JUDAH LOOKS FOR NEW TITLES AS WELTERWEIGHT

Though multi-talented Zab Judah has had a few negatives from unkind Lady Luck, the maturing 26-year-old Brooklynite hasn’t been deterred from his status as a world-class fist-fighter making a permanent move to welterweght.

Judah, turning pro at 18 and winning the first of two crowns after 22 fights, is delighted to know his immediate future takes him to Gleason’s Gym in New York to ready for a work call on Oct.2.

That’s the date promoter Don King has him penciled in for a semi-final shot in the projected sold-out Madison Square Garden where come-backing Felix “Tito” Trinidad takes on eccentric Ricardo Mayorga for the WBA International middleweight championship at 12 rounds or less.

Bob Goodman, boxing director for Don King Promotions, is from the matchmaking school of the late, great Teddy Brenner, whose legacy was “use the best against the best”, and that’s what Goodman has done in having high-profiled fighters like Judah, with a 31-2, 1 NC, 22 K0s slate, available for Oct.2.
When Goodman approached Judah and his father/trainer, Yoel, on appearing in the Garden, he knew he wouldn’t have to deal with that exasperating dialogue, “Who am I fighting?” that is still prominent with some champs today.

“There is not one fighter out there that Judah is afraid
to fight. It never comes up. Look around and you will find few fighters out there with as much ability and a heart to match as Zab. He has matured in the last couple of years and he knows where he wants to go with his career. He gave up his WBO junior welterweight title right after his fight for Cory Spinks’ welterweight belt,” Goodman reflected.

“Spinks was a natural welterweight since starting while Zab was making his first move to another division. They both scored knockdowns in the last two rounds. Zab didn’t start early but when he came back from a knockdown and dropped Cory in the 12th, time was running out. It was a great fight and some ringsiders thought Judah did enough to win. One minute could have been the difference.”

Although the crowd was on its feet screaming in the late rounds, ther e was no vocal protest when announcer Michael Buffer declared Spinks was still the undisputed welterweight champion on a unanimous decision at Mandalay Bay. In the official scoring, judges Chuck Giampa and Dave Moretti both had it 114-112 while Doug Tucker scored it 116-111, all Spinks.

Neither King or Goodman have come to a decision on Judah’s opponent but prominent in the negotiations are Antonio Margarito, WBO welterweight champion (30-0-1), who may move up to a higher weight class, and Jose Antonio Rivera, WBA 147-pound ruler, (38-3-1). Both champions are from Mexico.

Spinks, whose pedigree in boxing is unmatched being the son of Leon, who upset Muhammad Ali in 1978, and the nephew of Michael, who ended Larry Holmes’ win streak at 48 in taking the crown in 1985, praised Judah.

“I got a little careless in the 12th round and Zab got me with a good shot. When I knocked Judah down in the 11th round, being a boxer I felt I had the fight won. Zab’s a great fighter and I give him credit but I felt I boxed beautifully. I told you I could get mean in there and I was just the better fighter tonight,” said the total champion from St. Louis, Mo.,who earned $800,000 as his credentials moved to 33-2, 10 K0s.

Judah, collecting $100,000 as the challenger, said Spinks never surprised him even taking an early lead with his jab.

“I could have done more early, but I still thought
I had done enough to win. I definitely should have kept after Cory after the knockdown in the last round. I let Cory off the hook, but I have no complaints. With God’s will, I hope we can do it again.”

In the passing weeks, Judah wasn’t happy looking back on the Spinks fight and he jumped at the chance when King offered him the semi-final slot May 16 before the Antonio Tarver-Roy Jones, Jr., rematch at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

This was a 12-round bout with Judah defending
his WBO laurels in what was also a welterweight eliminator.

In the opposite corner was Rafael “Derby” Pineda, 38, a former IBF junior welterweight champion from Baranquilla, Colombia, who once fought Mark Breland for the 147-pound title in 1989.

Judah did enough to win but it should have been easier since Pineda was no mystery as a target. The pride of Brooklyn hurt and dropped Pineda in the seventh round with a hard right. Just about the time you figured the gritty Colombian would exit, he came on in the late rounds to leave Judah with a split decision and his biggest consolation being his $400,000 purse. Pineda got $45.000 as his log dipped to 38-5, 31 K0s.

Judges Patricia Jarman-Manning had it 115-112 for Judah while Dick Houck tabbed the latter at 114-113. while Paul Smith scored it for Pineda 115-112.

Considering the way Tarver chilled Jones with
that second round TKO to regain the WBC light-heavyweight crown, it was the only conversation world-wide for weeks and nary a soul knew or cared who was on the undercard in Vegas.

Nobody has been so bold as to question the heart
and soul of Judah as a fighter but if such gesture was in the offing, the detractor need only turn back the clock to July 12, 2003 when Zab challenged DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley for his WBO junior welterweight title at the off-Strip Orleans hotel-casino in Las Vegas.

It was a rare boxing pairing of southpaws and perhaps an even rarer scenario in that Judah won a 12-round split decision after fighting nine rounds with a fractured left hand.

Going in, the sometimes controversial Judah was making his first start in a year and only the second outing as a pro since he lost the IBF junior welterweight laurels to WBA/WBC ruler Kostya Tszyu on Nov.3, 2001 on a TKO in two at the MGM Grand Garden.

