Amir Khan or A Mere Con?
KHAN JUST A PRODUCT OF THE BOXING ESTABLISHMENT?
Los Angeles, CA– Saturday night Britain’s newest sensation, (or thats what the boxing establishment wants us to believe), WBA junior welterweight (140 lb) champ Amir Khan (25-1, 17 KOs) faces the often-recycled IBF junior welterweight titleholder Zab Judah(41-6, 27KOs). Judah a former undisputed welterweight (147 lb) champion, has failed to live up to the “unlimited potential” tag bestowed upon him coming out of the amateurs in 1996.
HBO’S FIRST FIGHT SINCE FIRST ROUND OF HOUSE CLEANING
The fight which will be broadcast live on HBO unifies two of the four major sanctioning body belts in the division. Khan’s most notable victory was a close unanimous decision victory over crude but relentless Marcos Maidana (30-2, 27 KOs). The Brit, whose career has been more hype than substance, was starched in one round by Bredis Prescott (19-0 at the time) in 2008, but has refused to give the Colombian a rematch, and thus fights another past prime opponent who’s failed to deliver in most of his high profile bouts.
JUDAH NOW WITH WHITAKER AND CONTE
Judah however enjoys a possible renewal in focus due to the fact that he hooked up with former world champion Pernell Whitaker as his chief second. Judah, trained by his father most of his career, in my mind, was at a disadvantage with his father in his corner. Yoel Judah, failed to give his son consistent and clear instructions thus confusing Zab and aiding his sometimes lackluster efforts. A rejuvenated version of the athletically gifted Brooklynite should give an overrated Khan fits, especially out the southpaw stance. Word has it that he is also working with sports nutrition guru Victor Conte formerly of the BALCO Labs, and now with S.N.A.C.
JERSEY ATHLETIC CONTROL BOARD BOSS DAVIS DIDN’T GET IT RIGHT.
Last week I wrote a letter to New Jersey Athletic Control Board head Aaron Davis in regards to the horrendous scoring by the judges for the Erislandy Lara (15-1-1, 10 KOs) vs. Paul Williams (40-2, 27 KOs) bout that took place Saturday July 9th in Atlantic City and broadcast live by HBO. Williams was awarded the victory, a bout where almost all ringside observers had it for Lara. Later that day in an unprecedented move, Davis suspended all three judges. I am not sure why Davis is being applauded though. The inexperienced judges were appointed over far more experienced judges by Davis himself!
NATIONAL BOXING COMMISSION NEEDED, AM I BEING TOO REDUNDANT?
This is the reason why we need a National Commission. The judges who by no fault of their own were APPOINTED! With no body overseeing the decisions of the commission, I feel the judges were scapegoated when in reality they had no business being judges in upper echelon boxing matches the first place. None of them were even licensed by the Association of Boxing Commissions. I think more heat needs to be placed on those in charge and what’s interesting is that Lara now has a loss on his record, yet Davis is looking like some sort of “hero” when he should be held just as accountable as the judges he himself said he appointed. An apology isn’t enough here, and he was given an opportunity to give his side of the story on Ring Talk Worldwide”” radio, but has yet to man up and speak to the public except for in a press release. Maybe he hopes this will just go away.
DO PROMOTERS REALLY UNDERSTAND THE BOXING MEDIA?
Last night I spoke with fellow boxing writer John Signorella about a number of issues in relation to boxing. One that came to mind was the timing or lack there of, of boxing press conferences. Most that I am invited to are in the middle of the day. The majority of Internet boxing writers/journalist have full-time jobs outside of the boxing industry including myself. How in the hell can these writers cover a press conference at 1 in the afternoon? I think boxing, which in the opinion of many has a dwindling fan base in the US (not because of MMA as many think) needs all of the exposure it can get.
TRUTH IS PROMOTERS DON’T LIKE “REAL” MEDIA TYPES!
When you have press conferences at times where many sites correspondents can’t attend because they have to earn a living on an 8-5 like everybody else how do you expect to build a fan base? Many of the writers want to attend, and many aren’t getting paid to do so, so show a little compassion and common sense to the people who are really the lifeblood of the sport and business . As I said to Signorella,” This is a Labor of Love,” however getting “paid” is more important than attending a press event on a weekday afternoon.
7 MONTHS INTO YEAR & HBO HASN’T HAD ONE SIGNIFICANT PPV
Earlier, I mentioned the “First Round of House Cleaning” at HBO. The Time Warner subsidiary has taken a lot of heat this year, and thankfully we’re rid of the recently resigned/fired, didn’t renew his contract, (who cares, he’s gone!) HBO Sports CEO Ross Greenburg. I really don’t care excuse of reason is given, we should all rejoice in his departure. Hopefully next on the chopping block is HBO Sports Vice President Kerry Davis. Because of these buffoons, HBO has temporarily and possibly permanently have lost Manny Pacquiao(53-3-2, 38 KOS) to rival network Showtime.
SHOWTIME STRUCK GOLD WITH PACMAN
In May, the Filipino had a successful Pay Per View, selling there were 1.3 million buys at around $60 dollars a pop, with Manny earning over $20 million dollars in a whitewash 12 round unanimous decision victory over a listless version of Shane Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KOs) in what was his first appearance fighting under the Showtime/CBS television banner.
FLOYD NEEDS TO DELIVER EXCITEMENT & WIN!
In September HBO looks to make up for the loss in revenue with Floyd Mayweather’s(41-0, 25 KOs) return against WBC welterweight titleholder Victor Ortiz (29-2-2, 22KOs). It’s a very intriguing bout, at least on paper. However this fight needs to be entertaining, and not just in the build up. A lot of that pressure will be on Ortiz to bring the fight to Mayweather who normally does well against pressure fighters and looks more spectacular.
Kevin Perry