Zab Judah

When Bob Arum mentioned junior welterweight (140 lbs.) champs Timothy Bradley and Zab Judah as alternatives to Juan Manuel Marquez as Manny Pacquiao's next opponent, many likely balked at the possibility either American would replace Mexican legend Marquez.

Now it seems likely that those who balked were right; Juan Manuel Marquez is VERY close to a deal with Manny Pacquiao.

What Marquez has over the other two choices of opponent is a history with Manny Pacquiao.

The Mexican legend fought two very close fights with Manny Pacquiao, one in 2004 ending in a draw and one in 2008 ending in a split decision in Pacquiao's favor.

Marquez plans to close this trilogy on November 2011 thanks in part to the excitement of the first two matches.

Pacquiao has become the biggest active fight-seller in the business, but most fights still need a reason for people to buy them.

Fights are like movies, they need a plot people care about to insure great success.

Pacquiao's fight with Oscar De La Hoya sold 1.25 million pay-per-views because of it's a tale of a rising star (Pacquiao) vs a falling one (De La Hoya).

Pacquiao faced Margarito last year and sold 1.15 million pay-per-views because it's a tale of good (Pacquiao) vs evil (Margarito) after Margarito was busted with tainted fists (plaster in his gloves) in a prior match.

The last time Pacquiao fought a match with no plot (Ghana-born fighter Joshua Clottey), he garnered only 700,000 pay-per-views, which is impressive yet pales in comparison to his other million-selling blockbusters.

After Marquez, Pacquiao will still need a new opponent, win or lose.

Timothy Bradley and Zab Judah could be those opponents and I've outlined three ways on how to do so.

Beat Khan

One way of securing a match with Pacquiao is through Amir Khan. Khan is said to be a great friend of Pacquiao even going so far as to say he'd never fight him despite how lucrative the match would be.

Khan and Pacquiao are also trained by Freddie Roach. The legendary trainer is against pitting his fighters against each other.

Bradley or Judah would not only raise their stock value as boxers, but a pay-per-view selling revenge story would be birthed from Khan's defeat.

Pacquiao would be seen as fighting to avenge his friend/sparring partner Khan's loss (obviously the more brutal the loss, the better the revenge story).

Bradley or Judah would play the formidable villain should either man bring down "King" Khan.

Fight Each Other

Bradley and Judah could do wonders just by fighting each other.

Legendary boxer and a minority partner with Golden Boy promotions Bernard Hopkins challenged Manny Pacquiao's record by saying he's never faced the slick boxing style of a black American fighter.

What Hopkins meant was that Pacquiao has never faced a Sugar Ray Leonard or Muhammad Ali or Roy Jones Jr.

Sugar Shane Mosley fits the description, but was 39 and obviously on the downside of his career when Pacquiao faced him.

Though Judah and Bradley are not on the level of Ali or Leonard, they are much younger and much faster opponents than Mosley, making them much livelier underdogs than the 39-year-old.

The winner of a Judah vs Bradley match would then become the definitive slick black American fighter in Floyd Mayweather's absence.

Sign with Top Rank

Bradley appears in recent news to be looking to leave current promoter Gary Shaw and join a new promotional outfit.

Top Rank is in the business of scooping up fighters as evidenced by their recent signing of Kermit Cintron formerly exclusively signed to DiBella Entertainment.

Top Rank has made the likes of Shane Mosley and Juan Manuel Marquez leave the highly regarded team of Golden Boy to come make money with them.

Who's to say Bradley or Judah are any different?

Judah may have sympathies toward current promoter Kathy Duva thanks to her being responsible for the resurrection of his career, but Bradley appears to have no love for his current promoter Gary Shaw.

All it takes is the right whisper in his ear provided by Top Rank CEO Bob Arum and friends and Bradley may sign the dotted line to be facing Pacquiao as a Top Rank fighter.

Is It Inevitable?

No man knows what the future holds, but Bradley and Judah have their futures in the palm of their hands.

If they want this fight, there are ways of getting it done.

Without everyone's favorite undefeated fighter Mayweather, Pacquiao's going to go to one of them as his next opponent after facing Juan Manuel Marquez.

Zab Judah (41-6, 28 KO's), holder of the IBF junior welterweight (140 lbs.) world title, challenged Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5-1, 38 KO's), the No. 1 fighter at lightweight (135 lbs.), to a match this summer.

