by James Slater – According to a couple of sources, Zab “Super” Judah has been added to the huge Joe Calzaghe-Roy Jones Junior bill that takes place at the legendary Madison Square Garden on November 8th. It is not yet known who the 30-year-old former light-welterweight and welterweight world champion will face, but Judah’s addition to an already exciting-looking night of boxing is certainly a welcome one. According to BoxRec, Judah will engage in a 12-rounder down at light-welterweight.. It seems then, as though the Brooklyn man has taken heed of the advice his fans have been giving him with regards to dropping down in weight to 140-pounds.
Judah, never a big welterweight, saw the defeats begin to pile up as soon as he moved up from 140 to 147-pounds. In his very first bout at welterweight, against Cory Spinks in April of 2004, Zab was beaten over 12-rounds. He later avenged that loss and also collected and successfully defended the WBC, WBA and IBF welterweight titles, but overall Zab proved to be less effective at the higher weight. No, losses to men like Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto are nothing to suggest Judah was a poor welterweight, but a setback against the ordinary Carlos Baldomir and a loss to the much bigger Joshua Clottey made it seem a good move for the talented southpaw to shed three pounds or so and go back down to the weight class he ruled from early 2000 to late 2001.
Now it appears he has done so. And although he now has six losses on his record, four of them coming in his last seven outings, there is a good chance Judah can become a major factor at light-welterweight once again. We will know more when his November 8th opponent is named, but seeing as the bout is a scheduled 12-rounder it would seem logical to assume a decent, world class operator will be opposing him.
Zab will have done well getting back in the ring again before this year is out. It was only August when he lost, on a technical decision, to new IBF welterweight champion Clottey. Getting back in the ring just over three months on from a tough loss may be just the right thing for the 36-6(25) former champion. It certainly proves he is still hungry and as determined as ever. Not for this fighter was the option of a long, hideaway layoff chosen.
Good for him, I say. Let’s see if Judah can get on the road towards reclaiming what he once had down at 140-pounds. Who knows, maybe one day big fights with the likes of Kendall Holt, Timothy Bradley and maybe even the winner of the Ricky Hatton-Paulie Malignaggi bout could be on the cards for “Super” Judah!