seconds Medina started to land some punches of his own. Medina did some good work in the tenth, pressing the action in the final minute with some more good punches. They traded some power shots in the final ten seconds to end the final round.