Marquez appears interested, likely to get a chance to become the first Mexican-born fighter to win world titles in four weight divisions. Marquez has already won titles in three.

Judah is fast and smart. Marquez is tough and smart. Either man could go down if they slip up too much against the other.

Now that an official date is being explored for July 30 or August 6, according to queensberry-rules.com, one must think of the many possible outcomes of this match.

One obvious outcome is Marquez's victory and another is Judah vanquishing Marquez.

Marquez has wanted a third and final fight against Manny Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KO's) for a long time to close their well-documented epic series of close fights.

Unfortunately, Marquez fights under the Golden Boy promotional banner and Pacquiao fights under their much-hated rival, Top Rank.

The two refuse to work peacefully together.

As long as those sides feud, Pacquiao and Marquez can't ever come together. Being that Marquez is 37 years old, there's not a whole lot of time to mend a feud that spans many years.

Now, if Judah can pull off a victory, his promoter can be quite agreeable to land a match with Pacquiao.

Kathy Duva, the CEO of Main Events, has a track record for pulling off great negotiations.

Judah is a perfect bad guy for a good documentary fight promo.

Even if he is not as villainous as welterweight bad boy Floyd Mayweather, he is still a controversial and sometimes unpredictable character.

Judah has great speed, decent power and is the same age as Pacquiao, 32.

These things will leave the audience wondering whether Judah could beat Pacquiao, especially if Judah beats Marquez in a fantastic fashion.

Judah is a great boxer with amazing ability that some have compared over the years to Mayweather (41-0, 25 KO's).

Mayweather has been hard to negotiate with, and if he continues to be challenging, a fight against Judah may be the best option.

Most other fighters are either too old (Shane Mosley), too inexperienced (Andre Berto) or too big (Sergio Martinez)

Judah is just the right size, age and experience level to be considered a fair opponent for Pacquiao.

So if he pulls off the upset, would you like Zab "Super" Judah to face Manny "Pac-Man" Pacquiao?

Today, Gilroy's champ Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero (29-1-1, 18 KO) fought a terrific battle against Australia's Michael Katsidis (27-4, 22 KO) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The atmosphere was great; this was a fight that kept the fans blood pumping.
Guerrero looked sharp, quick and showed a lot of movement. Although Guerrero pull off the victory by unanimous decision, Katsidis made it a great fight.

The Australian beast kept coming forward and landed some great explosive body shots and powerful hooks. Michael Katsidis showed that he has a tremendous heart and is willing to fight until the fight fans are satisfied.

Robert Guerrero has been calling out Juan Manuel Marquez, but he hasn't had the chance to step in the ring with this tough Mexican warrior yet. Whether boxing fans recognize the name "Robert Guerrero" in the sport of boxing or not, Guerrero deserves a shot at the winner of Marquez-Judah.

It's quite surreal how Guerrero keeps improving and no one seems to notice it. I've always stated that Guerrero is something special and is extremely dedicated and motivated. Every time I see him fight, he improves something and gets better. 

Juan Manuel Marquez is a tough Mexican fighter who is willing to do whatever it takes to end up on top. Marquez defeated Katsidis last November by TKO victory and showed that he still has a lot left for those who want to come and try to conquer him.

However, Marquez's opponent—Zab "Super" Judah, who's coming off a TKO victory over Kaizer Mabuza—is no joke. Zab has amazing speed and throws great powerful combinations. Judah's fighting style will make the fight interesting for Marquez. It will be a great experiment for both warriors.

Guerrero deserves the winner of Marquez-Judah. The Ghost will make any fight interesting. He could be fighting a defensive fighter and could still make the fight explode to get the fans excited. When fans hear the name Robert Guerrero, they should expect fireworks.

If Robert Guerrero doesn't get the winner of Marquez-Judah, he should try to fight Brandon Rios, another strong and hungry fighter.

Fight fans, if you didn't witness this great battle, you should consider watching the replay or perhaps try to follow other great fighters with a great future like Robert Guerrero.

Bleacher Report, boxing fans, everyday readers: its been a while since I have been on here, I have been a bit busy. I apologize. But I am here to give you all a bit of good and breaking news.

As some of my old Bleacher pals know, I live in Las Vegas and frequently I come across and speak to some of yesterday's and today's great boxers.

This past Tuesday night, I was at Munchbar—a little sports bar and restaurant inside of Caesars Palace—and wouldn't you know it, Zab 'Super' Judah was sitting right next to me. So being the boxing fan and aficionado that I am, I sparked a conversation with the current IBF junior welterweight champion.

