Zab Judah

Back in early 2001, there were many big names in the world of professional boxing—Oscar de la Hoya, the up-and-coming Floyd Mayweather Jr., Lennox Lewis, Roy Jones Jr. and others—but one name kept on coming up, time and again, as the best new boxer out there: Zab Judah.

With incredible hand speed, great reflexes, brutal knockout power and underrated defense, Judah was ripping through the competition. He was exciting as hell to watch, and he honestly looked unstoppable.

Then, a heaping helping of hubris and the hard right hand of Kostya Tszyu changed all of that, forever.

All the talent he had couldn’t save him from himself. He had the fight with Tszyu in the bag; it was his for the taking. He was hitting Tszyu nearly at will and having a ball making “The Thunder from Down Under” look like a rank amateur.

But he failed to adhere to the age old admonition of the fight game: “Protect yourself at all times.” In the case of Judah, he needed protection from himself more than anyone.

Now, with a career notched with defeats suffered at the hands of boxers who were never really blessed with as many gifts as he has squandered, Judah is somewhat of a cautionary tale in the boxing world: “Don’t let this happen to you.”

I can only hope Melvin Guillard doesn’t suffer the same fate as Zab Judah, because in many ways, his career as a professional fighter seems to be heading in the same direction.

This is not to say that Guillard hasn’t made improvements in his game, because he has. He continues to grow, and he’s still got the time to turn things around.

But something needs to change. Every time Guillard starts to build up some steam and looks to be cracking the top 10, heading for a title shot, he gets derailed—usually in ways he should have seen coming.

Guillard has many of the same gifts that Judah had: brutal KO power, terribly fast strikes, god-given athleticism and a love for fighting. These are attributes you can develop to a degree through hard training, but they’re better employed when they come naturally, and in Guillard, they flow out like a river.

But he always seems to falter when he’s on the cusp of what could be a shot a true greatness.

Of his 18 fights in the UFC, he’s suffered seven defeats, six of those coming via submission. For a fighter with so much going for him, he clearly isn’t putting in enough time on the mat against the kind of submission experts that will teach him the error of his ways.

At a time when training in large fight clubs with many big-name fighters is thought to be the best way to become great, it seems Guillard may reap more rewards by taking a drastically different approach and deciding to go with a smaller group of trainers who are able to give him the time and focused attention he needs in order to take the next step.

Guillard has all of the physical advantages a fighter could ever want. If champions were decided based upon talent alone, Guillard would be the champion—not Benson Henderson—but that’s not the case.

I have often wondered how Guillard would look if he took a year (or at least six months) off from fighting to train hardcore in nothing but jiu-jitsu and boxing. Time spent as an honest student of both games would demand he develop the necessary skills and motivation needed just to keep up—and those are the exact things he seems to be missing.

It’s hard to imagine Guillard enjoying any time in a gym like the one owned by Freddie Roach unless he was about the business of paying attention and getting better; he’d be too busy climbing up off the floor if he didn’t—and those are the exact things he seems to be missing.

Whatever he decides, the time of Melvin Guillard is now, not tomorrow. He needs to do something different, or else he could wind up as MMA’s equivalent to Zab Judah—and that is a story with a very sad ending indeed.

Zab Judah has earned a title shot against IBF junior welterweight world champion, Lamont Peterson, with his March knockout of the previously undefeated Vernon Paris (26-1, 15 KO).

Dan Rafael of ESPN reports that Judah (42-7, 29 KO) plans to pursue Peterson, pending a Nevada hearing on whether to strip Peterson of his IBF title due to recent positive drug test results.

Judah recently signed with Floyd Mayweather's new promotional company, TMT (The Money Team), after his promotional contract with Kathy Duva's Main Events ran out.

If Judah can't land a fight with Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KO) as a result of him being stripped, he'll face the next highest-ranked contender in the undefeated Mike Alvarado (33-0, 23 KO) for the vacant IBF title.

50 Cent, Mayweather's best friend and co-owner of TMT, has already received his promoter's license in New York.

With Judah being a popular Brooklyn native, TMT could have Judah headline a fight card at the new Barclay's Center in Brooklyn for his world championship title match.

For more news and analysis, follow me on Twitter @justindavidtate.

Some of you have already heard that July 14, 2012 should have a very controversial fight in store for all boxing fans.

