Why was Zab Judah a 3-1 favorite against Tszyu?

True, Zab was the up and comer who had just turned 24 at the time of the fight; Tszyu was 32, but was accomplished. Is this a case of hindsight now that Judah's career is in its twilight or was the 3-1 odds in Judah's favor merited?

 

a lot of people went with his speed after seeing how mayweather jr destroyed corrales in what was a pickum fight earlier that year. 4 different fighters.

 

Not only that, but Tszyu got hit quite a bit in the first fight with Mitchell, and struggled with Oktay Urkal. The general feeling was that Tszyu was on the decline, and that it would be Zab's break out performance.

Zab deserves credit though. For a guy who's brain never matched his talent, he's still managed to have himself a pretty good career. Unified welter champ, two time jnr welter champ.... beat some decent fighters, but lost to the true elites(not counting Bumlomir). He never lived up his hype, but he also wasnt the fraud that many thought he was after the Tszyu loss.

 

I thought he was a 2-1 favorite.

Anyway, the other thing not mentioned yet is the Max factor. Kellerman was licking Zab's butt crack at every opportunity at that time.

 

Because people are fucking thick.

Thats why Judah was a 3-1 fave, and thats also why Tito was a 3-1 fave over Hopkins.

 

Why was Buster Douglas a 60-1 (or was it 90-1) Underdog vs. Tyson???...U Can Basically Look Back & Second Guess ANY Fight where the OVERdog LOST....



REED:dunno:

 

Because he was BK's finest

 

(42-1 i think)

That's quite an extreme example though. Even though i know who won the fight i'd still make Tyson the favorite. ::

 

Tsyzu, like most EuroScrubs, had that "he lost once, he'll lose again, the bum" aura about him. People allow guys like Max Kellerman to influence them, throw in the fact that Tsyzu had fought and "looked bad against" Urkal, whereas Zab had blown away Allan Vester on the one occasion the public got to see both men in action in the same time-frame......throw in that people are thick and fall for all that "winner takes all" BS that Judah was spouting.....:: and you have the makings of a 3-1 "I waddinthurtyo" upset.

 

Because Kellerman said he moved like Whitaker and hit like Tyson.

 

What were people supposed to think?
-I mean, he lost to Vince Phillips.

 

Tszyu had recently struggled with Sharmba Mitchell. Judah was undefeated and lightening fast. I thought Judah was going to win also. I predicted a Judah KO in 8 rounds.

boy was I wrong.....

 

The weird thing is, I remember him being heavily hyped around the way (and especially on Hot 97, who dogged the hell outta him afterward), but also knew of more people rooting for him than actually believing he was going to win on the level of being a 3-1 (or even 2-1) favorite.

The Urkal fight certainly helped detract from Tszyu's chances going in, but not to where I remember him being an underdog like that.

 

for a few reasons:

1. Judah hadn't fought anyone by the time he faced Tszyu; he was over-rated due to typically good management and cable TV backing

2. Tszyu had a loss on his record, and was therefore written off by ignorant fans in search of undefeated super-heros.

3. Stereotyping that presumes that if a fighter has fast hands, can knock out sub-par competition, and is African American, that he must be great

4. General underrating of Tszyu mostly due to ignorance at the time surrounding his subtle and finely honed skills

 

Except that Showtime televised that fight and their past several prior to

 

Not really surprising he was the favourite seeing as Tszyu is a total scrub.

If Zab had a better chin Tszyu would have got VINCE'D.

 

:kidcool::kidcool:

 

wow. were you wrong. And Tszyu hardly struggled with Mitchell by the way. Mitchell brought out the stink. The stink didn't work. So he quit.

 

what's this mean? if you took the time to read my post and response, i'd be interested to know what you thought. and call me thick, but two dudes with afros simply doesn't tell me the story.

 

He's agreeing with you. i know Irish well enough to know that anyone that offers a post that makes an African American look bad or overrated while making a fighter of European decent look good...is a cool guy in his books.

The AFRO smilies is to say that he thinks that you're spot on.

 

i have to admit i was a believer in judah.... i thought he was going to be the next superstar. i hated the guy, and still do (less now that he has been humbled a few times) but i thought he was going to be top notch.

regardless - i thought tszyu-judah was the definition of a pick 'em fight. the only reason i didn't bet on tszyu at those odds is because i thought very highly of judah... and as a result i didn't bet either way. phew

 

Judah could've, should've beaten Tszyu. He was just too stupid.

 

I think a lot of people thought that Judah's being a southpaw and quite fast would give Tszyu problems... Its hardly a wild proposition

I dont recall any Tszyu fans predicting "KO2"

 

people taking flash over substance...personally i saw that Judah was a sloppy fraud

 

it's all hindsight anyway...it's pretty crazy that Forrest was a 7-1 underdog against Mosley
and Wright an underdog against Mosley too

 

It means I am cool with you. I agree with what you wrote.

 

Americans love to discard & downplay foreign fighters.

 

The post didn't make Judah look bad. Tszyu did. And his father was from that bastion of Europe that is Korea ::

I rage against cuntishness. It was cuntishness that made Judah a 3-1 favourite.

 

LMAO! You mean from Star & Buckwild?