(Zab Judah, seen here at the end of the 10th round against Edwin Vazquez) 07.09.07 – By Scott Frake: Former undisputed welterweight boxing champion Zab Judah (35-5, 25 KOs) outclassed Puerto Rican Edwin Vazquez (22-11-2, 8 KOs) on Friday night, defeating him by 10-round unanimous decision at the Hard Rock Casino, in Biloxi, Mississippi. The final judges’ scores were 100-90, 98-93 and 97-93, awarding the decision to Judah.
Judah received a cut over his left eye in the 4th round from a clash of heads. Around the same time, Judah, who had been tattooing Vazquez, 35, with big left hand shots, suddenly backed off and became more reserved for the next four rounds. After the fight, Judah stated that he had injured his left hand in the early rounds which prevented him from punching with power as the fight progressed.
In rounds one through four, Judah was effective at landing power shots and combinations, and showing the huge skill difference between him and Vazquez. Judah was able to catch Vazquez with huge uppercuts on a number of occasions and it looked as if it were only a matter of time before Judah stopped him. However, Judah was cut badly above the left eye in the 4th round after clashing heads with Vazquez. This was the second headbutt of the fight, with the first coming in the 2nd round, when Vazquez accidentally hit his head against Judah’s mouth. It also appeared that Judah hurt his left hand in the round while landing an especially hard straight left as Vazquez was attempting to come inside on him.
In the fifth and sixth rounds, Vazquez was much more active, landing combinations and jabs and generally outworking Judah. Though not known for having a lot of power, Vazquez showed that he has heavy hands as he hit Judah often during the two rounds.
Judah came on strong in the seventh and eighth rounds, landing a lot of jabs and occasional left hands. Judah spent much of the time trying to pot-shoting Vazquez, and making him look bad in the process. In his efforts to look good in the round, Judah often left himself open for right hands by Vazquez. However, Judah didn’t seem to mind, because he mainly playing off the ground who really enjoying his performance.
In the ninth round, Vazquez again outworked Judah, who looked like he was taking the round off, perhaps to rest his injured hand. Judah’s left eye was bleeding badly, causing him to occasionally dab at it with his glove. You could see that it was bothering him, but he remained focused on defending against incoming fire from Vazquez.
In the final round, Judah upped his pace, and opened up with blistering left hand bombs which backed up Vazquez much of the time. Forgetting about using his jab, Judah pummeled Vazquez with uppercuts and straight left hand, which had Vazquez looking like a punching bag. It was very impressive and had the Hard Rock crowd shouting approval. Instead of backing off and taking it easy, Judah fought hard until the end of the bout and showed a workmanlike performance. Overall, it was excellent performance by Judah, even though his swollen face suggested otherwise.
The final punch stats were Judah landing 149-454 punches thrown for 33% connect percentage, and Vazquez landing 118-420 for 28%.