WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan’s much publicized search for a July opponent took another turn for the worse this week after it was revealed by both sides that talks aren’t going well between Khan and IBF champion Zab Judah.
The issue seemingly stems from the fact that Judah isn’t being offered even close to the amount that Tim Bradley was prior to declaring that he wasn’t interested due to promotional concerns.
Khan and team even eventually upped their offer to WBC/WBO champion Tim Bradley to $1.4 million, and more significantly a 50-50 split on revenues generated from U.K pay per view sales.
Judah though, despite being a considerably bigger draw than Bradley, is being offered less, and understandably isn’t thrilled about it.
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Currently the offer from Khan and Golden Boy stands at a 60-40 split on U.S revenue in Khan’s favor as well as all revenue generated in Britain, Pakistan and the Middle East, all places where Khan has an extensive fanbase.
Judah and his team then feel that as a much more well known fighter
Unquestionably he deserves at least as much as Bradley does and would likely make for a more interesting bout against Khan as well.
Although not the star some of his former opponents have been Judah is still a well known name, and
Judah’s only problem in getting what he deserves is that he doesn’t have any leverage.
Photos: Amir Khan begins training, opponent to be finalized this week
Firstly Golden Boy promotions have another willing opponent on hand in interim lightweight champion Robert Guerrero who will likely fight Khan for much less. Advertisement
Further Guerrero is a fellow Golden Boy fighter, meaning that as sole promoter they would make more money from the event than if Khan were to fight Judah.
Perhaps more importantly the main reason Tim Bradley appeared to have leverage to deal with Khan was due to the fact that he is currently ranked as the top light welterweight in the world.
In beating him Khan would have become the best fighter in the division, not to mention holding three of the four major titles.
In the process he perhaps would become an even bigger draw, and people would begin to take his talk of fighting the likes of Floyd Mayweather in the near future more seriously.
In beating Zab Judah however, Khan only claims one of the four titles, which in and of itself doesn’t mean very much.
He doesn’t move up in the rankings.
He isn’t rated as the best in the division, neither does he become the first to beat an unbeaten champion.
For Khan, Bradley is an essential opponent in achieving dominance over his division and paves the way to him moving up in weight.
Judah holds a title but isn’t nearly as indispensable to Khan’s plans.
That being the case it looks likely that Judah will have to either settle for what Khan is offering or risk missing out on the opportunity to face him altogether, which in the end will be his loss and not Khan’s.
Judah deserves better, and all things being equal he would get it. As Khan has both the drawing power and promotional backing Judah lacks however, that isn’t ever going to happen.
Damien Strause, Pitt: “Judah vs. Khan is a great fight, Guerrero he picks apart and Bradley fights are always ugly. Could be the best fight in the division other than Matthysse vs. Maidana”
