Popular Irishman John Duddy saw his dream of a world title fight against Kelly Pavlik shattered by a points loss to Billy Lyell over the weekend.
Derry-born Duddy, who fights out of New York, was meant to be warming up for a possible title shot later this year but suffered the first defeat of his career against Pavlik's stablemate.
The loss is a huge setback for the likeable 29-year-old, who, not for the first time in his career, proved easy to hit and was cut above the left eye by a man five years his junior.
Duddy may have taken his opponent lightly. While entering the ring with a record of 18-7, Lyell had only been stopped three times and on two of those occasions by big punchers in James Kirkland and David Lopez.
But after the split decision loss (one judge had Duddy ahead 96-94, the others had it 98-92 and 97-93 for Lyell) it's back to the drawing board for the middleweight.
