By William Mackay: The unification bout between World Boxing Association (WBA) light welterweight champion Amir Khan (25-1, 17 KO’s) and IBF light welterweight champion Zab Judah (41-6, 28 KO’s) is now a done deal for July 23, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, says Dan Rafael of ESPN. It will be shown on HBO. Judah will receive a 45-55 split of the revenue, which may sound like a great deal given that he’s the much better known fighter in the United States.

However, if Judah knocks Khan out and captures his title, Judah will be position to get a huge money fight against Manny Pacquiao in the future. So, Judah may be taking the shorter end of the stick now, but he stands to gain a fortune if he beats Khan. We already know how vulnerable Khan is from his 1st round knockout loss to Breidis Prescott and his narrow 12 round decision win over Marcos Maidana from December last year.

Khan can go at any time if you connect with something hard, and power is one thing that Judah has plenty of. With the venue and purse split now decided, the real question now is who the referee will be for the fight? Khan had referee Joe Cortez working for the Maidana fight and that may have meant the difference between winning and losing the fight for Khan, because Cortez often broke up the inside action between the two fighters when Maidana was trying to work after hurting Khan in the 10th. Judah is not an inside fighter, so it’s hard to say what effect the referee would have in this fight. But you never know.

The Khan-Judah fight will likely be a much bigger fight than the Khan vs. Timothy Bradley fight. Khan wanted to fight Bradley, but Bradley decided to wait a little while longer before facing Khan. But as it turns out, Bradley vs. Khan would probably do far less numbers than a fight between Khan and the much better known Judah. This fight will bring in more casual boxing fans because Judah has been around forever and has been in with the biggest stars in the sport like Miguel Cotto, Kostya Tszyu and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Judah’s power could be a big problem for Khan, because Judah hits with as much, if not more, power than Maidana but with a lot better speed. If Khan gets hit with one of Judah’s uppercuts, they may be peeling Khan off the canvas with a giant spatula.