Pernell Whittaker made it Clear that he'd Like to Work w/Zab Judah N the Near Future... Could Sweet Pea Actually HELP Zab???...Is Zab a LOST Cause???...How would Yoel Feel about this???... REED:dunno:
he trains dorin spivey and calvin brock. spivey in his last fight, lost to a complete bum that he had previously KOed. whitaker's commitment appears to be inconsistent. he was supposed to work w/ judah before judah lost to baldomir, but when i talked to him AC during a gatti fight, he said he was only thinking about it. i heard he was supposed to train gatti for his upcoming fight, but it looks like that's not happening either. to my understanding, he shows up whenever he wants to does not fully commit.
As a famous trainer (wont say who :: )once said: [clears throat] 80-90% of it IS the boxer...the other 10% is his team. Zab is Zab. Plain and simple. You can't make a mediocre to good fighter into a great one. You have it or not. Zab is very good..but he's limited and always will be.
it's certainly an opportunity for Whitaker to distinguish himself as a trainer - if Zab wins even one fight under his tutelage it'll look as if he's a genius. Plus, you have to imagine Zab would have respect for Whitaker and take his instruction seriously. I really can't see how it would hurt unless Zab relies heavily on his father's presence for moral support - and even if that's the case, it doesn't appear his father gives him much of that either. but i guess it's plausible that as shaky as Zab is mentally now, he could be worse without his father. i don't know.
It's too late with Zab... I'm not sure Pea could help him even if it wasn't too late, but it matters little since Zab is headed down, and quickly.
Zab's one big win away from achieving his previous level of over-ratedness. All he needs now is a smart manager. There "are" good fighters at 147 that he could beat. At least ones that are "perceived" as being good. Or, he could take the Jermaine Taylor route and clean-up the 140 pounders moving up. For example, why not take on a guy like Branco? Or Gatti? Or Bazaan? Thing about Zab is, when he does win, he usually wins in spectacular fashion. And that accounts for his over-ratedness. So it shouldn't be too hard for him to rebuild himself if he just resigns himself to lower profile fights for the time being.
Too late to turn back the clock, but getting a new trainer is what Zab should have done a long time ago, right after the Tszyu fight. Zab was really managed poorly. He was NOWHERE NEAR being ready for Kostya Tszyu and since then, his career has been up and down. I would definitely like to see Zab change trainers and Pernell would not be a bad one for him since it would be somebody that Zab really respects. Plus Whitaker can actually give Zab some BOXING STRATEGY, unlike Yoel Judah who just throws punches in corner and yells his lungs out.
yeah, when it comes to Zab's dad, it's a definite case of him trying to live through his son. thing is, and i don't know this for sure because i don't know Zab personally, but i can imagine that he's not the easiest guy guy to train as far as holding his attention and getting him to do what you want him to do.
At this point for Zab, anything is worth a shot. If he got with Pea and beat up some B fighters en route to another title shot, it is definitely worth it.
Zab is too late to change now. Dude is almost 30. If someone had got hold of him when he was like 23-24 and tried to change him maybe he'd have improved, but probably not. Zab is just a mental midget.
