By Danny Serratelli, ringside

John Duddy fought last night on Cedric Kushner Promotions show at the Manhattan Center in NYC, and raised his record to 13-0, 12 KO’s. Although titled, “The Homecoming” this was actually Duddy’s 9th professional fight in New York. Personally, this was my first time at one of Duddy’s fights, but I definitely walked away wanting to see more of the aggressive and talented Irishman. The pro Duddy Irish crowd was exciting in itself and John made sure the people got what they paid for with an excellent performance.

Duddy fought Canadian, Byron Mackie, who on paper looked like a rugged challenger. He came in with a record of 25-11, with 8 KO’s and was only stopped twice in his 12 year career. After entering the ring to the sound of bagpipes, Duddy was all business once the opening bell rang. Duddy was aggressive from the start and dropped Mackie in the 1st round, 3rd round and then twice in the 4th before referee Wayne Kelly called a hault to the bout at 1:32 of the 4th round.

Mackie to his credit was game, but seemingly outgunned. After the knockdown in the 1 st Mackie got up and fired back, but appeared to lack the power to keep Duddy off of him. Duddy while aggressive, took his time and broke Mackie down for the remaining 3 rounds until the stoppage. The undefeated 26-year old is obviously very marketable, but he appears to have the good to go with the marketability.

We will surely see his level of opposition rise, but it should be noted that unlike many other young, marketable fighters moving up the ranks Duddy hasn’t fought the regular “starter opponents” most people in his position would be fighting. While his last three fights were against experienced veterans, Duddy has also beaten 4 undefeated fighters, most notable Lenord Pierre, who was 16-0, with 13 KO’s when they fought. Duddy had half the number of fights Pierre had when he stopped him at 1:23 of round number 1 earlier this year.

Also on the card, Taklani Ndlovu of South Africa scored a unanimous 12-round decision to capture the IBO junior featherweight title from Armando Guerrero. The score cards read 117-111, 119-109, and 116-112. There were no knockdowns in the fight. Ndlovu improved to 24-3, 15 KO’s, while Guerrero fell to 20-5-6, 11 KO’s .

UnderCard:

Jorge Teron TKO3 Terrence Thomas

Teron, 8-0, 6 KO’s scored a third-round stoppage over Thomas, 3-6-1 in this rematch that ended with the same result.

James Moore KO3 Manjie Conteh

Moore raises his record to 4-0, 2 KO’s with a knockout victory at 2:34 of the 3rd round over Conteh 5-6, 3 KO’s

Richard Gutierrez KO4 Edison Aguirre

Gutierrez, billed as a prot