He won a unanimous decision from the three judges after his fight with Anthony Bonsante was stopped in the ninth round due to blood flowing from an ugly gash on the American’s forehead caused by an accidental clash in the second round in Madison Square Garden’s Theatre venue.

Afterwards, manager Eddie McLoughlin said: “We sold the 5,000 tickets for the show in two weeks. John is huge here.

“Everyone loves him because he’s got an exciting style and he’s a good looking guy who can fight.”

Duddy, now unbeaten in 19 contests, was happy with his performance but admitted he had been far from perfect.

“Our heads clashed in the second round, it was accidental all the way,” said the 27-year-old. “I was a little bit rusty and got sloppy.

“I saw that Tony was on his bicycle and then I made a mistake by letting him hurt me a little bit. That was my fault. I won’t let it happen again.

“Still, I give myself a passing grade.”

Duddy is expected to return to the ring in the summer with Giovanni Lorenzo, a winner on the supporting bill, a possible opponent as he seeks to move towards a showdown with world number one Taylor.

“I would say that I’m within touching distance of that fight with Taylor,” added Duddy.

“Over the next week or so I will sit down with my team and we’ll work out where we go from here but everything is very positive and it’s another good win for me.

“I was a little surprised that Bonsante kept moving away and that made it a bit difficult for me, but I knew that I was always on top of he fight and when it was stopped I knew I had it.

“The atmosphere was just amazing and I’m glad I sent them home happy. It’s easy to get carried away with that kind of support.”

Duddy retained his IBA middleweight title, while Irish Olympian Andy Lee stopped former World light-middleweight champion Carl Daniels in the third round in the supporting bill.