Judah (41-6, 28 KO) told me he plans on fighting Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5, 38 KO) at 140 pounds in July 2011. My first initial thought... amazing!

Since his one year layoff from 2008-2009, Judah is 4-0 with three knockouts. Granted his level of competition hasn't been the greatest, but what do you expect? Prior to his layoff he had four losses and one NC within a two year span.

I have always been a fan of Zab Judah and I am glad to see he has humbled himself and hasn't taken his talents for granted lately. He's rededicated himself to the sport, training hard, gave up on the partying and brought in one of the greatest defenseman of all-time to his corner, Pernell Whitaker.

Zab told me, he feels "great" and "loves to train." He elaborated, saying the paper work and details to the Marquez fight are in negotiations at the moment. His ultimate goal, Manny Pacquiao.

Judah stated, that he wants to own the Jr. Welterweight division and it begins with JMM. Marquez has only fought above 140 once, and it was a loss to Floyd Mayweather.

There are current fighters in the division that Zab Judah could also fight: Amir Khan, Devon Alexander and Timothy Bradley. But it seems he is gunning for the bigger names and with his experience and history, if he continues to win, I guess he has the right to go after those big names.

If Judah is victorious over Marquez and the potential mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao continue to be put on hold, he wants to fight Manny Pacquiao at the end of the year. Wouldn't that be great?

Now, let's not jump ahead, a victory over Juan Manuel is no easy task. The 37 year old Mexican champion is one of the best boxers out there with one of the best counter attacks. And if Judah wants to beat him, it will take solid training, good defense and of course his lightning speed and power. Basically a perfect and effective fight plan. 

If this fight comes to fruition officially, it will be one that I believe many fans would look forward too. This writer would pay to watch it, that's for sure. What do you guys think of this fight?

In the mean time, be on the look out for this story to break, via ESPN or any other boxing media outlet.

... but remember where you heard it first.

"Super" Zab Judah has just won his IBF light welterweight belt (140 lbs.) and already wants a tough defense. In an article by boxingscene.com, Judah mentioned that he is interested in fighting Juan Manuel Marquez and believes he would knock him out.

"I'm telling you, he can't deal with me at 140 pounds. Did you see how Floyd Mayweather dropped him...I promise you, I would knock Marquez out," boasted Judah.

Judah (41-6, 28 KOs, 2 NC) won his IBF title by stopping Kaizer Mabuza (23-7-3, 14 KOs) in round seven.

Marquez (52-5-1, 38 KOs) has won titles in three weight divisions, currently holding multiple world titles in the lightweight (135 lbs.) division.

Marquez has stated his desire to become the first Mexican-born fighter to win world championships in four weight classes. Judah represents Marquez's best chance of snatching a world title in that fourth weight class.

On the other hand, even more than winning titles in four weight divisions, Marquez wants a third match with Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao and Marquez went life-and-death in two highly controversially close matches.

The first ended in a draw. The second ended in a split decision victory to Pacquiao who moved up in weight and moved on from Marquez.

Marquez believes he can still beat Pacquiao and would love to collect a career-high payday against the popular fighter. Fighting Judah may help his case for a Pacquiao fight if he wins, but may also destroy his chances should an upset occur.

Bob Arum has recently stated that he'd like Pacquiao to fight Marquez this fall if Floyd Mayweather is not available for a much anticipated fight.

Marquez also currently has promotional problems that may prevent or at least place a fight with Judah or anyone else on hold.

Judah's promoter, Kathy Duva, according to fighthyppe.com, had this to say on the matter: "Marquez clearly has to sort out his promotional situation, but when he does, we will be happy to offer the fight to whoever he decides he'd like us to offer it to."

With the rest of the 140-pound division such as Timothy Bradley, Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana busy with other fights, Juan Manuel Marquez is likely the biggest fight possible for Judah if his team can sign it.

Zab Judah won the vacant IBF junior welterweight (140 lbs) world title by stopping hard-hitting South African Kaizer Mabuza in Round 7. Judah (41-6, 28 KO's) has recently been on a warpath to redemption in the division that made him a star.

Judah recently moved down from the welterweight (147 lbs) division to reclaim the type of performances he was originally praised for. Of his six career losses, four of them occurred at the welterweight level.

His win over Mabuza is his third straight win since returning to the junior welterweight division last year. Judah credits Jesus and new trainer legendary boxer Pernell Whitaker.

