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British light welterweight Ashley Theophane has been left disappointed again. he was looking forward to appearing on the under card of his childhood hero Roy Jones Jr, but after his third opponent Zab Judah withdrew today, it is now looking like he will miss out.
First he was lined up to fight Derrick Gainer, but that fell through when Gainer refused to budge on fighting higher than 135 lb. Then Souleymane M’Baye stepped up to the plate before was injured in a freak training accident. Then finally came former world champion and still world rated southpaw Zab Judah.
Judah seemed up for the fight and thought he would have a relatively easy night’s work against Theophane, however after finding out that may not be the case, it seems Judah has also withdrawn, leaving Theophane now without a fight.
“Zab Judah is a Chump,” said Theophane. “He went around on various boxing websites saying he is going to knock me out in one round and when his people do their background check on me, he backs out.
“He even tried to nickname me ‘1 Round’. I made all the allowances for him. I agreed to fight him at 144 lb, even though I wanted 140 lb. I knew they wanted an excuse, but I agreed to all the demands. I would have ended his World Title dreams of fighting Hatton or Paul Malignaggi and sent him to the Club Circuit.
“Judah can’t say he’s repping Brooklyn when he’s ducking some unknown kid from London. He’s an embarrassment to Brooklyn. He can roll with his 10 body guards in Brooklyn but I roll solo. It’s too funny to me, Zab Judah ducks Ashley Theophane.
“He heard the stories that I wasn’t a joke and backed out. Now he’s fighting some bum on HBO PPV. I was a Judah fan, but I lost respect for him. I may even pull a Mike Tyson/Lennox Lewis incident at Square Ring’s press conference on Tuesday. I’ll see how I feel.”
Theophane also had a message to promoters Square Ring. “They wasted my time, for 10 weeks they where telling me I was on the show so I let other opportunities go. A famous line from one of their senior workers, who I shall not name but who knows who he is, ‘I’m a man of my word you will be boxing on November 8th’..
“They offered me, Derek Gainer, Souleymane M’Baye and Zab Judah. I said yes to all of them. I believe I’m on that level.”
Finally, Theophane sent a message to Roy Jones Jr, wishing him good luck for the fight, despite he no longer being on the card.
“I’m a Roy Jones Jr fan, so I hope he wins his fight against Joe Calzaghe and I truly believe he is one of the greatest fighters to ever lace on a pair of gloves.”
