John Duddy was victorious tonight at the Manhattan Center, where he defeated Byron Mackie of Ontario, Canada.  Duddy, a popular middleweight in New York, caused the referee to stop the bout 1:32 into the fourth round after beating Mackie around the ring, overwhelming the tough fighter with a barrage of powerful punches.  Mackie, in constant trouble, made a gallant effort to defend himself as Duddy threw powerful body hooks and straight right hands that left him down on the canvas three times, in obvious pain.  Each time the crowd thought it would be over but the determined Mackie won audience respect, getting up each time for more.  Mackie, who came to fight, jumped up and fought back at Duddy with heart, throwing hard combinations as soon as he made it back to his feet.  It was not enough to faze the stronger Duddy, though, who was never really significantly touched.

Duddy, originally from Ireland and now from Middle Village, New York, is an exciting fighter with a large Irish fan base.  The crowd’s reaction to Duddy was intense from his elaborate entrance till the knockout.  Duddy is now 13-0-0, 12 KO’s.   Mackie drops to 25-12-0, 8 KO’s. 

In the super bantamweight division, Takalani Ndlovu (24-3-0, 15 KO’s) of South Africa and Armando Guerrero (20-5-6, 11 KO’s) of Austin, Texas, went at it for twelve busy rounds for the vacant IBO title.  Both fighters were talented and in shape, but Takalani was sharper, stronger, and more determined than Guerrero and walked away tonight with a unanimous decision and a world title.

James Moore, an Irish stable mate of Duddy and also from Middle Village, New York, knocked out his opponent Manjie Conteh of Brooklyn in the third round, much to the delight of the predominantly Irish crowd.  Moore is now 4-0-0, 3 KO’s. 

Three time New York Golden Gloves champion Jorge Teron of the Bronx also knocked out his opponent tonight.  The referee stopped Terrence Thomas, of Newburg, New York, in the third round. Teron clearly out boxed his southpaw opponent and battered his body with left hooks that slowed down Thomas from the beginning.  Thomas was the ropes at the end of the second round after absorbing a battery of straight punch combinations from the fast Teron and never recovered for the third.  He is now 3-6-1, 0 KO’s.  Teron, who is developing a very powerful left hook, is now 8-0-0, 6 KO’s.

In an eight round Middleweight bout, Richard Gutierrez of Columbia and Edson Aguirre of North Carolina battled it out in a competitive fight, both boxers skillful and showing good movement.  A significant amount of the fight was fought on the inside with Gutierrez powerful right uppercut doing damage as well as his straight right hand.   Both fighters were in shape and light on their feet.  Gutierrez knocked Aguirre down twice in the third round and Aguirre took a nasty temple shot in the fourth round.  After that he was down for good.  Gutierrez is now 20-0-0, 13 KO’s.  Aguirre is now 11-4-1, 2 KO’s.

Junior lightweights Joe Rosa of the Bronx, who was making his pro-debut and  Angelo Acevedo, 0-2-1, of Brooklyn fought to a four round draw.  All three judges scored the bout 38-38.