Love him or loath him, and I know what side most of us come down on there, that's two terrific wins on the bounce, and it's always seemed like 140 was his natural weight. Does he have any chance against Bradley Khan Maidana? And where does he fit with the guys below that in terms of his ranking, IYO Alexander Guzman McCloskey Peterson
i didnt see this saturdays win, but i hardly consider his previous fight as an impressive or terrific victory. bradley and maidana would surely thrash judah. he wouldnt see the final bell vs either
he looked shitty for the first 6 rounds, actually got tagged and briefly hurt in the round before the stoppage. he did catch the african pretty hard and had the dude out on his feet. that was supposedly his trainer's (whitaker)plan. i guess it's a decent win since he convincingly stopped a guy coming off an impressive, dominant win over kendall holt.
I don't think too highly of the 140 division. If Judah has anything left at all then he should at least be competitive with the likes of Bradley and Alexander each of whom are nothing special.
No question, Judah is a natural 140 pounder. He always seemed undersized at 147. Bradley, Maidana and Khan all beat him. Zab destroys the other 4. Alexander, Guzman and the others are very, very average.
Predictably he's not quite as fast as he was in his prime, but he is still VERY quick yes. He actually looked pretty good in this fight before the KO. Quick reactions, making Mabuza miss a lot, fast hands, decent footwork etc.
Zab is washed up, and despite this win would still lose to Khan, Bradley, Maidana, and Matthyse(in a rematch Lucas would stop him) at this point. HOWEVER.... based on styles I think even today's Zab might be able to beat Alexander the Fake.
Judah-Khan would be fun, if only for the early threat of a Zab KO & the joy of both of them getting punched in the face atone time.
I would have reservations about Mabuza's chin. Prime Judah cracked Tszyu pretty good and really didn't shake him too badly, Tszyu was not regarded as chinny but was not regarded as iron-jawed regardless. This Mabuza was tagged by one straight left and was basically out from the time of the punch landing. He had a look of the Roger Mayweathers about him- tall, skinny and vulnerable. That said Judah hails from an era that is far removed from the current one in terms of talent and depth. He is definitely still a live dog in this division and I wouldn't give him anything less than a 40% chance against any of the current titlists. I think he could beat Maidana on sheer Southpawness alone.
Yes- just like the shot he hit Tszyu with, to much less effect. I don't think Mabuza was all that. He is a member of that Sub-Species of fighter, physically well drilled, and up for it, but lacking in the real core talent needed to get the job done. Judah would have done a guy like that in under 4 rounds in his prime.
What was the ref thinking allowing Mabuza to continue? Mabuza was fucked up after that left shot landed. Mabuza was showing us some drunken silly dance . Judah looked good and showed great defense & reflexes.
You'd be a fool then. Alexander is the opitome of average at world level, and doesn't have the determination/ferocity/balls to make Judah fold.
alexander has better skills than judah, is fresher, and would beat him to the punch after the first 3 rounds.
Alexander doesn't have better skills. His boxing is pretty average. Judah is quick, accurate, unpredictable. Judah's weakness is chin and mentality. In most areas he's actually much better than Alexander. Alexander is obscenely overrated. I'm basically the only person on this forum that gave him 0.001% chance of beating Bradley.
alexander wouldve whipped that average argentine banger who nearly KO'd judah. judah doesnt have much left.
Judah looked impressive in spots but overall I didn't think he looked that good. I mean, it's a good win and all considering he's in this stage in his career and he has a major belt, but I wouldn't pick him over a Bradley or Maidana. Judah is live against Khan but I don't think I'd pick him to win. Judah seems patient to a fault and not active enough with his hands. This was the case before, usually after he got hurt and would go into a shell and look for one shot, but now he just seems to do this throughout the fight. He used a lot of movement yesterday with some jabs, showed nice defense in some sequences, but wasn't landing much of note for most of the fight. Still faster than most guys, has those beautiful left hand counters, but he's clearly declined. Still, I guess he's a player at 140 now with a major belt and some name value. In a world with one clear-cut champ, he's still a contender type in the division. I'm not big on 140 like many others seem to be. It's a fun division, but not because it's filled with top-notch talent. It's interesting because of parity, with the top fighters making for competitive bouts.
I think his best chance would be against Maidana. Old slugger/swarmer dynamic & all that - Maidana's there to be hit and hurt. It would have to be an early KO, if Maidana's still standing at the end of the 5th or 6th it's over. With Khan vs somebody with Judah's power anything can happen but I'd heavily favour Khan. Bradley would take his heart. Too much 1920's lookin' pencil mustachioed, pin striped man for le funky Chicken. I agree with Mex - I think Judah would have a very good shot against Alexander. 50/50 fight at worst.
:: No doubt about that at all. Zab has literally 0% chance against Bradley. I agree with Khan too. Obviously a LEGIT puncher's chance, anyone with power and fast hands does against Khan, but realistically Khan would probably win. Maidana? I would heavily favour Maidana. No doubt Judah would hurt him early, and there is a somewhat realistic chance of a KO, but I just think Marcos is so tough and determined, he would recover and grind Judah down and take him out late. His best shot is against Alexander no question. Anyone who confidently picks Alexander over Judah is still overrating him (yes I am looking at you SD), and really needs to watch his previous 2 fights again. He's simply not very good.
i gotta watch this fight i've read comments that Whitakers influence was apparent??? that cant be true
