Amir Khan can’t remember a time he’s brought genuine anger for an opponent into a ring. He admits “dislike” was an appropriate word for his relationship with Paulie Malignaggi, a Brooklyn loudmouth who taunted Khan for being a “fraud” with a “glass chin.” Khan settled that issue with a thorough beating. On Saturday (July 23), he’ll look to replicate that performance against Zab Judah, another confident American who’s drawn his ire. And while Malignaggi’s mistake was trash-talking, Judah’s mistake may be his public protest of issues with Amir Khan from the negotiating table.
Last week, Khan and Judah participated in what was supposed to be a routine conference call with assembled boxing media. Due to Khan’s British nationality, many UK scribes had also called in. Kathy Duva, who promotes Judah under Main Events, blindsided everyone listening by stating her fighter would not be answering any questions from the UK media. She justified the peculiar stance by revealing closed-door fight negotiations that resulted in Judah getting none of the bout’s UK pay-per-view funds. If Judah wasn’t entitled to a cut of that revenue, she explained, then he shouldn’t be obligated to speak with the UK press.
The move incensed Khan and both camps got into a short debate over which side was being unprofessional. Over a week later, Khan’s still flabbergasted by Judah’s stance on what will possibly be the biggest fight for both their careers in 2011.
“His actions surprised me. It’s a worldwide fight. People in the UK want to see this fight,” Khan explained. “They didn’t promote the fight, really. Maybe he knows he’s gonna get beat and he didn’t want to the whole world to see it. He doesn’t want to see the UK people because I have huge support over there. I fought a lot of Americans before and this is the first time one has ever done this.”
Judah’s gamesmanship hasn’t convinced fans or most critics that he has a serious chance of victory on Saturday night. Most gambling organizations have made Khan a 5-1 betting favorite to knock out Judah by the middle rounds. History tends to favor this conclusion; Judah has fallen short against his best competition except once, when he knocked out Cory Spinks in a 2005 rematch to unify the welterweight title. Nonetheless, Khan does believe his 33-year-old opponent does have more discipline, an attribute he feels Judah lacked in his other high-profile bouts and subsequent losses to Kosta Tszyu, Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto.
“Mentally he’s changed a lot. His confidence is higher at 140,” Khan noted. “He’s a lot more disciplined. Physically he’s stronger and he’s changed his trainer to Pernell Whitaker. At the end of the day Zab is still the underdog because Pernell is in the corner, not fighting for him. But if he doesn’t win this, he might as well retire.”
Despite Judah’s frontrunner tag and Khan’s confidence, his team expects the “new Zab Judah” under Pernell Whitaker to bring a challenging fight over just a few rounds.
“We have a tough fight ahead of us,” said Khan trainer Freddie Roach. “Zab is a great fighter and we watched a lot of tapes of the ‘new’ Zab and we’re ready.”
“Zab is very skilled; we don’t take him lightly at all,” added Alex Ariza, Khan’s strength and conditioning coach. “There’s going to be fireworks on Saturday night.”
In the end, Khan sees his height advantage (5’10 to 5’7) and speed as the reasons why Zab Judah will suffer his seventh loss tomorrow night.
“Paul McCloskey was very awkward and had a lot of movement. Same with Zab Judah and being southpaw,” Khan detailed. “Fighting two southpaws back to back will be ideal for me. We have equal power, but I think I’m quicker. The height will be a big advantage for me. Plus Zab is a frontrunner. But we can’t really hope that it’ll happen again. We’re planning on Zab being strong for the whole 12 rounds. We’re hoping for a tough fight that the public will be excited to watch.”
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 