Judah a good possibility for Khan if Bradley doesn’t take the fight

By Boxing News - 05/11/2011 - Comments

Image: Judah a good possibility for Khan if Bradley doesn't take the fightBy Sean McDaniel: IF WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley doesn’t decide on taking the July 23rd fight against WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (25-1, 17 KO’s), then IBF light welterweight champion Zab Judah (41-6, 28 KO’s) will likely be the one to step in to take the fight. Judah wants to fight Khan, and HBO will be all over a Judah vs. Khan fight. That is a much better fight than Khan’s last bout against Paul McCloskey, which still has boxing fans shaking their heads wondering why Khan chose McCloskey rather than a better known opponent that more suited his style.

Bradley, however, may not make a decision to fight Khan until after his contract with his current promoter runs out. He supposedly is interested in the fight but there’s something that he wants from his promoter before he’ll agree to facing Khan. It’s unclear what that is. In the past, it was thought that Bradley wanted more money but who knows what he’s interested in. Whatever the case, Bradley has to make a decision soon in time for Khan’s next fight in July.

If Bradley misses this opportunity, he could regret it later, especially if Judah knocks Khan out and exposes him. Khan doesn’t have the best chin in the business and Judah would be a tremendous step up from McCloskey. For the most part, Khan has been very carefully matched since being knocked out by Breidis Prescott in 2008. If you look at Khan’s opponents, most of them have been weak punchers with the exception of Marcos Maidana.

However, Maidana’s power, while good, may be overrated. His lack of hand speed makes his shots predictable and in close, Maidana was only able to bludgeon Khan with heavy shots. Judah is a much faster and lethal puncher because of his hand speed and uppercut. Maidana showed that Khan is incredibly susceptible to getting hit with uppercuts. Indeed, Khan seemed to have no defense at all against an uppercut, except to run and hold. Judah will have opportunities all night long to land his knockout uppercut shots and it may go badly for Khan. Bradley would then have missed an opportunity to beat Khan and get the attention that a win over him would bring, if only briefly.



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