OSCAR Duarte took care of late-replacement business in fine fashion at the Honda Center last night, removing Miguel Madueno, who had never been stopped before, in round seven. Speaking after the fact, Duarte made it known who he fancies next.
“I want to congratulate Arnold Barboza for winning his title over in Manchester. I am here waiting for you, Barboza,” said the 29-year-old from Chihuahua.
Duarte was initially pitted against veteran former title holder Regis Prograis, who withdrew injured, allowing Madueno to step in for the chance to upset the applecart. Duarte needed little stylistic adjustment to accommodate Madueno.
“Miguel Madueno is a gentleman, thank for you for taking this fight. He’s a tough fighter, but tonight it was a great fight for us.
“I was getting ready for one fighter, another fighter came, it didn’t matter. I’m always ready for anybody who wants to come. I am here.”
Surprising observers by moving early on, Madueno soon reverted to type and entered the trenches with Duarte. Shortly after, Duarte felt like ‘Explosivo’ was realising the size of the task he had undertaken.
“About the second round I felt like he was feeling my punches. Then in the fourth round is when I knew he was really feeling my punches and I knew eventually that he was going to come down. I want to congratulate the referee, he did a great job tonight.”
With Madueno out of the way, Duarte turned his attention to the money makers of the 140-pound division, stating that he would deal with rival Kenneth Sims (who defeated Kendo Castaneda earlier in the evening) once he had mixed with the champions and more established names first.
“I want the world title with anybody. Any champion, I’m here, let’s do it right now.”
Promoter Oscar De La Hoya was also impressed with his man’s outing as Duarte continues to rebuild from a 2023 defeat to Ryan Garcia.
“Beautiful performance and Madueno was such a warrior, he could take a punch and give a punch but I’m more impressed with Oscar Duarte because Keyshawn Davis couldn’t stop or knockout Madueno so that tells you a lot about Oscar Duarte,” buzzed the Golden Boy.
“Duarte is now the mix with everybody: Barboza, Sims, Keyshawn, every world title out there. At 140, Oscar is ready for that world title,” added De La Hoya.
