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Zab Judah is asking a 50-50 split for an Amir Khan fight
By Steve Kim
As Tim Bradley passed on the opportunity to face Amir Khan on July 23rd, the search was on to find a replacement for the “Desert Storm.” Zab Judah, who holds the IBF junior welterweight title, believed that he was the frontrunner to land this fight. As of Wednesday, if you went by his Twitter page (@SUPERJUDAH), he seemed hopeful that he would indeed get a chance to unify his title with Khan, who holds the WBA belt.
By Thursday afternoon, his outlook wasn’t nearly as positive.
He told Maxboxing, "I feel like this; we’re both champions. I feel like anything come down the line should be 50/50. He was willing to give Timothy Bradley half, 50/50, just to fight him but for some reason, they kept pushing the Bradley fight like hotcakes. Well, what’s the difference? I got a belt; I got a major world title belt- y’ know what I’m sayin’- in the same weight division. But for some reason, they want to lowball me. They want to lowball me and short change me and say, ’Ah, no, no, 50/50.’ I’m not asking for anything crazy."
It was reported that in the negotiations with Bradley, Khan’s side was willing to share half the proceeds of the money coming in from England through television rights. However, Judah states, "They’re talking about foreign sales and all that; alright, keep all that bull****. I just want the American rights, 50/50, a regular split and that’s it. You keep all your U.K. bull****. I want everyone to know this deal is not me. It’s not me that’s not making this fight happen. I don’t want nobody saying, ’Oh, Zab Judah don’t want to fight Amir Khan.’ Amir Khan can’t beat me! He can’t beat me! A good Zab Judah, a bad Zab Judah, there’s no way he can beat me- he can’t! He just came out of the Olympics a couple years ago. I turned professional at 18 years old. I’ve been doing this. I’m a five-time champ of the world. I don’t know what he’s talking about. [To Khan] You’re far from my level.
"His mouth done wrote a check his ass can’t cash."
The others in contention to land this fight are Robert Guerrero and Erik Morales.
"They’re using me for leverage with HBO to make HBO think that Zab Judah’s the one not making it happen," said the man who stopped Kaizer Mabuza to win this IBF crown a couple of months back. "If they do a 50/50 split, right now, I’ll sign the contract- right now. I’m talking about right now! No ifs, ands or buts about it. All I want is the 50/50 split. I’m not going to do nothing else. I feel like I worked myself back up to get back to this position; it’s only right. He got a belt; I got a belt. If I was a contender, I’d take 60/40, 80/20, whatever, but right now, I worked myself back into the position where 50/50 is good."
Judah just might be too risky for Khan. For all his flaws, one thing he still possesses is the ability to punch hard and fast. Khan’s history of hitting the canvas is well known. In Guerrero, they are facing a fighter who has never had a major fight above 135 pounds and Morales is an older fighter who is long on guile but short on speed and quickness. Guerrero and Morales would essentially be in-house promotions for Golden Boy Promotions and would probably come cheaper than Judah would.
"They’d rather give their fighters peanuts to fight each other, rather than going with a top-notch fighter and putting the best fights on that boxing needs to see," said Judah, who seems to be speaking for the fans on this issue. "See, that’s what’s wrong with boxing these days. A lot of these fights are too orchestrated; they need to stop all this orchestrated bull**** and let fighters fight. Let fighters fight. This is the game that we in. Promoters, stop being so greedy. They’ve made enough money, y’ know? How much money are these promoters going to make? The ball bounces from Golden Boy to Bob Arum, from Golden Boy to Bob Arum. That’s how the ball bounces. The ball bounces but two ways. That’s it. It’s a one-way game played hundreds of times and it’s not fair."
When asked if there were any updates on the Khan situation on Thursday, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer replied via email- "No news."
But Judah wants to make it clear what will get a fight done between him and Khan.
"50/50, American rights and you keep your U.K. bull****. You can keep all the U.K. rights. You keep your U.K. rights. All I want is 50/50 and let’s go to work," said the born-again Christian, who went back to Brooklyn for this interview.