The David Haye (25-2, 23 KOs) vs. Dereck Chisora (15-3, 9 KOs) bout is being pushed forward, with a date and venue already booked. It seems that on the same night, and in the same arena, Alexander Povetkin (24-0, 16 KOs) will be challenged by his mandatory Hasim Rahman (50-7-2, 41 KOs).

While I don’t believe that this fight would turn out to be a blockbuster event worldwide, the recent drama between Haye and Chisora is bound to bring in decent viewing numbers. As far as July goes, this was going to be the biggest boxing event of the month.

That was until the news of a potential fight between Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Zab Judah had surfaced. Not only is this fight being seriously considered, but it is being planned for the very same day that Haye vs. Chisora is slated to take place.

In a recent interview with ESPN, Judah spoke up about his prospective bout against Marquez:

"It's a fight I have campaigned for. This is a fight I wanted a couple of years ago, and I still want it. I want him. He fought Floyd Mayweather and never touched him and he got dropped. I can do that, too. It's a fight that makes sense. Marquez wants a fourth fight with Manny Pacquiao. I want a fight with Manny Pacquiao, too. The winner should get Pacquiao."

If this fight truly comes to fruition, it will not only steal the thunder from any other boxing event of the summer, including Pacquiao vs. Bradley, but may turn out to be one for books. Both fighters have very fitting styles for a fight packed with action. Both Judah and Marquez are experienced boxers with respectable speed and skills.

I can see their fight turning out to be a real war in the ring, with numerous exchanges and lightning-fast combinations. Personally, I would have no problem ordering this fight as a PPV event, and I am picky about what I pay for.

Picking a winner of the fight, if it ever happens, should be challenging for anyone. I think that it will be a close fight, but in the end, Marquez’s unparalleled ability to counter-punch will win him the fight.

Judah is fast and will undoubtedly leave marks on Marquez, but he may start to slow down and get discouraged after being hit back every time he throws.

Would a winner deserve a fight against Pacquiao? If the Mayweather Jr. fight doesn’t materialize, I would say yes, the winner of that fight would be a good option for Pacquiao’s next fight.

It has barely been a month since Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1 39 KOs) beat Serhiy Fedchenko (30-2 13 KOs) in Mexico City. Marquez was coming off of a controversial loss to Manny Pacquiao (54-3-2 38 KOs) and was looking to get back onto his feet by putting on an impressive show for his fans in Mexico by fighting in Mexico City for the first time in almost 18 years.

Marquez is still angry over the fact that he believes that he defeated Pacquiao again, but wasn't able to win on the scorecards as Pacquiao took a majority decision. He's now pursuing a fourth matchup against Pacquiao to prove that he can officially prove he's better than Pacquiao by putting the W on his record.

Plans were to have Marquez fight one more time in July before deciding whether he'll be given an opportunity to face Pacquiao yet again in the fall, given Pacquiao wins his upcoming fight with undefeated Timothy Bradley (28-0 12 KOs).

Talks were that Marquez wanted to face a southpaw to help prepare him for Pacquiao, just like when Marquez fought Likar Ramos before he faced Pacquiao last year.

Names being tossed around as possible opponents early on were undefeated Mercito Gesta (25-0 13 KOs) and world title challenger Paul McCloskey (23-1 12 KOs). Brandon Rios was considered at one point to be an opponent, but Marquez reportedly wasn't interested in fighting Rios.

Earlier today, Steve Kim tweeted that Arum is going to make the announcement for Marquez's next fight this Monday and there's a possibility it may be Zab Judah (42-7 29 KOs).

"Steve Kim ‏ @stevemaxboxing
Bob Arum says JM Marquez announcement on who he faces next will be made on Monday. My money( which I have zero) is on Brandon Rios #boxing"

"Steve Kim ‏ @stevemaxboxing
Ok, new name thats been mentioned to face JM Marquez on July 14th.... Zab Judah.....Couple of solid sources have told me tha"

Chris Mannix from has also tweeted that talks between the two promoters are actually getting serious.

"Chris Mannix ‏ @ChrisMannixSI
"Hearing Main Events and Top Rank are having serious talks about a Zab Judah-Juan Manuel Marquez showdown in July"

Now, this is just Twitter banter, but we'll find out if all of this is true this coming Monday. It seems likely, though, that this fight may happen as Judah is a southpaw, quick and experienced. With a win over him, any resume would look good. 

This is an intriguing matchup and would be better than a matchup with Gesta or McCloskey. Zab has fought better competition, is better known and looked fantastic in his last fight against former undefeated prospect Vernon Paris.

Do I think he'll win?

