By Eric Thomas: In the latest boxing news, Golden Boy Promotions is reportedly trying to set up a bout between Shane Mosley and Zab Judah. However, Judah, 31, a former light welterweight and undisputed welterweight champion, isn’t interested in fighting Mosley unless the offer is increased.
Apparently, the offer was for $500,000 for a fight against Mosley (46-5, 39 KO’s) for a bout that would take place on December 5th. Judah, however, wants two to three times as much to fight Mosley. It’s highly unlikely that Judah will receive that much for a fight against Mosley, because it’s doubtful that even Mosley will be getting a huge payday for this fight.
What is odd is that Judah (37-6, 25 KO’s) would consider himself worth being paid that kind of money considering that he has been beaten in four out of his last eight fights in the past three years, losing to Carlos Baldomir, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto and most recently to Joshua Clottey. In other words, Judah has lost to every top level fighter that he’s fought in the past three years.
The only fighters that Judah has beaten during that time are Edwin Vazquez, Ryan Davis and Ernest Johnson. Not exactly household names. It could be that Judah is overvaluing his worth, and might end up getting nothing if he doesn’t take the offer made to him.
Judah is more of a gate keeper in the welterweight division than a true contender. Judah possibly could beat WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto if he could get a fight with him, but that would be no easy task for Judah, because Berto is younger, more powerful and quicker than Judah is.
Judah was supposed to be fighting Antonio Diaz on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather vs. Juan Manuel Marquez bout next month on September 19th. However, Judah decided to pull out of that fight because he felt that the money wasn’t enough and he wasn’t enamored with fighting Diaz, whom he felt was nothing more than a tune-up bout. Judah has a point about that.
Diaz isn’t all that known and by looking at his resume and a couple of his past fights, he’d likely be in serious trouble against a quality fighter like Judah. Golden Boy Promotions was hoping to use Judah to spruce up the card, and make it look more appealing for potential boxing fans so that they would want to purchase the expensive card on pay per view. Judah, however, threw a wrench in their plans by opting to pull out and seek another alternative.
Mosley, 37, is badly in need of a fight because Mosley, the World Boxing Association welterweight champion, has been out of the ring since beating then WBA welterweight champion Antonio Margarito by a 9th round stoppage on January24th. Mosley had been trying to arrange a fight with Manny Pacquiao, but the Filipino star chose instead to fight Miguel Cotto on November 14th, leaving Mosley to keep looking for a suitable alternative.
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