John Duddy could be returning to the King’s Hall as his world title ambitions falter.

Duddy’s camp have pencilled in November 29 for the unbeaten Ulsterman, assuming that his clash with IBF light-middleweight champion Verno Phillips does not happen.

It was to have taken place either this month or next but the champion’s promoter Art Pelulo has been unable to put the fight on.

Duddy’s people have virtually given up on the fight and are hoping to put him on in a tough ten-rounder in Belfast.

The Duddy believe that he needs another ‘Howard Eastman’ fight in order to open up more options on the world scene at light-middleweight where he will be a more potent force.

The defeat of former two-time World middleweight title challenger Eastman last December remains his most impressive performance.

The subsequent unimpressive victory over Walid Smichet ended his dream chance with World middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik.

But having teamed up with new coach Pat Burns, Duddy is now targeting the world light-middleweight champions.

Meanwhile, Alex Arthur has revealed a quick pep talk from Jim Watt confirmed his desire to follow in the footsteps of the Scottish boxing legend.

Scotland has a history of its world champions failing to deal with fame and fortune going back to Benny Lynch and Ken Buchanan and most recently with former WBO featherweight champion Scott Harrison who has recently been jailed for drink-driving and assault.

Glaswegian Watt, a former WBC lightweight champion, is one former fighter who has emerged relatively unscathed to become a respected boxing pundit and he met up with Arthur at the press conference to publicise the Edinburgh man’s WBO super-featherweight title defence against Nicky Cook at Manchester’s MEN Arena tomorrow night.

Arthur revealed: "Jim said to me, ’Alex, you look absolutely brilliant. I’ve never seen you look so good before a fight. I think you are on the ball’ That meant the world to me.

"Let’s be honest, in the past, we’ve failed miserably in terms of lifestyles, fame and money and Jim is the only one to succeed and to succeed royally.

"I’m a good living guy, a good family man and I have put a lot of dedication into my career.

"I have studied boxing since I was a wee boy and noticed how some boxers went by the wayside and lost everything they had and I’m not going to allow that to happen to Alex Arthur.

"Things weren’t easy for me growing up, my dad was a violent criminal and caused a lot of trouble for me and all my family. After I became a successful amateur he went straight. We grew up in a one-bedroom flat and now I’ve got a three-bedroom house with a Mercedes in the drive.

"Sometimes it doesn’t seem real but I have to remember how I got that. I got it because I sweated and I bled and trained like an animal."