As Tim Bradley passed on the opportunity to face Amir Khan on July 23rd, the search was on to find a replacement for the “Desert Storm.” Zab Judah, who holds the IBF junior welterweight title, believed that he was the frontrunner to land this fight. As of Wednesday, if you went by his Twitter page (@SUPERJUDAH), he seemed hopeful that he would indeed get a chance to unify his title with Khan, who holds the WBA belt.
By Thursday afternoon, his outlook wasn’t nearly as positive.
He told Maxboxing, "I feel like this; we’re both champions. I feel like anything come down the line should be 50/50. He was willing to give Timothy Bradley half, 50/50, just to fight him but for some reason, they kept pushing the Bradley fight like hotcakes. Well, what’s the difference? I got a belt; I got a major world title belt- y’ know what I’m sayin’- in the same weight division. But for some reason, they want to lowball me. They want to lowball me and short change me and say, ’Ah, no, no, 50/50.’ I’m not asking for anything crazy."
It was reported that in the negotiations with Bradley, Khan’s side was willing to share half the proceeds of the money coming in from England through television rights. However, Judah states, "They’re talking about foreign sales and all that; alright, keep all that bull****. I just want the American rights, 50/50, a regular split and that’s it. You keep all your U.K. bull****. I want everyone to know this deal is not me. It’s not me that’s not making this fight happen. I don’t want nobody saying, ’Oh, Zab Judah don’t want to fight Amir Khan.’ Amir Khan can’t beat me! He can’t beat me! A good Zab Judah, a bad Zab Judah, there’s no way he can beat me- he can’t! He just came out of the Olympics a couple years ago. I turned professional at 18 years old. I’ve been doing this. I’m a five-time champ of the world. I don’t know what he’s talking about. [To Khan] You’re far from my level.
"His mouth done wrote a check his ass can’t cash."
The others in contention to land this fight are Robert Guerrero and Erik Morales.
"They’re using me for leverage with HBO to make HBO think that Zab Judah’s the one not making it happen," said the man who stopped Kaizer Mabuza to win this IBF crown a couple of months back. "If they do a 50/50 split, right now, I’ll sign the contract- right now. I’m talking about right now! No ifs, ands or buts about it. All I want is the 50/50 split. I’m not going to do nothing else. I feel like I worked myself back up to get back to this position; it’s only right. He got a belt; I got a belt. If I was a contender, I’d take 60/40, 80/20, whatever, but right now, I worked myself back into the position where 50/50 is good."
Judah just might be too risky for Khan. For all his flaws, one thing he still possesses is the ability to punch hard and fast. Khan’s history of hitting the canvas is well known. In Guerrero, they are facing a fighter who has never had a major fight above 135 pounds and Morales is an older fighter who is long on guile but short on speed and quickness. Guerrero and Morales would essentially be in-house promotions for Golden Boy Promotions and would probably come cheaper than Judah would.
"They’d rather give their fighters peanuts to fight each other, rather than going with a top-notch fighter and putting the best fights on that boxing needs to see," said Judah, who seems to be speaking for the fans on this issue. "See, that’s what’s wrong with boxing these days. A lot of these fights are too orchestrated; they need to stop all this orchestrated bull**** and let fighters fight. Let fighters fight. This is the game that we in. Promoters, stop being so greedy. They’ve made enough money, y’ know? How much money are these promoters going to make? The ball bounces from Golden Boy to Bob Arum, from Golden Boy to Bob Arum. That’s how the ball bounces. The ball bounces but two ways. That’s it. It’s a one-way game played hundreds of times and it’s not fair."
When asked if there were any updates on the Khan situation on Thursday, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer replied via email- "No news."
But Judah wants to make it clear what will get a fight done between him and Khan.
"50/50, American rights and you keep your U.K. bull****. You can keep all the U.K. rights. You keep your U.K. rights. All I want is 50/50 and let’s go to work," said the born-again Christian, who went back to Brooklyn for this interview.
D-E-L-U-S-I-O-N-A-L
Zab's last fights were on ESPN and HBO Boxing After Dark. All of Amir's fights that got broadcasted in the US did better ratings than any Zab fight has done since YEARS.
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