Judging by some of Zab Judah’s comments during a recent conference call, he might not still be the crazy guy who went after referee Jay Nady after he was knocked out by Kostya Tszyu in 2001 and who instigated a brawl by intentionally fouling Floyd Mayweather Jr. during their fight in 2006.
“I’m just more focused in on my career now,” said Brooklyn’s Judah, who tonight will take on Amir Khan of England in a super lightweight title unification bout at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas (on HBO). “I’m focused in on family and the morals of life, as a young man should be.”
That doesn’t mean Judah has gone soft. As the call began, he was asked by his promoter, Kathy Duva of Main Events, if he wanted to make an opening statement.
“No,” Judah said.
She asked him again to please say a few words.
“I’m the champion, why do I have to go first?” Judah said.
Actually, both are champions.
Anyway, Judah and Duva, it seems, have a beef with Khan’s camp in that they were not offered any of the revenue from the United Kingdom television feed and being stubborn and smart-alecky and refusing to answer questions from British reporters is their form of payback.
“In our negotiations we were told that Zab would not be entitled to any revenue from the UK,” Duva said. “And we felt that was insulting because we feel he is certainly half of the equation here. That was what we were told we would have to live with.
“And so Zab took
the fight with that understanding that Amir would keep all the money from the UK even though they’re both world champions and even though we’ve agreed on a split of money. So no offense to the British press, but Zab will not be answering questions until the fight is over to the British.”
Khan fights under the Golden Boy Promotions banner. Its COO, David Itskowitch, had this response to Duva: “I guess that means all you British media out there should work on your American accents.”
Funny stuff, but certainly not productive. That doesn’t mean Judah isn’t very serious about going into the ring tonight and leaving with both world championship belts while at the same time teaching Khan a lesson the 24-year-old won’t forget.
“One thing about it, we’re definitely going to take him to school,” said the 33-year-old Judah, a three-time super lightweight champion and former welterweight champion. “I think after (tonight), he’ll figure out that Golden Boy and his trainer, Freddie Roach, set him up as a pawn.
“For people that play chess, they know what that is. They set him up for a pawn and put him in a position that he shouldn’t have been in.”
Judah believes Khan is for real, however.
“And yet, I think he’s a great fighter,” Judah said. “I think that it’s a little premature, before his time.”
It is to laugh, said Khan, a heavy favorite.
“I know we’re ready for this fight,” he said. “That’s why we’re taking this fight on. We committed to this fight as favorites. I’ve been training very hard for this fight. And he can say what he wants; we’ll see when the time comes.”
As the call progressed, Judah (41-6, 28 KOs) listened as Khan talked about how he and his trainer, Freddie Roach, have watched film of some of Judah’s previous fights. But Judah will be in his second fight with trainer Pernell Whitaker in his corner, and his first resulted in a seventh-round TKO of Kaizer Mabuza in a fight for a vacant world title in March.
Whitaker, of course, was a defensive genius so he has been teaching Judah how to steer clear of opponents power punches.
“I’m pretty pleased with Freddie and Amir watching my old tapes, so they’re learning something about the old Zab Judah,” Judah said. “The new Zab Judah coming to the ring is a monster.”
Judah is a southpaw with plenty of power. But Khan (25-1, 17 KOs) is fast and hits hard, too, and the young Brit doesn’t believe Judah has a chance of handling that.
“I don’t think he’ll be able to take the pressure of the speed and power,” Khan said. “We’ll see how he copes with this. I really think he’s taken the wrong fight. He can say what he wants, but he knows he’s taken the wrong fight.”
But, wait, this is the new Zab Judah. New attitude, new trainer.
Underdog? Forget about it.
“A man made those odds up,” said Judah, who several times during the call mentioned “God.” “If you’re into sports betting, they had the Miami Heat to beat the Dallas Mavericks. And the Dallas Mavericks came and smashed the odds-makers and beat the Miami Heat and won the championship.
“So that doesn’t mean anything, more or less, for the fight.”
Neither does Judah’s past, so he says.
“I’ve lived my years as Zab Judah just being Zab Judah, tough guy, Brooklyn, whatever,” he said. “I’m here to say today, that don’t pay man. Just live your life and be happy.”
And don’t talk to British reporters.
Reasons for Greenburg’s departure still unclear
Regardless of what Ross Greenburg says on the record, there always are going to be those who wonder if the longtime president of HBO Sports didn’t resign but rather was fired Monday.
The official release, in which Greenburg and two remaining HBO executives give statements, said Greenburg decided to not renew his contract.
“This was a difficult decision that I had been contemplating for some time,” Greenburg said. “It has been a glorious 33 years at HBO, but it felt like the right moment for me to focus my time and energy on developing projects that are particularly interesting to me.”
In a joint statement, HBO co-president Richard Plepler and HBO programming president Michael Lombardo praised Greenburg.
“We believe that Ross’ track record speaks for itself,” they said. “He has helped redefine the sports programming genre and set an extraordinary standard of excellence in the industry.
“We will miss his leadership, vision, creativity and passion for sports television.”
Greenburg began with HBO Sports as a producer’s assistant in 1978 and was named senior vice president and executive producer of HBO Sports in 1994 before being named president 11 years ago. Along the way, he won eight Peabody Awards and 51 Sports Emmy Awards.
Two of the best shows during his time were Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel and the outstanding “24/7” boxing documentary.
Some in the industry, however, believe that Greenburg didn’t resign and might have been terminated because he was unable to secure the Manny Pacquiao-“Sugar” Shane Mosley pay-per-view fight in May. Showtime, with an assist from parent company CBS, instead took it.
Greenburg scoffed at that notion.
“That’s a silly rationale,” Greenburg, 56, told The New York Times. “That added to my angst, but one fight didn’t determine whether I stayed or didn’t stay.”
In that same story, Greenburg said dealing with promoters and managers wastaxing, and that made him want to callit quits.