No, but he'll put on a better show than the other opposition that was rumored to be in the running. 

Some random thoughts from a slightly disappointing weekend of boxing:

Vic Drakulich absolutely has one of the coolest names in the sport. He's also got great hair. As a referee, he ranks somewhere beneath Kenny Bayless and Steve Smoger but still well above Arthur Mercante Jr.

If Junior had been on watch Saturday night, you can be sure even more ridiculousness would have ensued on the low-blow psuedo-controversy, "Come on champ, shake it off. All right, I'm gonna allow Zab to continue, even though he was down for the count...shake it off guys, we're family."

HBO broadcasts are approximately 6.4 times as entertaining with Larry Merchant and Roy Jones in the booth. Not necessarily better but Kellerman and Steward aren't firing memorable one-liners left and right like Merch-dogg and RJJ.

Amir Khan looked a lot better than he did against hapless Paul McCloskey in April. He brought the A-game on saturday night and this looked like a mismatch about 90 seconds into the opening round.

Even when Zab was doing a decent job ducking and dodging, Khan was still bullying him around the ring with a healthy size advantage and superior speed.

I think Khan's a clear favorite should Timothy Bradley ever decide to go slumming and try to fight someone who's not miles out of his league.

Ran across a pugilist named Sid Razak on Box-Rec while scouring the resume of a fighter on the undercard of Khan-Judah. Boasting a record of six wins and 67 losses, Razak is the type of guy you'll stumble across occasionally while checking prospect's profiles.

The amazing thing, to me, is that for a guy clearly meant to be an easy "W" for fighters on the rise, a man with over 70 fights and a winning percentage under 10 percent, Razak had only been stopped in four of his 67 losses.

Which begs the question, is he a stepping stone with an unusually tough jaw or just the worst boxer ever? He's lost 63 decisions.

HBO needs to stop doing one-fight events. Let's check this year's one-and-out offerings: Bradley/Alexander, Haye/Klitschko and Khan/Judah.

The most scintillating thing that happened in any of those fights was David Haye's security guards tossing aside unruly fans during his ring-walk.

It's an omen. Stop doing one-fight events. There hasn't been a single one this year that didn't leave a bad taste in the mouth.

Orlando Salido successfully defended his featherweight strap that he won from Juan Manuel Lopez in April. The rematch now appears to be on the table for sometime in the fall.

The original rumblings were that Top Rank wanted to do an Arce-Vazquez Jr. rematch on the same night. That would obviously be awesome.

If not, I've got Salido-Lopez II in my three most anticipated fights this fall regardless, along with Guerrero-Maidana and Mayweather-Ortiz.

The first fight was one of the best fights of the year, overshadowed by the more knockdown-friendly and higher-profile Ortiz-Berto slug-fest the same night. If Lopez loses the rematch, it's a long way back to the top for a guy on the cusp of boxing super-stardom as recently as a few months ago.

On the under-card of Khan-Maidana last December, Lamont Peterson rallied from two knockdowns to salvage a draw with Victor Ortiz. Ortiz ended up getting a shot at Andre Berto, then-undefeated WBC welterweight champ.

Peterson first turned down a shot at Amir Khan, one that would have netted him several hundred thousand dollars (below market-value for a Khan opponent perhaps, but a lot more than he could make against any other possible foe). 

He finally signed on to fight Victor Cayo for well below that amount. And the fight has been delayed numerous times over multiple issues. Finally the two Junior-welterweight contenders will duke it out in what should be an above-average ESPN offering on Friday night. 

And Peterson will make a fraction of what Victor Ortiz will in his next fight.

Timothy Bradley says he's not interested in Amir Khan. Cool...I'm not really interested in Tim Bradley anymore to be completely honest. He seems like a great guy, a genuinely good person in a sport of rogues.

But he's completely removed himself from the mix in the most sizzling weight class in the sport at the worst possible time, with an abundance of great fights and worthy challengers looming. If he thinks he's done enough to earn a fight against Pacquiao, he is delusional.

On the other hand, if he had mentioned that his wife is due to deliver their first child any day, and that is why he wanted some time away from the sport, I would absolve him completely, but he has never indicated that to be the case.

Plain and simple, whatever was going on with his promotional issues, he ducked Khan on July 23rd. He let down HBO, and he let down whatever fans (and I considered myself one of them) that he had.

Amir Khan (26-1, 18 KOs) gave a great performance on Saturday, July 23rd, at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, knocking out Zab Judah (41-7, 28 KOs) in Round 5 with an uppercut to the belt line.

