Imagine you are Antonio Margarito. Your impressive July beat down of Miguel Cotto was a rousing success both in pulling pay-per-view buys and in garnering media attention. Casual sports fans have started recognizing your name and maybe even your face.

The sky is the limit. Right? Well, not so much. There are so few people out there for you to fight for your deserved huge payday. Shane Mosley? Yawn, that guy never caught the public’s eye. Paul Williams? Nobody knows him and maybe he’s a little too dangerous. Zab Judah? I’d have a good time at least. Ricky Hatton? Um, maybe? Manny Pacquiao? Not for a while, but maybe. Floyd Mayweather, Jr.? He ain’t coming out of retirement for me. He’s scared of the Tijuana Tornado.

No, the guy I really want is Oscar De La Hoya and he says he’s done on December 6th. You then continue your daily morning routine, open your computer and check your boxing RSS feeds. Lo and behold there’s a new article from Dan Rafael about the Golden Boy.

Its headline is intriguing enough, “De La Hoya shies away from retirement talk.” You start to get really excited. Does he want to fight me? Please Oscar, please. I could retire after the money made from that fight. You scan down the page. Still no mention. But wait. Here it is:

“My dream is to fight at Estadio Azteca,” De La Hoya said at the news conference. “I want a big farewell fight to leave a lasting impression all over the world with a huge event…fighting there would be a dream come true, and that’s why I don’t rule out the possibility of having another fight next year.”

“Oh my heavens,” your inner Antonio must be thinking, “he must be talking about me! Who else would he fight at the Azteca? It ain’t gonna be Sergio Mora or Ricky Hatton I guarantee you that! I need to start training right now. It doesn’t matter if he wins or loses to Manny; everyone in Mexico will want to see that fight. I’ll be avenging my hero Julio Cesar Chavez. I can’t wait.”

Neither can we Antonio, neither can we.

Let’s hope Paul Williams hasn’t read ESPN.com’s recap of the Joshua Clottey - Zab Judah fight. What does it say? That despite Judah’s loss he might be next in line for the recently lionized welterweight champ Antonio Margarito.

It seems that Clottey tore his bicep in the fifth round of that fight. That’s right, the Ghanian TORE HIS BICEP and still managed to be more powerful and look better than Judah. Zab’s claim of not being able to continue because of purported lost vision looks a lot more cowardly now.

No matter, despite his ridiculous display he still might get the coveted big money fight against Margarito. How many lives does this guy have? How many chances can he get? How can someone keep getting rewarded for be so unsuccessful?

Judah stands no chance of beating Margarito. He hasn’t beaten anyone of note in three years! Nevertheless he gives the fight an American, a recognizable name, and someone with a fan base. The fight would take place on November 1 and presumably be broadcast on HBO and not a pay-per-view. Now that I think about it, I wouldn’t mind seeing Margarito destroy Judah.

But the question still remains, who could Margarito have chosen? Clearly Margarito doesn’t want #3 Paul Williams yet. So who else could it be? A quick look a boxrec.com’s top welterweights gives few answers.

Here are those unavailable b/c a prior engagement:
2. Shane Mosley; 6. Andre Berto; 7. Jackson Bonsu.

Also unavailable:
4. Miguel Cotto; 5. Joshua Clottey.

Unattractive:
10. Kermit Cintron (Margarito KOd him in April) 12. Jesus Soto Karass (Is a Margarito sparring partner and shares the same trainer).

The remainders:
8. Sebastian Andres Lujan (Margarito TKOd him in 2005 but he looked good against Jose Luis Castillo on Wednesday)
9. Isaac Hlatswayo
11. Motoki Sasaki
13. Said Ouiali
14. Zab Judah
15. Alfonso Gomez

Given the need for a recognizable name the choice is essentially between Zab and The Contender alum Alfonso Gomez. I gotta admit that I’d rather see Judah.

Last night on HBO welterweight Zab Judah added yet another disgraceful end to his litany of dubiousness. After impressively standing toe to toe with powerful Ghanian Joshua Clottey for eight rounds a cut was opened over Judah’s right eye in the ninth.

How that cut manifested itself became an object of contention. Multiple replays indicated that the cut was opened by a Clottey uppercut. Nevertheless the referee judged it to be caused by a head butt. While being examined by the ref Judah appeared to get the “how many fingers do I have up?” question wrong.

