“Irish” John Duddy will put his undefeated record on the line April 24th in Newark, New Jersey. Duddy (26-0) with 17 KO’s will face rugged Billy Lyell. Although Lyell (18-7) is billed out of Youngstown he is from Niles, Ohio. The home of the former middleweight contender Sonny Horne. Lyell is no pushover. He has met the likes of James Kirkland and Yuri Boy Campas. In September of 2006 Duddy out scored Campas over twelve rounds. In June of 2007 Lyell lost a ten rounder to Campas.
Duddy hopes that a win over Lyell will keep him in the hunt for a title bout with Kelly Pavlik. The original plan was for Pavlik to face Sergio Mora this summer. Then this autumn take on Duddy. Things have changed though because it looks like Pavlik-Mora is still on for June. Now there is serious talk of Pavlik fighting Arthur Abraham this fall to unite the WBC, WBO and IBF middleweight titles. Even if Duddy beats Lyell there is a good chance of him being the odd man out for a fall title fight