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Dan Rafael article about Cotto-Judah
Cotto will defend title against former champ Judah
Unexpectedly spurned by Antonio Margarito for a big summer fight, welterweight titlist Miguel Cotto will instead defend against former undisputed champion Zab Judah in June -- as long as they each win interim bouts -- both sides told ESPN.com Tuesday night.
Cotto must first defend his title March 3 in his native Puerto Rico on HBO against mandatory challenger Oktay Urkal of Germany, a fight in which Cotto is the prohibitive favorite.
Also, Judah (34-4, 25 KOs) will take a tune-up fight against an opponent to be determined shortly after April 8. Judah isn't eligible to apply for a boxing license in the United States until after that date because his was revoked for a year by the Nevada Athletic Commission for his role in a 10th-round melee that erupted during his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last April 8 in Las Vegas.
If Cotto and Judah each win, they will meet June 9 (HBO PPV) at New York's Madison Square Garden, where the scene figures to be wild.
The fight is on the eve of the annual Puerto Rican Day parade, and Cotto, the island's most popular active fighter, is also tremendously popular in New York's large Puerto Rican community. He has drawn raucous crowds on that weekend for the past two years. New York is also Judah's hometown.
"Hopefully, everything will be signed and I look forward to the fight, assuming Cotto wins against Urkal on March 3 and Zab wins his fight," Cotto promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank told ESPN.com. "Then we will have one of the really great events in Madison Square Garden history. There will be a lot of interest in the fight. A lot of people say the Judah fight is a bigger fight than the Margarito fight.
"I'm not going to go crazy with the prices for the tickets either. I'll price it the same as if Cotto was fighting Margarito, and I think it will be a huge sell, $500 tickets down to $50, none of these crazy prices. I think most seats will be $100 and less."
Margarito was supposed to fight Cotto on June 9, but to the shock of Arum, he accepted the terms of promoter Dan Goossen's winning purse bid to defend his version of the title against mandatory challenger Paul Williams.
Arum never submitted a bid because he said the Margarito camp told him not to bother because he was going to fight Cotto. Arum said Margarito had even approved a press release Top Rank sent out in which he said he was going to fight Cotto.
Arum and Margarito are headed toward litigation over the matter, but it didn't stop Arum from making an equally attractive replacement fight.
"I was terribly disappointed in the chicanery involving the Margarito situation, where they told us not to bid and then approved a press release saying he had agreed to fight Cotto," Arum said.
"But it is what it is, and we will go on."
Judah, his father and trainer Yoel Judah and promoters Brian and Russ Young of Prize Fight Boxing agreed to terms with Arum during a meeting Tuesday at the Top Rank office in Las Vegas.
"We are going to go over the contract but we have come to an agreement. There are no issues and we will have it signed [Wednesday]," Brian Young said. "Zab is very excited. So is Yoel."
Young signed Judah several months ago after he was cut lose by Don King in the wake of the Mayweather fight.
Terms of the deal for the Cotto fight were not released, but Young and Judah initially rejected a $700,000 offer. The deal they agreed to figures to be worth more.
"Put it this way, Bob and [Top Rank president] Todd [duBoef] have always been fair and they were fair in this," Young said. "We came to common ground and Zab is very happy. We're looking forward to the world seeing the best Zab Judah ever."
Judah, who was also hit with a crippling $250,000 fine by Nevada officials last year, admitted the past year has been difficult on him.
"It was a big strain, but you know I stuck it out. I'm just cool," said Judah, also a former two-time junior welterweight titlist. "I just want to look to the future. I'm very happy about this fight. It's a blessing for me, a blessing and the answer to a prayer. I am the comeback kid. I feel like I'm a cat with nine lives and I'm back. I cannot wait."
Judah had been scheduled to make his ring return April 27 against Israel "Pito" Cardona on ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights," but that fight will be scrapped because it is too close to June 3, Arum and Young said.
Instead, Judah probably will fight on one of Young's club shows in Tunica, Mississippi, a few weeks earlier.
"First, I tried to get the Nevada Commission to give Judah a release so he could apply for a license outside of Nevada," Arum said. "But they can't do that because his license was revoked and under the Muhammad Ali Act all states have to adhere to the revocation. The second plan was to have him go down to Mexico in March and get your tune-up fight there. We considered that. Instead, we want to schedule Zab's tune-up fight for April 13 or 14 on Brian's show. Just get it over and done with so we can promote the [Cotto] fight."
According to WBA rules, Judah can't fight for Cotto's title coming off a loss, so in order for the fight to happen, he needs to get a win first.
"ESPN2 isn't available on April 13 and I can't wait for him to fight until April 27," Arum said.
The flashy and powerful Judah is coming off consecutive losses, but remains one of the top welterweights in the world. In a stunning upset, he lost the undisputed title to Carlos Baldomir via decision in January 2006 in New York. Then Judah lost a decision to Mayweather in April, after which he had his license revoked.
Young said he regretted having to call off Judah's ESPN2 fight.
"There is no way to logistically make it happen if they don't have an earlier date," he said. "Bob wants Zab to get in the ring and take care of business as soon as possible after April 8 and we can't wait three weeks. Bob made a great offer to Zab. We just couldn't turn it down. We would have loved to have been on ESPN2 if we could move up the date."Comment
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Arum:
"There will be a lot of interest in the fight. A lot of people say the Judah fight is a bigger fight than the Margarito fight."
"I'm not going to go crazy with the prices for the tickets either. I'll price it the same as if Cotto was fighting Margarito"
lol someone doesn't like Margarito too much...lol...Comment
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Anyone who thinks a Margarito fight would be bigger than a Zab fight is kidding themselves. Zab has fought people like Tszyu, Spinks, and Floyd. Who has Tony fought? Zab has been on HBO PPV and ESPN2. Zab is also a New Yorker, and was once the Undisputed Welterweight Champion of the world. Tony's credentials do not compare to Zab's.Comment
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the reason the price for the tickets won't go up is because a loser and club fighter are fighting...most peple want to see the real champion margarito rip cotto's head off...but I guess they'll see zab do the same .......hopefully zab will fight margarito after he beats cotto...easy money for margaritoComment
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cotto vs. judah june 19
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wow ur realy late lolComment
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Cotto KO in 5th roundComment
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Judah TKO 4.Comment
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