According to Yahoo! Sports, Judah said “I promised Jesus I would not mess around and I delivered on that promise.”

About his opponent and gameplan, Judah had this to say, “Mabuza was a tough guy. I don’t want to disrespect him at all. I could have gotten wild a little sooner and really gotten after him, but I told Pernell I would go to the eighth with my jab, stay composed and use my jab to open up my offense.”

Judah's win was not without its adversity, though. In the final minute of the fourth round, Mabuza hit Judah with a right that stumbled Judah, prompting the referee to give Judah a standing eight count. Judah frowned and threw his hands in the air, showing some of the temper tantrums that plagued his career lows.

Though the knockdown disappointed him, he bounced back with a strong concentrated showing, instead of the much uglier displays of anger he's made in the past. One of the more famous examples was during his 2006 fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

When it appeared Mayweather had finally figured out Judah and was en route to another victory, Judah low-blowed Mayweather and punched him in the back of the head. This caused an ugly riot which resulted in multiple fines and fight bans.

The new Judah seems to deal better with frustration and appears to better execute gameplans. If this continues to be proved true, the 33-year-old newly crowned world champion still has a few great fights left in him.

Slowly but surely, the amount of boxers who call Manny Pacquiao (52-3-2) a cheater in one way or another are adding up. His remarkable fairytale-like victories are beginning to appear fictional. While personally I don’t subscribe to badmouthing Manny Pacquiao for his vigorous training regime and unbelievable dedication, I do see what the naysayers are pointing at.

Generally, there are two theories going around amongst those who believe Pacquiao is being falsely portrayed. One theory was proposed and spread via Roger Mayweather, somehow assuming that Pacquiao was using performance enhancing drugs to enhance his career. Another, newer theory going around lately is that maybe his fights are fixed. To this writer, both are simply absurd.

Recently, Zab Judah (40-6-0), a professional world class boxer, came out with some accusations. “I’ve been watching the Pacquiao showdowns and, you know, I think a lot of them were staged," commented Judah. I think that an in-shape and well trained Shane Mosley should knock Pacquiao out.” (Link).

Despite being careful in what Judah was proposing to the public, his message is very direct. Judah tried to avoid sounding rash and malicious, but ultimately he was taking some victories away from Pacquaio with mere personal speculation.

Interestingly, Judah makes a lot of sense in his statement. Say what you want, but when talking about some of their common competition, Judah made some interesting points which deserve discussion.

For instance, Judah discusses the difference between the way Joshua Clottey (35-4-0) and Antonio Margarito (38-7-0) usually behave in the ring and the obvious change in their performance and spirit when facing Pacquiao. Most of us would respond by saying that Pacquiao is a different class of opposition, with a tremendous punch volume and sensational power.

When those attributes are paired with Pacquiao’s awe-inspiring speed, he becomes the ultimate weapon in the ring. Simply outclassing his opposition, it’s possible that Pacquiao never even gave them a chance.

On the other hand, both Clottey and Margarito have been said to be able take a serious punch and give one back. They are both naturally bigger than Pacquiao and have traded with many good fighters before. So why is it that they remained motionless against Pacman? In spite of how Judah saw Margarito’s performance against Pacquaio, it was more than ‘nothing.’ As a matter of fact, Pacquiao was not without blemishes, stating that Margarito landed some shots that really hurt him in their fight.

But what about all of Pacquiao’s previous fights? Why are those who tend to lean towards the negative explanations of Pacquiao’s success forgetting to look at his earlier boxing career? It is essential to review Pacquiao’s rise to the top from early on, where he without a doubt showed everything that makes a champion.

Having said that, is Zab Judah right about concluding that Shane Mosley (46-6-1), being the seasoned warrior that he is, should be able to knock Pacquiao out without too much trouble?

I find it extremely difficult to call this fight. I certainly want to give Mosley the benefit of the doubt, and I don’t see this fight as being an easy one for Pacquiao. In fact, I expect this matchup to be easily one of the toughest fights in Pacquiao’s career. Mosley will fight when needed and will take angles when boxing calls for it.

I can see Pacquiao having some trouble with Mosley’s ability to keep Pacquiao at a distance with his jab and excellent back movement. There is certainly a chance that Mosley nabs the Pacman with something solid and sends him to the floor, something that is exceptionally awkward to imagine.

