Frank Stea
Senior Reporter
Former WBO light welterweight champion
Kendall “Rated R” Holt 28-5 (16KOs) is now slated to challenge current IBF and
WBA light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson 30-1 (15KOs) after Peterson’s
original mandatory opponent, Zab Judah
declined the fight after a lack of interest in purse bid negotiations.
World Boxing News spoke to Kendall Holt
late last night regarding this matter.
“As of 12 o’clock noon (yesterday) I got a
call from my lawyer Patrick English. He
said Zab (Judah) didn’t sign the contract.
My lawyer said you are the man (to fight Peterson).”
“We started negotiations with my promoter
Gary Shaw, Barry Hunter and all parties considered. We have a deadline that was set by the IBF,
which is November 22nd to have the deal done. If not, then we go to a new purse bid. Hopefully we can get a deal done and we can
get this fight on.”
It is obvious that Zab Judah backed out of
this fight because of the low amount of money that was initially bid for the Peterson
fight. Holt weighed in on if money would
be a factor for him getting another title opportunity.
“I would like to say that money isn’t a
factor but I have to be real. If they come
with $12,500, I don’t know yet.
“The least amount I ever took for a challenge
in a purse bid was $45,000 in 2007. For
me, going over to South America for that was extremely low. I took it because to me the opportunity is
always bigger than the money.
“The money comes after you’re world
champion. I’ve made hundreds of thousands
of dollars before when I won a world championship. So I’m looking forward to making it again.”
Lamont Peterson tested positive earlier
this year for a banned substance, prior to a scheduled rematch with Amir
Khan. The fight was eventually cancelled
and Peterson has adopted the stigma of being a cheater in the sport. Holt told WBN that any additional testing would
not be a factor for him making this fight.
“It doesn’t matter. He can be on whatever he wants to be on. You’ve seen what happened to Vargas and De La
Hoya. Vargas was on steroids and he
still got beat convincingly.
“If Peterson wants to take something that
he feels will give him an advantage in the fight, by all means take it. But for me, I don’t take supplements. I don’t take vitamins. I don’t take protein shakes. I’m all natural with no preservatives.
“Steroids ain’t going to help him get out
of the way of my punches. If Gary Shaw wants VADA testing, he’ll put it in
there. I’m not going to say anything.
“Fighters fight. I don’t worry about all that technical stuff.
To me, I’m going to show up and perform my butt off.”
Follow Kendall Holt on Twitter @Kholt456
Frank Stea is co-presenter of ATG Radio as well as a head reporter at WBN. Follow him on Twitter @FrankStea and @ATGRadio.