Your weekly random thoughts …
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Zab Judah is a like a cat with nine lives, but he's using them up quickly. The temperamental former undisputed welterweight champion cost himself a minimum $800,000 payday against
Shane Mosley when he sliced up his right arm and needed 50 stitches to close the wounds, forcing their fight, which was supposed be on Saturday night, to be canceled. The official story put out by Judah's team was that he had accidentally put his arm through a glass shower door. However, the real story, from what I am told by multiple people on the inside who didn't want to be quoted, is that Judah actually got into a serious beef with his father and trainer,
Yoel Judah, and he threw a temper tantrum, which resulted in Judah angrily putting his arm through the steam room shower door at the Top Rank gym in Las Vegas. Although Judah won't get the payday to fight Mosley, he did land an Aug. 2 HBO fight against
Joshua Clottey for a vacant belt. Won't Judah ever learn to control himself? He's already had two suspensions and hefty fines in Nevada for bad behavior during fights. I view this latest episode as Judah receiving a de facto fine of about $400,000 -- the approximate difference between what he would have made to fight Mosley and what he will make against Clottey.
• Although neither
Ricky Hatton's victory against
Juan Lazcano nor
Paulie Malignaggi's win against
Lovemore N'Dou last week were classic fights, wasn't it great to watch a live championship card on a Saturday afternoon? One thing I find myself wondering, however, is this: Why do cards like that one cost HBO millions of dollars, yet Versus was able to buy this doubleheader for low six figures?
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Dan Rafael