My above mentioned fight prediction seems fairly confident, so you may ask why I "complained" about this fight being hard to call. Mosley’s fight against Mayweather Jr. was too one sided. Mosley won only one round against Mayweather Jr. and struggled to make anything happen in the remainder of their bout. How will that Shane Mosley survive Manny Pacquiao?

I am afraid that if Mosley comes in trying to fight, the world will witness a legend fall, and even worse, get seriously hurt. Mosley’s best chance is to stick to something he has been perfecting for decades—boxing. Technical by-the-book strategic boxing of Shane Mosley may very well make the difference and give Manny Pacquiao and coach Roach serious trouble.

Will Zab Judah be right this time, calling a fall to a living legend in Manny Pacquiao via a knockout? Freddie Roach has a completely different plan, hoping to knock Shane Mosley out, in hoped of enticing Mayweather Jr. to make their mega-fight with Pacquiao finally come to fruition (Link).

I always tend to listen to boxers who have seniority in the ring, as their time in the ring along with their experienced eye for boxing, is always of value when analyzing fights.

May 7, 2011, MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas will once again be swarming with Filipino merchandise draped over thousands of people, supporting their idol and countryman Manny Pacquiao. This should be a great fight, and is not to be missed!

Former IBF and WBO junior welterweight champion Zab Judah claims Floyd Mayweather, Jr. told him he is done with boxing, Judah said in a recent interview for On the Ropes Boxing Radio.

When asked if he believes Mayweather will return to the ring given his recent trouble outside the ring, Judah replied:

"That’s funny. I had seen Floyd yesterday and asked, Are you going to get back in there?’ Mayweather told me he’s finished. He said he was just going to chill. He’s thinking about taking a two-year break and I mean listen. The man worked hard for a long time. He maintained an undefeated record and he maintained a great position in the game of boxing."

He continued, "Well I look at that like, ‘Listen champ, you’re going to lay off and I’m going to pick up’ and that’s it. He’s going to fall back. We’re going to pick up the marbles and keep it moving. That’s it.”

Zab Judah, who was recently mentioned as possible opponent of Filipino boxing star Manny Pacquiao, was asked how he would fare against the pound-for pound king should there be a matchup between the two:

“I don’t know. It would be an interesting fight because we’re both left-handed. But after Kaizer Mabuza I can make more elaborations on that because my style right now is not focused on left-handers. My style is focused on fighting right-handers, coming forward, throwing a lot of punches, and working his butt off. So that’s the kind of style I’m working on breaking down right now.”

From all indications, Mayweather is indeed considering a career-switch as he has recently partnered with his friend and rapper 50 Cent in a movie production venture.

In a recent interview at the Utah Sundance Film Festival Mayweather said, "We're going to do what we normally do: sit in a room and brainstorm and try to come up with new ideas ... you know, outside the box. Be creative and just work together and try to be positive. That's the main thing. It's about working hard, being positive and working together."

"I won’t be able to rap forever,” 50 Cent said during a press conference Saturday.

"And I won’t be able to box forever,” added Floyd Mayweather.

These quotes from 50 Cent and Mayweather indicate the two entertainment and sport celebrities may indeed be considering career switches soon.

It is interesting to note though that Mayweather has been talking lately about his long overdue fight with Pacquiao, focusing his thoughts on the random drug testing controversy which according to him, was the reason why the fight did not happen.

In an interview with Ben Thompson of Fytehype a few days ago, Mayweather said: "The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight didn't get made because Manny Pacquiao said he wanted two weeks of non-testing. The last two weeks leading up until the fight, he didn't want to take the test, so that's why the fight didn't happen".

"Everything they asked, I agreed and what I asked of them, they didn't agree", he added.

Still, Pacquiao's camp maintains it is not the real reason why the last negotiations fell through as they originally agreed on a 14-day window for the tests.

The real reason they said was Mayweather's passive role during the second negotiations as he later admitted there was never a negotiation to speak of in the first place.

Mayweather claimed Bob Arum never tried to reach out with Al Haymon who he said was the right person to deal with.

It may be recalled that Oscar de la Hoya, head of Golden Boy Promotions, announced during the second round of negotiations that the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight was nearly a done-deal with a few more minor details left to be resolved.

Mayweather would later go on to say that there was no negotiations at all, effectively contradicting de la Hoya's pronouncements on the status of the second round of talks.

From these claims and counterclaims it now appears Mayweather is just trying to find a way to make a graceful exit from the sport that made him a millionaire many times over.