Promoter Frank Warren of England was elected into the International Boxing Hall of Fame last year. He has the smarts and bullet wounds to prove he belongs. His greatest work though may still be a work in progress.
After leading Joe Calzaghe to heights most couldn't dream of, Calzaghe fired him just before he fought Bernard Hopkins. Calzaghe then was victorious in some nasty lawsuits brought by Warren.
Warren has suffered other indignities also. But I'm here to suggest Warren pass on the prospect of having his latest charge, Amir Khan, fighting one American Zab Judah, in the form of some kind of "Welcome to America Tour."
Khan is a promoter's dream. He's the current World Boxing Association 140 champion to start. He's only 23. His record is 22-1 (16 KO's). He's part Pakistani and part British, along with 100% Muslim. He has big time charisma, close to Prince Naseem Hamed. He lives near Newcastle, England.
And last but not least Khan has a Manny factor. Oh yes. Khan is a friend and sometime sparring mate of Manny Pacquiao. They both employ Freddie Roach as their trainer. They are virtually attached at the hip except for Pacquiao has Bob Arum as his promoter and Khan has Warren.
Warren needs to protect that image and take the high road in all his Khan decisions.
Khan looks and fights a lot like the late legend Alexis Arguello is what gets me excited about him.
Khan was already bringing down big dollars and getting the full Frank Warren treatment before one day about a year ago he got knocked out by an unknown named Breidis Prescott at 135. In the embarrassing very first round!
Frank Warren really had to guess right with his next move or the Khan Gravy Train was finished and worse all those rail birds that said all along that Khan had a glass jaw would be proven right. That Khan would be through the moment someone clipped him on the jaw.
Warren took it seriously and he delivered big time. Like never before and maybe never again.
Three months later Khan took a tuneup and beat Oisin Fagan in a confidence - building fight.
He huddled with rival promoter Don King and King pulled Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera out of retirement and brought him in to fight Khan at 140. The fight was a promotional smash in europe. The boxing fans there are romantics and they forgot Barrera was now pretty much shot and long in the tooth.
Khan looked like multimillion bucks. Even though a headbutt caused the major cut, it was otherwise a massacre inside five rounds.
It wasn't over yet. Warren then put Khan in with Andreas Kotelnick and Khan won the WBA Junior Welterweight (140) championship almost via shutout over 12 rounds. People had forgotten all about the Prescott fight.
Two weeks ago Khan knocked out No. 1 contender Dmitriy Salita in only 76 seconds in Newcastle, England in front of 14,000.
Which brings us to this solemn moment about his possible next opponent Zab Judah.
My opinion, and my opinion only. Zab Judah is bad news. Oh, Khan will get him out of there in five rounds. I mean Zab is trouble. If you think I have a thing for Team Mayweather (all except Floyd, Jr.) Team Judah is 1-A on my list.
Zab is a punk. He has fans. But they are not really boxing fans. He can go three hard rounds with anybody at 140 when motivated, I'll say that for him. But when he wants out, he's liable to resort to anything. How long do you want Khan out with stiches from a post fight brawl or splinters from the corner stool.
A week of his hoodlum friends making everyone at the host hotel sponsor nervous? He's not worth the public relations trouble especially in America in his American debut. Americans and American media have slowly started to turn against bad boys. We don't care if they are misunderstood any more. At some point during the six to eight week promotion Judah is going to feel his manhood is being threatened and he's going to go off on someone or something. Probably the weakest person in the room.
Judah, to be kind, can't handle pressure at this level. But he likes the paydays while they still last.
He's all wrong for you and what Khan need. You need a nice neat competitive fight. With Judah, it will be like you're invading Poland, when all you need is a small piano recital. In and out. When Judah is your main event, you have to sweat every incoming phone call.
Which brings me to my good friend Yo Paulie Malignaggi.
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