From various accounts, it appears Zab Judah priced himself out of a fight against Antonio Margarito in April. While we all can shake our heads at Judah's stubborn negotiating tactics, there's no question at the same time that he is a victim of circumstance as well. Mostly, Judah's marketability is hurt by the fact that he's fighting in the 147-pound division. Sure, there are more big-money fights at 147, but there also are many more solid contenders and promising prospects who can be placed on major television cards. If Zab were of the same caliber and fighting at 160 or 175, for example, he could afford to drive a harder bargain. As it is, he needs to lower his purse demands or find a way to fight competitively at a different division.
Perhaps a drop down to 140 would do him well? His power was great there and his speed ridiculous. He is still young and I think he could make noise there again.
The fact of the matter is, Judah does not have any leverage to demand the money that he is wanting to fight Margarito. He should be happythat he had the opportunity to fight on HBO again, after having lost to Cotto, and having 2 sub par performances vs. journeyman. If he took the fight against Margarito and won, then he could demand the kind of money he feels he deserves, and more than likely, he would get it. I feel its a matter of him not having the confidence to fight Margarito for whatever reason. Its not like he has not taken short money before. Remeber he fought Spinks in St. Louis for $100,000. Granted that was for the undisputed WW championship, but a win vs. Margarito, would have provided him with bigger fights, for more money in the WW division.
You may be right. I don't think he matches up well at all with Margo, personally. On the other hand, maybe it's a simple matter of ego, in that he looks at Cotto's opponent and views Gomez as inferior to himself.
I'd like to see him do that, too. Actually, Hatton vs. Judah would be a very interesting fight, I think. Hatton doesn't have Cotto's muscle, and Judah hits hard enough to take the Hit Man out. A rematch against Witter might be interesting as well.
He is foolish for not taking the fight. It would have given him much needed exposure, and with a win, he could have been fighting for a title again. Now, who is he going to fight? I would like to see him with Clottey.
I don't think he can get back down to 140 at this stage of his career. He's been at 147 for four years now, his body will have settled into the welterweigt division probably.
I'm not sure how you're disagreeing with me. My point is that Zab is easily replaced in any negotiation, unlike is the case at some of the higher divisions that lack American starpower and name recognition.
OK, gotcha. Where we disagree is that I think Zab remains viable for big fights based on reputation, style and flash. I'm holding those things as constants. Andrade doesn't factor in because he lacks all three of those elements when compared against Judah. What I'm saying is that if the same Zab Judah happened to be at 160 or 175 -- divisions starved for American talent -- he'd be in a strong bargaining position given his ability to attract eyeballs. On merit, I certainly do agree that he's very fortunate to still be in the major picture.
