Newark, N.J. - Zab Judah's career has been a career of difficulties, success and shame. But on a cold night at the Prudential Center, in Newark, N.J., Zab Judah became champion once again, scoring a 7th round TKO over Kaizer Mabuza. Zab Judah won the IBF junior welterweight championship: a title he won more then ten years ago. With the title, Judah, now, has a bargaining chip that can get him in line for a big payday with the elite in the junior welterweight division, but this might be the only thing he receives from this victory.
Judah’s performance, in the first six rounds, was very ineffective. Just as in the Matthysse fight, Judah stayed in a tight shell and threw very little punches. With his lack of meaningful punches, Mabuza was able to be so aggressive that in round four, he knocked Judah down with a grazing right hand. Judah protests the knock down but he only has himself to blame. Because of the constant back peddling, he found himself off balance and open for the shot. In round six, before the knock out, a straight right hand tagged Judah that buckled his knees. If it was not for Maduza’s tendency to fade in the late rounds and walk into that trademark Judah left cross, Judah might have lost his last chance to be on the big stage.
 Nevertheless, like they say, “A win’s, a win, in boxing” and Judah is winning. Still, if he has any prospect of winning against the elite, he’s got to go back to the Judah of old and throw more punches. Judah might not be able to accomplish that feat being 33 and if he can’t, he has to figure out a way to keep fighters off him and not just let them dictate the entire fight. After watching Judah’s last three performances, if he's not going to throw more meaningful punches, he has to throw a lot more effective jabs (not pawing jabs but jabs that hurt his opponent and keep them at bay). If he throws the jab with more authority, his two signature punches, the straight left and the left uppercut, would land much more, instead of just waiting for his opponent to make a mistake and leave an opening.
What happens next in Zab Judah’s career remains to be seen, but if he intends to reach the top of the division that he once was the star of, he has to put more hurt on his opponents. If not, he'll just be another one of those old fighters, who strings off some wins against creditable opponents, but then gets embarrassed on the big stage, against a younger, stronger, and more active fighter.
-The Boxing King- |
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