Interview With Kathy Duva: Zab Judah’s Promoter
by Hans Olson
With Amir Khan and Zab Judah’s huge unification bout just a day away, Boxing Insider caught up with Zab Judah’s promoter, Kathy Duva, to discuss this all important fight:
PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos/Golden Boy Promotions.
Boxing Insider: Hi Kathy, thank you for taking the time to chat. How’s everything going? How’s Judah holding up here and what do you expect to see this weekend?
Kathy Duva: He’s holding up fantastically! I can’t say I’ve ever seen anybody more ready to fight, and I’ve seen a lot of people. He’s got a glow about him where he’s just ready to go and can’t wait. He’s going to win the fight.
Boxing Insider: Taking a look at this division with Zab, Amir, and Bradley being out there too…to me this fight between Zab and Amir is a more interesting fight, inside and out. I believe the winner of this fight should be considered the best in the division. Do you feel the same way?
Kathy Duva: Oh, absolutely. I think you’ve got two personalties that are more interesting, I think you’ve got two fighting styles that are more interesting. Tim Bradley has sort of taken himself out of the picture for a while. Right now the winner of this fight is absolutely going to be the man to beat, let’s just put it that way.
Boxing Insider: This is going to be Zab’s second fight with Pernell in his camp. How did things go this time around as opposed to the camp for the Kaizer Mabuza fight?
Kathy Duva: Well I didn’t think it would have been possible for them to get better but they did. Everybody is in a good mood, everybody is positive! There hasn’t been any negativity, everybody is focused on the goal and thinking about nothing but the goal. As a result you see a group of people that are in perfect harmony all together to get to where they are right now—it really shows.
Boxing Insider: In a business sense, what are you guys expecting as far as the live gate and the crowd?
Kathy Duva: We’re hoping it’s a good crowd! It’s a big room, but people are here. This fight’s really getting a buzz now and we’ll get more and more people walking up so hopefully we’ll be more than three quarters full—it’s going to be a tremendous fight!
Boxing Insider: The deal with HBO that had been rumored for this fight if Zab wins…has that been wrapped up? Is there some incentive with HBO, or is that up in the air?
Kathy Duva: That stuff we’ll talk about when the fight’s over. I learned a long time ago to let that stuff go until the fight’s over.
Boxing Insider: Gotcha. Now Judah fought Matthysse, eked out a close decision against him. What did you think of Matthysse’s fight against Alexander? How did you see that fight?
Kathy Duva: Well, clearly I thought Matthysee won that one. I thought he won that one clearly…I don’t think he won the Judah fight. I thought it was fascinating because my opinion of him after watching him fight Zab was ‘this kid has the potential—and certainly is the hardest puncher in the division—if he got some more seasoning and experience. I thought he was kind of getting thrown in over his head with a guy like Zab Judah. I was very interested in the comment that Lucas made when he said Zab was ten times the better fighter(than Alexander).
Boxing Insider: I absolutely agree. Finally Kathy, another Main Events fighter Tarvis Simms had an injury (Simms was scheduled to be on the undercard to Khan/Judah against Peter Quillin), do you have any updates on his injury and when he’ll be back?
Kathy Duva: He cracked some ribs so it’s a serious injury, and it’ll have to get better before he can train again. We’re waiting to hear, and once we do we’ll figure out where he’s going to be next.
Boxing Insider: Well thank you very much for taking the time to do this Kathy, and good luck to you, Main Events, and Zab this weekend.
Kathy Duva: Thank you so much!
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