Whether the uppercut was a proper move or not (some believe the punch was really an unintentional low-blow), Judah was getting outclassed.

Khan's reach, mixed with his speed and blaze of activity, told the story of the fight. Judah's defensive mode couldn't block and avoid everything Khan was throwing.

Following the victory over Judah, I have contemplated who his next opponent will likely be. Only three choices seem obvious.

Among this three, there are also three categories the options fit into. Those categories: The Wanted, The Unwanted and The Acceptable.

The Wanted

Who we, the boxing fans, want to see Khan face is undefeated junior welterweight world champion Timothy Bradley (27-0, 11 KOs).

Between Khan and Bradley, the four major world titles at junior welterweight are evenly distributed. The titles patiently await to be claimed by one owner.

So far Bradley won't let that happen, as he is going through litigation with his former boxing promoter, Gary Shaw. On top of the promotional issues, Bradley has said to boxingscene that he wants "the bigger fish" Mayweather or Pacquiao next, because he's "paid his dues."

Khan's campaign to face boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather (41-0, 25 KOs) comes with a year of beating more respectable competition, whereas Bradley expects to fight Mayweather or pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao based off his current accomplishments and free-agent status.

Khan will likely have to look elsewhere for an opponent. As long as Bradley is chasing dream fights while running from promoters, he'll be unavailable to stand toe-to-toe in the ring with Khan.

The Unwanted

Erik Morales (51-7, 35 KOs) is the next option. Khan's trainer Freddie Roach had this to say to boxingscene about Morales:

"Erik Morales was game against Marcos Maidana...but there are better fights out there."

Morales is 34, 10 years Khan's senior. Morales has been through numerous wars in the ring. Some say he's past his competitive years, until he used his ring smarts to give 28-year-old Maidana (30-2, 27 KOs) a tough fight.

Morales lost a close decision but won over most of his critics with the brilliant performance.

However competitive Morales may be, his age will give the perception that Khan and his team are chasing oldies who are on their way out of the fight game. A young opponent will be vital to Khan.

The Acceptable

On August 27th, 2011, Maidana sets his eyes on 28-year-old Robert Guerrero (29-1-1, 18 KOs) in San Jose, California.

Khan already faced Maidana in last year's fight of the year. Now Guerrero has challenged Khan, and Maidana wants a rematch.

Whoever wins this match will be the most likely and realistic option.

The fight will be seen as competitive, almost guaranteeing blazing entertainment.

To reference the The Dark Knight, it may not be the junior welterweight clash we want, but it's the clash we deserve.

The boxing crowd is a fickle group. One can never quite be sure what will stoke their outrage and what might generate a strangely muted reaction. Alexander/Bradley elicited harsh critiques. Williams/Lara was deemed "the biggest robbery in years" by some, even respectable pundits not known for hyperbole.

Khan and Judah engage for five ho-hum rounds culminating with a bizarre knockout that was hard to even catch when it happened live. From one angle the punch looked low. Another confirmed that it was actually on the beltline, and likely connected to the lower abdominal region.

Either way, the whole affair was over before it ever had a chance to get interesting. And yet I heard very little criticism of Judah or the event itself. The consensus seemed to be: Amir Khan had a great night (which he did, clearly dominating the entire fight), now let's move on to the next one.

Everyone was so quick to condemn Likar Ramos' acting job...Did Khan's belt-shot really suck the wind out of Judah? More importantly, did that performance really prove anything about Khan that we didn't already know?

The size difference was glaring and Khan took full advantage. He bullied Judah around the ring and kept a comfortable distance most of the fight. But his opponent seemed more focused on ducking and dodging and hot-stepping than actually trying to mount an offensive attack of his own.

I was not terribly surprised by the way things played out. I couldn't believe the near-unanimous praise heaped on Judah for his knockout win over tough South African Kaizer Mabuza. I must have seen a different fight. Judah was just as apprehensive in the early rounds of that encounter, just as defensive-minded as under Pernell Whitaker's tutelage.

People wrote they expected Judah to go toe-to-toe with Khan, to test Khan's perceived fragile chin. Instead, Judah looked to move around the ring and counter, just like he did against Kaizer.

Judah-Mabuza was a fight that turned on one punch, not the boxing clinic/whitewashing so many scribes recorded it as. He ducked and dodged and was generally ineffective for six rounds until he landed a perfect blow that sent Mabuza flailing through the ropes. Against a boxer/puncher of Amir's class, the one-perfect-punch strategy was a desperate pipe dream.

