By Michael Cumberbatch: We continue the second part of my recent interview with Kathy Duva of Main Events where she talks about her November 6th card, Judah, Adamek, Klitschko, Haye and future plans.
MC: Do you expect Judah to show greater power at the 140 lbs weight and also do you believe that this Division is where he should have been his whole career, instead of the 147 lb weight class..
KD: Absolutely, and you’re right. This (140 lbs) Division is exactly where he should have been the whole time. Kosta Tszyu is the only fight he lost at 140 lbs, and lots of young guys, Ray Leonard comes to mind, lost the first time they got in there with a real seasoned veteran.
The problem Zab had was all the big money fights were at the Welterweight Division. After he left Main Events and moved up to Welterweight, he was chasing pay days. He was playing checkers, he wasn’t playing chess. He was going for the pay day and not building his career.
You have to give him credit, particularly in this day and age when guys are talking about the fights they don’t want to take if all the conditions are not perfect for them. He fought absolutely anyone and everyone. The experience from those fights makes him better than the inexperienced talented young fighters he will be facing.
MC: How about his training?
KD: We are looking so forward to Nov 6th. We think it’s going to be a stunning performance. He’s so ready and excited. He sounds like he wants to fight right now. He’s running five miles straight up a mountain three times a week
As you said, he’ll be stronger and punch harder. Talking to people who watched him train, if it is at all possible, he is faster than he used to be. Speed kills, we all know that. He’s recommitted himself. When he was fighting those great fights at 147 lbs, he was barely training.
MC: (Cutting In) Absolutely, that was always said. It was always expressed that the two things Zab lacked was conditioning and maturity. He now seemingly has those two pieces.
KD: Absolutely.
MC: How about ticket pricing for the Nov 6th card?
KD: We don’t believe in overcharging. You can get a great seat for $53. A ringside seat for $253.
MC: How is Tomasz Adamek doing?
KD: He’s going to fight on December 9th. Tickets are going on sale (they are now available at Prucenter.com). His people tend to be an early buying crowd.
MC: What are your plans for him?
KD: Our plans have always been getting him ready for a Heavyweight title fight in 2011. Getting him prepared, working with his trainer Roger Bloodworth a few times to get comfortable and, ultimately, win the Heavyweight title.
MC: Do you see a fight with one of the Klitschko brothers in 2011 as a possibility?
KD: It’s a possibility. A fight with David Haye is also a possibility and I make no bones about it, I’d rather him fight Haye first. He’s smaller. Getting in there with someone outweighing you by 50-75 pounds is not easy.
I believe if Tomasz fought Haye first, he would win the title. At that point, we would be looking at a mega fight in the Heavyweight Division, against one of the Klitschko brothers, which I would love seeing.
If I had to think two moves ahead, that’s what I’d want. When my company was promoting Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis and Michael Moorer, we were at the top of the boxing world. In this world in which no one cares about the Heavyweight Division and who the champion is, at least in the United States; it’s truly a shame. I would love to get to the point where people would be willing to pay for it. Tomasz has the ability if he is able to win those fights. We will shift the axis of where boxing is.
MC: Lastly, what can we expect from Main Events?
KD: Our plans are to keep promoting at the Prudential Center, build it into the hottest Boxing Club in the country and see where that takes us. While we are delighted that HBO is coming — and we want them back as much as possible — we are not going to base our entire business on when the premium networks are available. Our first goal is to continue putting on tremendous events, and have the people come back. Once we do that and we have proven we can maintain that, we can tell the fighters who work with us your career will be built and you will be successful because you won’t have to wait around until someone in NY decides it’s time for you to fight. This model doesn’t work with 70 guys, we want to do an excellent job with 3 or 4 guys and hope that we are happy with each as we all seem to be now. That’s our goal. That’s our plan; and so far it’s really working.
MC: That’s great Kathy. We know it’s going to be a great show and we look forward to seeing everyone out there on November 6th.
KD: Thank you.