Judah, 140, was slow out of the gate as Corley, 135.5, Washington, D.C., kept the pressure on the fleet challenger with combinations. Judah’s handicap arrived late in the third period when he floored Corley with a left hook to the jaw. Both fighters went down together and referee Joe Cortez waved the knockdown as official.

Judah had no qualms about railing Corley in the countdown to the first bell with the public accepting the action as an authentic grudge match.

“I felt a little rusty with a year off since I beat Omar Weis but I think I had a great fight. Chop Chop fought a very good fight but I felt great because I was able to come back with a top effort after being away so long to beat a guy after having one hand broken. I had to jab the rest of the fight because of my left. I couldn’t throw the it the way I normally do and that’s with power. i could just touch with it,” recalled Judah who was able to control most of the fight by jabbing, moving around and making Corley miss with his best punches.

“Corley kept his composure the whole fight, so that enabled me to just take my time and pick off most of his shots. I could pretty much see everything ‘Chop Chop’ was throwing,” Judah remembered.

The action seemed almost as close as your next breath with the judges alert in their scoring. Chuck Giampa, Las Vegas, Nv., and Michael Pernick, Miami, Fla., both had it 115-112 for Judah while Duane Ford, Las Vegas, Nv., scored it for Corley, 115-112.

Judah snapped Corley’s winning streak of 11 straight since 1999 and deposed the champion by winning the 11th and 12th rounds with his jab. It was the Capital Hill fighter’s third defense since winning the WBO belt by TKOing Felix Flores June 30, 2001.

Judah, turning pro Sept.30, 1996, showed all the evidence of developing into a heavy banger, having KO’d his first six opponents, three coming in the first round.

It was an attention getter June 7, 1998 when Zab
won the USBA junior welterweight title from Mickey Ward who would go on to a three-fight thriller with Arturo Gatti.

Despite his slick techniques on defense, Judah would graduate to his first world title shot in 1999, less than a year after scoring eight knockdowns in winning three fights. After needing four rounds to chill Wilford Negron, the home run slugger disposed of Juan Torres and David Sample in one round each.

It was heart-testing time again when Judah was
paired with South Africa’s Jan Bergman Feb.12, 2000 in Uncasville, Conn., for the vacated IBF 140-pound crown taken away from Terronn Millett because of a prolonged leg injury.

Bergman, considered a complete fighter by his peers, got an early test of the New Yorker’s power, going down twice in the first round. Unshaken, Bergman’s pay-back was a jarring left hook that put Judah in a sitting position in the third round.

“Bergman caught me with a little left hand but I could only laugh at him. That was enough of that, so I took
control of the action in the fourth round. I got him in a neutral corner with some serious combinations and that’s where he took the full count from referee Steve Smoger,” the new champion said.

Judah, Inc., had to go to Glasgow, Scotland for his first title defense against reluctant Junior Vitter June 24, 2000. It was a boring decision with Vitter running all night as the champion prevailed on tabs of 118-111, 118-111, and 116-112.

“All things considered, I think Zab did really well. You can’t do much with an awkward fighter like Vitter. This guy came to run for 12 rounds. He would never take a stand and fight. Zab didn’t lose his composure and we did what we had to do. It was a different story in the next outing when we met Millett at Uncasville,” the father said.

“Zab dominated the first round but he got decked with a left hook to the jaw in the second round. My guy came back to drop Millett in the second round and twice in the fourth. When Millett was shaky rising from the last knockdown, the referee correctly stopped te action.”

Without question losing to Tszyu on that controversial TKO nearly three years ago was Judah’s biggest heartbreaker as a pro.

However, on the same plateau as a disappointment for Judah was watching the 1996 Atlanta Olympics as a spectator rather than a competitor.

Off his performances fighting for medals and team trophies, Zab was on Cloud Nine as one of America’s premier amateurs looking like a lock for a gold medal.

Judah’s credentials were second to none with 110 victories in 115 bouts, plus being a two-time U.S. national champion, three-time New York Golden Gloves winner and the 1996 Police Athletic League champion.

It was a jolting surprise for this country’s avid advocates when Judah did not qualify for the United States Olympic Boxing Team. It was especially hard to take considering he beat top rivals, Hector Camacho, Jr., and Ishe Smith, in the eliminations.

Thunder struck when Judah was upset for the berth in the Olympic Trials by David Diaz, who had lost to Zab in the PAL National Finals in 1996.

“It was very tough in failing to earn a berth on the team at that time. Tough because I have longed to win a gold medal in the Olympics for my country. But once the Olympics was over, I decided to put my entire focus on my pro career and winning a world title rather than pout about the gold.”

No question the Judah family has deep bloodlines for a career in boxing.

“I’m not too much of a celebrity around the house since there are seven brothers who box. All sons of Yoel Judah, six-time world kickboxing champion. When people ask me who is the best fighter in the family, I tell them my father, no question about that. My father has always been my idol. We had no sisters, so my father raised seven boys and that takes a lot,” Judah explained with pride raising in his voice.

“Nobody is on drugs and we’re all straight. In the beginning, the only household member who seemed against me fighting was my mother. That happens in a lot of boxers’ families, and my mother was totally against it in the beginning but after she saw some of my bouts, her confidence improved in me. Then one night after I had a knockout, my mother turned to some frIends, yelling, ‘Wow,
that boy is really good, That kid sure can fight.’

(Jack Welsh is a syndicated columnist headquartered in Las Vegas and a regular contributor to Ringsports,Com and other national sports publications. )