As a fan viewing on television, this one-fight event (seriously, why does HBO do this? Almost any undercard is better than no undercard) was just as disappointing to me as Bradley/Alexander was. David Haye was derided and ridiculed for doing not much less than what Judah attempted to do. Alexander was crucified for seeming okay with the ref's decision to end a fight while his forehead was gashed from a headbutt.

Why isn't Zab Judah being taken to task for his "defense-first" strategy and his inability to pop up from what looked like a non-debilitating punch? What was going through his mind as Vic Drakulich uttered the count?

He claims he thought he was being given time to recover from a low blow. He also mentioned a standing eight-count. He also acknowledged he was "hurt" from a "hit to the balls." From the video replay, Judah would need to have a pretty extraordinary anatomical situation going on if that punch hit him where he said it did.

I suppose there's a silver lining to everything. At least he didn't pull the glove-choke move on Drakulich like he did to Jay Nady so many years ago when Kosta Tszyu knocked him out. Maybe old Zab's matured after all. And Amir Khan moves on to bigger and better things.

Amir Khan vs. Zab Judah promised so much, but like so many other big fights of recent years delivered very little.

Judah had only lost once before at this weight to the legendary Kostya Tszyu and although that was along time ago, the boxing world will always remember Judah's "chicken dance" that night as he got up and went down a second time from one big shot before attacking referee Jay Nady.

Last night's bout was terrible and Khan was clearly better than Judah expected.  Judah landed one semi-decent shot in the first which caused Khan to come into Judah forcing a (accidental) clash of heads and Judah was really effected by this.  He then used the rest of the fight looking at the ref for help and claiming foul.  

Southpaw Judah barely threw any left hands and after three rounds his mouth was wide open as he was clearly feeling the pace.  

Khan didn't even (need) to step into second gear and it was obvious when Amir landed the low blow that Zab saw an excuse to get out.  It was a low blow, there is little doubting that, however, it definitely seemed that it wasn't as low as his balls.

This was such a shame, I honestly thought it was going to be an exciting fight, but Judah showed a real lack of character, when the going got (slightly) tough he used an excuse to quit and get out of there.

After this performance, we must question if Zab was only in their for one last big pay-day.  He has taken a beat-down like a man before (vs. Cotto) but he clearly didn't want to be on the end of what was seemingly going to be a long and painful night.

Khan said afterwards that he didn't even feel like he had been in a fight, that was probably because he wasn't.  

So what's next for Khan?  I think he beats both Bradley and also Eric Morales at this stage in 'El Terribles" career.  

If Mayweather defeats Victor Ortiz as expected on Sept. 17, we could perhaps see a Freddie Roach fighter fight Money after all.  

So much trash talk has been said on the Amir Khan vs. Zab Judah fight taking shape in a few hours, but the two protagonists should know they both need each other to propel their respective boxing careers to greater heights.

A win by Amir Khan will increase his chance of facing unbeaten Floyd Mayweather possibly at the end of next year in Khan's home country.

A Mayweather vs. Khan fight will be a definite blockbuster and could be a record-breaker in terms of pay-per-view buys because of the expected support by millions of U.K. fans who will be rooting for their hometown boy.

At this early stage, Mayweather has already set the stage for the planned encounter with the British star and has even named Wembley Stadium as the possible venue.

Earlier, Mayweather invited British fight fans to his gym in Las Vegas to watch him train. This gesture from the unbeaten boxer signifies his desire to renew his ties with his British fans from way back when he fought the then British boxing icon Ricky Hatton.

"I have so much love for my fans in the U.K.," said Mayweather. "Ever since I fought Ricky Hatton in 2008, and then held an open workout in London in 2009, they have shown me nothing but support.

"I wanted to do something for them, and I hope they can attend my workout."

Mayweather is scheduled to face Victor Ortiz September 17 in what appears to be a tune up fight for the long-delayed Pacquiao vs. Mayweather match. But now it seems Mayweather is preparing for a date with Amir Khan.

Still, Khan must show an impressive win over Judah who Mayweather defeated in a brawl at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas in 2006.

A loss by Khan to Judah will most likely derail his plan to face Mayweather in front of his millions of adoring fans in his home country. 

On the other hand, a win by Judah will definitely boost his career in the next few years. The 33-year-old aging slugger from Brooklyn is on his fifth winning streak since he lost to Ghana's Joshua Clottey in 2008.