By Declan O’Kelly

Derry middleweight John Duddy has pulled out of the Gotham Boxing January 11 event at Roseland Ballroom in New York to avoid any unnecessary injury that could put his March 16 fight at Madison Square Garden in jeopardy.

While Duddy will make a full recovery from the cuts sustained in the winning fight against Yory Boy Campas at the Garden in September, his surgeon is not entirely happy with the progress of one of the lesions to Duddy’s right eye.

Rather than take a warm-up fight in January and gamble with a massive St. Patrick’s payday that could be decimated by a flailing elbow or accidental butt, Duddy’s managers at Irish Ropes have taken their fighter off the card as a precautionary measure.

“We decided to pull him out because it was too much of a risk. If there is no John Duddy, then there is no March 16 fight,” Eddie McLaughlin of Irish Ropes told the Irish Voice.

“At this stage of John’s career, there is no point in fighting lower-rated opponents where he is expected to win. From now on there will be fewer fights with longer preparation time in between.

“We are looking for opponents of an equal or higher caliber to Campas. These are the guys we are looking at, instead of opponents a few tiers below John, as they will do nothing for him. We don’t want to put him in a position where he has everything to lose and nothing to gain.”

Duddy will spend the next few weeks working on public relations and attending various events and functions. Once the holiday season is over he will begin the arduous process of getting back into fight shape.

This will start with three weeks working with a conditioning trainer, followed by six weeks at a Florida training camp to continue preparations behind closed doors before returning to the city for the bout.

The likely opponent for the fight will be Matt "The Predator" Vanda, a tough 28-year-old from St. Paul, Minnesota, who has an a record of 35-2 (21K0s).

Vanda’s most notable victory was a split decision win over Campas in June 2005. Since then Vanda has fought twice, losing to Martinus Clay in May of this year and defeating Dilon Carew in mid-November.

The rest of the March 16 fight card is coming together nicely, with Irish crusierweight Bobby Gunn 16-2 (13 KOs) scheduled to fight in the co-main event.

The Clancy brothers from Boston by way of Clare (heavyweight James and cruiserweight Mark, who headline a December 15 Irish Eyes Are Smilin' Boston event) will also feature, as will Galway’s Simon O’Donnell (middleweight 3-0), who fought and won on the last Duddy card on September 29.

Bronx native Maureen “Moe” Shea (super featherweight 7-0) will hope to keep her unbeaten record going, and Mayo’s Henry Coyle, an Irish national welterweight champion now based in Chicago, will take his first bow as a professional at the Mecca of boxing.