By Paul Strauss: One of the most refreshing things occurring Friday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ was to hear Zab Judah say he was done with the “Bad Boy” image. He admittedly came to his senses and realized it was getting him no where. He now clearly understands he has responsibilities, and must face them with seriousness and determination. He describes his efforts as a new life, a new program, and his outstanding performance on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights lends credence to his words.
It’s refreshing to hear him say that not only has he returned to his natural weight class of 140lbs., but more importantly, that he is fighting with godspeed. He wasn’t talking about the speed of light, but rather the prosperous and successful journey he believes God has in store for him, because he has bade farewell to the unfavorable things of the past. He looks good too.. It’s not only that he obviously appears fit and in good shape, but it’s also the absence of all that hardware from his mouth. It is a definite improvement.
After watching how easily he handled Jose Armando Santa Cruz, one wonders if this Santa Cruz is the same fighter who gave Joel Casamayor such a hard time. Judah had no trouble at all. First, he established his jab, keeping Cruz in check. When Cruz attempted any aggression, Zab would quickly get out of range, or just step to the side, and land his counter shots.
Gradually, over the first couple of rounds, Zab sized up Cruz and timed his movements. Instead of continuing to step back or off to the side, he now started to step inside of Cruz’ wide looping punches, and let Cruz run into a few choice punches. Zab was inching closer to landing a sharp clean shot.
Specifically, Zab was able to turn Cruz’ attack against himself. Whenever Cruz would begin another one of his three or four punch assaults, Zab would rudely interrupt with a call for lights out. In the third round, Cruz started his usual wide, looping right hand, and Zab stepped inside of it and unloaded a beautiful left uppercut that pushed the off button on the point of Cruz’ chin. Cruz managed to haul himself to his feet, but the dimmer switch was still set on low voltage. Zab swooped in and landed a few more hard shots. Referee Benjy Estevez, Jr. pulled Super Zab away, letting him know Cruz had had enough. The official time was 2:33 of the third round. Zab is now looking for a big fight with someone like Bradley, Khan or Alexander. Any of the three would make for an exciting fight with the new and improved Super Zab.
Wouldn’t it be interesting if Jose Armando Santa Cruz met up with the newscaster from the show called “Married With Children”. Her name is Miranda Vera Cruz De La Hoya Cardinal (say it fast), and if she turned out to be one of those modern women who wanted to keep her maiden name and hyphenate……. well!
Enough of that. HBO has a good card Saturday night featuring Timothy Bradley vs. Luis Carlos Abregu, Alfredo Angulo vs Joachim Alchine. and Antonio DeMarco vs. Daniel Attah. It should be another good night for fight fans.