By Mark Vester
Unbeaten middleweight prospect John Duddy (21-0, 16KOs) has a new opponent for his October 20 bout at the National Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.
Duudy was scheduled to meet Pablo Navascues who withdrew due to an ongoing ankle injury. Uruguay's Noe Tulio Gonzalez Alcoba (14-1, 7KOs) has been placed in as the substitute opponent.
Alcoba recently lost for the first time in his career, dropping a one-sided decision to WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm in June.
After Kelly Pavlik knocked out Jermain Taylor to win the WBC/WBO middleweight titles last Saturday in Atlantic City, Duddy was mentioned as a possible March opponent at New York's Madison Square Garden. Promoter Brian Peters told Ireland Online that he feels the bout with Alcoba is very dangerous because a loss will cost him a potential title shot in 2008.
"This is a dangerous fight for John," said Peters. "With Kelly Pavlik's impressive win over Jermain Taylor last weekend, the middleweight picture has really opened up and John is perfectly positioned to take advantage of that. He's highly ranked with all the major sanctioning bodies and a very marketable challenger for any of the champions, including Pavlik. All of that will go out the window though if he can't get past Gonzalez and he is a tough, hard man.
"He's just coming off the back off that points defeat for the WBA title and he made Sturm work very hard to retain his title. One judge only had Sturm winning by a margin of 116-112 so I expect Gonzalez to really push John and there's no doubt it's a risky assignment given the kind of options on the table for John now."
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