Judah wants to fight Khan for the title

By Boxing News - 08/02/2010 - Comments

Image: Judah wants to fight Khan for the titleBy Dan Ambrose: Former light welterweight and welterweight champion Zab Judah (39-6, 27 KO’s) wants to fight World Boxing Association light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) in early 2011, if Judah can get a fight with him. In an article at the BBC, Judah says “I’m looking for a title shot at the start of next year. Khan, Alexander, Bradley, those are the champions in my class and I respect them. Amir’s a great fighter with good speed, decent power and a lot of heart. He’s a warrior.

That would be a great fight down the line and I can’t wait for it. My next fight is on October 2nd in Newark. We have a lot of names suggested – Juan Urango, Julio Diaz, but nobody locked in yet.” It’s too bad Judah isn’t interested in going after Khan now, because that would make it interesting to see what Khan would do. He says he wants to take on the big names in the sport of boxing, which is why he’s dying to get a shot against WBA/WBO lightweight Juan Manuel Marquez.

If Judah, who was fighting at welterweight until recently, would show interest in fighting Khan now, he’d have the big name – in his own weight class – that he’s been asking for. It would then be up to Khan whether he would want to take on a risky opponent like Judah. It’s doubtful that Khan would take this gamble, because as Judah showed in his recent 3rd round TKO win over Jose Armando Santa Cruz last month, Judah can still punch.

Judah looks much faster and powerful now that he’s fighting at light welterweight again after having fought the last five years as a welterweight. Still only 32, Judah isn’t as quite as fast as he once was five years ago when he moved up to the welterweight division, but he’s close enough to be more than handful with any of the top light welterweights in the division.

Khan and Bradley are probably a little bit faster than Judah, but what Judah has lost in hand speed, he’s picked up in power. He appears to be a much bigger puncher than he was earlier in his career, and that alone makes him a dangerous opponent for Khan to fight. Judah would likely have a much better chance at getting a title shot against Alexander and Bradley rather than Khan.

Bradley and Alexander are looking to take on the best fighters in the light welterweight division, whereas Khan still appears to be looking just to take on beatable older fighters at this point in his career. Hopefully, Khan starts fighting the best fighters in his own weight class in the future so we can see how he does against guys like Judah.



Comments are closed.