According to reports, former undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah has pulled out of his scheduled 10-round jr. welterweight bout with Antonio Diaz on the undercard of the September 19 Mayweather vs. Marquez card. "September 19th, we're going to get suited and booted and go out there and check it out. Diaz is not worth it; what has he done? And the only reason Matthew Hatton would get a shot is because of what he brings to the table, he brings the UK," stated Judah, who held an open workout in Cleveland, Ohio earlier today in support of Hector Camacho Jr.'s clash with Israel Cardona in the main event of the "Latin Invasion" PPV card this Saturday at the Wolstein Center.
Speaking to Jose Santana Jr. of Secondsout.com, Judah, who was unimpressed with his opponent and his payday, revealed that he's taking his career into his own hands. "I don't have to talk to anybody, I talk to myself, Super Judah Promotions. Neither Oscar nor Mayweather are my boss," he stated. In a seperate conversation with Michael Marley of Examiner.com, Judah explained his decision to pull out of the bout. "The money is not right...I'm not worried about Antonio Diaz, that's just a tuneup bout for me. Anyway, I plan to have two tune up bouts before the year is over," he added. "Guys I really want to fight are Andre Berto and Juan Diaz. Tell Al Haymon and Lou DiBella, who act as Berto's wardens, to let him out of the bag. All they do is protect him!"
Judah, who is 3-4 with 1 No Contest in his last eight bouts, last fought in November of 2008 when he earned a lackluster 10-round unanimous decision over Ernest Johnson. It seems odd that Judah would pull out of the fight considering that he allegedly asked Mayweather to get him a spot on the undercard in the first place. As late as last week, reports out of Las Vegas were that Judah was not training like a world-class fighter, opting instead to spend the majority of his time in Vegas nightclubs. Whether or not Judah is pulling out of the fight due to the lack of money or training remains to be seen, but for a fighter who hasn't had a win over a quality opponent in over four years (his 9th round TKO victory over Cory Spinks comes to mind), he's certainly doing a good job of burning all of his bridges.
It should be interesting to see if this latest news has any impact on the total PPV buys for Mayweather-Marquez card.
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