I’m no doctor and I can’t attest to Judah’s vision problems but the cut didn’t appear to be particularly debilitating.

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Who is Mrs. Jabandgrapple’s favorite boxer to watch? I’m going to hazard a guess and say Zab Judah. It’s not because she enjoys his flashy style or thinks he’s particularly handsome. No sir. For reasons that elude me she hates Super Judah with a passion. She loves to see him knocked out, made a fool of, and lose. Luckily for her Judah has been knocked out in spectacular fashion and his DQ history and potential rivals even Mike Tyson.

Why do I mention Zab? It’s not because he’s fighting Joshua Clottey this weekend (look for recap here on Sunday). It’s because he’s live chatting on ESPN.com at 4:30 EST today! Get your questions sent in. There’s a whole lot of questions to ask Zab and they’re not all shower-related. I know I’ve already sent a few pointed queries in. Let’s see if they get answered.

Fight fans everywhere are feeling a huge Zab Judah putting his arm through glass-caused void in their Saturday night fight watching plans. OK, maybe not. I wasn’t planning to buy Zab’s pay-per-view bout against Shane Mosley and am relieved that I didn’t have any last minute pangs and pressures to do so.

That doesn’t mean that Sugar Shane has kept himself out of the news. Today’s Los Angeles Times reported that Mosley’s former trainer, Derryl Hudson, swore in federal court on Friday that “Shane was fully aware he was using performance-enhancing drugs as he prepared for his victorious 2003 rematch against Oscar De La Hoya.” The accompanying picture was taken just before that fight.

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Last night a message appeared on my Comcast cable box. It read: You still have time to order this Saturday’s exciting welterweight pay-per-view event “Sugar” Shane Mosley vs. Zab “Super” Judah. I wonder what would happen if you did order the May 31 fight that was officially canceled almost three weeks ago because of Zab Judah’s unfortunate incident with a shower and the resulting fifty stitches Zab had installed in his right arm?

Would you get a Zab Judah highlights montage showcasing the choking Jay Nady incident, the Roger Mayweather corner clearing brawl, the dizzying Kosta Tszyu knockdown? Or maybe you would get a clandestine video of what really happened in the infamous Las Vegas glass shower. ESPN’s Dan Rafael reports on his ESPN Insider blog that Judah did indeed put his jabbing arm threw glass only it didn’t occur because of an unfortunate slip.

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Yuriorkis Gamboa vs. Darling Jimenez
Before the fight has even started Max Kellerman calls Yuriorkis Gamboa a “Mike Tyson or Jack Dempsey in miniature.” With all the hullabaloo surrounding this guy we half expect him to levitate to the ring, turn water to wine, and transform Primm into Las Vegas. Can the hype be real?

Well, he’s awfully flashy. His hand speed and closing speed is astounding. He’s an unbridled ball of super-powered electricity. He’s freakishly athletic and talented. The problem is: he knows all of these things. He looks supremely bored by Jimenez. He fights with his hands down and goes wherever he wants. He has no respect for Jimenez and believes he can dodge and sidestep any punch he throws.

Gamboa is probably right. The skill chasm between these two makes the fight difficult to watch as does Gamboa’s foolish arrogance and complete lack of discipline.

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Do you remember Zab Judah’s wobbly 2001 first-round knockout from Kostya Tszyu? After getting flattened he immediately pounced back up only to have his legs and equilibrium double-cross him all while telling the ref he was OK. Imagine the same betrayal happening in a Las Vegas glass shower. Because those are the reports coming from Sin City and the reason our oft-suspended hero’s May PPV bout against Shane Mosley has been put on indefinite hiatus.

Judah fell through the shower glass on an as-yet-to-be-determined date sometime this week resulting in an astounding 50 stitches in his right arm. How could this all have happened? Golden Boy promotions spokesperson explained. “He slipped and he went to brace himself on a glass door and his arm went through it. I saw his arm. It looked pretty bad.” Another story may eventually emerge but given the Tszyu knockdown we are inclined believe poor Super Judah.

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• Former welterweight champions Shane Mosley and Zab Judah have formally announced that they will meet on May 31st in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
• Former super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler will face Edison Miranda, potentially in Montreal. The bout will be aired on Showtime.
• Ruslan Chagaev and Nikolai Valuev will sqaure off on May 31st in Germany. Chagaev, the WBA heavyweight title holder, defeated Valuev via majority decision early last year.