Zab Judah early fights

He looked great.

We now know he wasn't very strong, durable nor adaptable.

 

He was one of the my favorite up and comers at the time..speed to burn and had that swagger.

Never drank the next "Whitaker but with power" kool aid..but I expected big things of him..I don't think he has been that much of a disappointment post Tsyzu..his titlist days may not be over.

 

HE had the talent to be great but not the heart or intelligence. Still he became Lineal WW Champion and had something like 20 championship bouts, giving Mayweather 1 of his stiffest challenges. Judah if he threw enough leather could have beat Cotto too, whenever he threw he landed

 

I think one of the biggest things to hold him back was his father in the corner... Plus, obviously, he could use a big dose of resolve and some better whiskers...

Yeah, I was shocked at the Tzsyu KO, he had Kostya hurt early on with an uppercut... Then he got cute. Then he got knocked down twice from one punch...

 

If he took a knee and didn't try to look cool he would have rode that out. It had the makings of some fight

 

Though thats one of the sweetest knockouts I have ever seen in terms of satisfaction...Given the gravity of the fight and the way it had gone up until then Nady should have cut Judah a little more slack...and let it continue.

If it only took Kostya that long to land a half decent punch that had that kind of effect on Judah..he would have eventually got to him again but it would have been good to see how the rest of the fight panned out.

 

That's the thing; he was totally discombobulated from the punch... I think if he had a clear enough head, he would have taken a knee, and then who knows? Maybe he's fast and defensive enough to clear his head and then continue outspeeding and out landing him....

Maybe he gets caught again, maybe the next round, maybe later on. I tend to think at some point, he gets caught again. For a guy with that level of reflexes and defensive moves, when he gets it, he gets it good...

 

I remember that in the first rounds of the Cotto fight I was really thinking Judah was going to beat Cotto.....

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I mean, this is just as perfect a counter-punch with an uppercut can be....really nice....

 

Ive been around Judah in the gym. I never felt he was a welterweight. Hes a small guy and could have always stayed at junior welter and done well but he went for the big money fights at welterweight. Overall I think hes had a good career but he tanked a few fights and seemed to give up in the later rounds when fights got tough. I think he was a little weak mentally if wasnt front running, but for a guy his size he could crack. When he hit the heavy bag you turned around to watch him.

 

They were friends in the gym and Whitaker tried to mentor him coming out of the olympics. They even looked a bit alike but he was never a Whitaker.

 

Remind me again, who started that Whitaker with power crap?

I'm guessing it was some idiot like Max Kellerman, but I can't recall....

Judah to me is definitely a disappointment. I mean, he should never have lost to a Carlos Baldomir level fighter.

Heck, what am I talking about, he nearly lost to a 40 year old Rafael Pineda. If you ever wanted to teach a young fighter that you need more than speed, athleticism and power to succeed in this game, you could well show him those two fights...

 

More to his arrogance and lack of commitment than skillset. He clearly was in poor condition for Baldomir.

 

This. He did have the potential to be a champ an solid contender. That has what he has achieved. Anything more than that is completely out of the question due to his fallacies.

 

This he only went upto 147 because there were no money fights for him at 140, he could probably make 135 if he tried.

I think it's admirable he took 100k for the Spinks fight too

Against pure boxers I think Judah proved him worth. He beat Spinks and Witter while pushing Mayweather hard. He also held his own with Whitaker in sparring, actually didn't he get the better of that? Judah could have beaten pure boxers like Barney Ross and Loche due to his speed. Pressure could break him though but most pure boxers don't bring that

This is wrong, he proved his durability at WW taking on guys much bigger than him. He wasn't strong because he was in against guys who had 15lbs on him bar Mayweather

He did lack heart though to suck it up though, it's mental with Zab, in raw natural ability he's better than say Pacman