Zab Judah will return to the ring in September at 140 lbs after an almost 2 year layoff, which saw an out of sorts version of the former two weight world champ drop a wide points decision to fellow New Yorker Paulie Malignaggi in his last fight in December 2013.
Speaking to fighthype.com, Judah, who has inked a deal with Greg Cohen’s promotional outfit to co-promote his return alongside his own Super Judah Promotions firm, has addressed the Mayweather/Berto issue, insisting that whatever the result may be, Berto will grab the opportunity presented to him with both hands;
“It’s gonna be a bigger and more interesting fight than people think,” Judah said via fighthype.com, “You know he’s (Berto) from poverty, the kid understands his opportunity right now.”
“I’m pretty sure Berto gonna come in there and fight with all his heart. Can he beat Floyd? That’s another question, you know what I’m saying?” said Judah.
“Floyd right now is on another planet as far as what he’s doing in boxing and as far as the game and the sport of boxing, so you have to take your hat off to him and respect what he’s doing.”
Southpaw Judah enjoyed considerable early success against Floyd in 2006 before Mayweather adapted and overwhelmed him – thus resulting in the now infamous riot after Floyd was hit low in the 10th.
For his own part, Zab was reluctant to offer any kind of blueprint for the Virgil Hunter trained Berto to follow when asked, given his own (early) successes in the Floyd fight, including an unofficial “knockdown.”
“I don’t really care to lay out my blueprint (for Berto) ’cause if I’m so called the only guy who did what I did to Floyd – you know what I mean? – Let it stand like that then!
“Let him go out on top and say that Zab was the only one who came close, I love it!”
After calm was restored for the last 2 rounds, Judah went on to lose to Mayweather by UD scores of 109-119, 112-116 and 111-117.
Twitter @Undilutedpoison
