Can Zab Judah Break Danny Garcia?

If there is one word to describe Zab “Super” Judah, it would be underachiever.

Once again as his next fight approaches, Judah is saying all the right things. He has prepared for the fight since November when the fight was scheduled for January against current champion Danny Garcia, stating how Brooklyn is his home and he is bringing the title back to BK and that he is “back”, while that same tune was sang before he fought Amir Khan, it only ended in the stoppage Judah.

There is no denying; Judah’s skill set is second to none. He has speed, power and great boxing technique. He also is an underachieving headcase. While he has nice wins over guys such as DeMarcus Corley, a rematch win over Cory Spinks and a gift against Lucas Matthysse, he has come short far more often in big fights. Mayweather, Clottey, Cotto,Khan, Spinks, Carlos Baldomir and let’s not forget the best knockdown of all Kostya Tszyu. All these guys have broken down the Brooklyn native.

While some were to be expected, losing to Baldomir and Joshua Clottey were a bit more surprising. Yet, for every bad loss he has had, his name is still in the mix for big fights. His loss to Baldomir did little to deter Mayweather to pick him as his opponent, a solid win over top prospect Vernon Paris and Judah now is facing Garcia. This may also be a testament to Garcia, as he has faced faded Erik Morales in a rematch and now Judah since his surprising win over Amir Khan. None less, Judah is a fighter that keeps getting big breaks.

Sadly, Judah has a bigger bark than an actual bite and this is come to be expected from the former title holder these days.

This is not to say Judah isn’t a good fighter, he may be the best underachieving champion fight fans have seen in a while. He should get a nod for being a great showman, he gets the fans hyped for his fights and his fight this upcoming weekend is no different.

Since the beginning of the agreed fight both Judah and Garcia (Father specifically) have engaged in some great heated banter. Both sides have made bold predictions about the fight and come this Saturday, one of the men will be right but personally I wouldn’t put my backing behind Judah.

Team Garcia and his manager know what they were doing when they chose Judah as an opponent. While Judah is dangerous the danger is minimal and Garcia at this point of his career is far more mentally ready for the 3 round onslaughts Judah will bring, after that, don’t be surprised if Garcia stops Judah.

And then…

I had the privilege of attending the Canelo-Trout fight live and while I already wrote about the fight, I also had the opportunity to re-watch the fight. The one thing that became apparent to me was Canelo’s tactics that night felt like an interview for a possible fight with Mayweather. I mentioned this with a fellow boxing writer during the fight and I think there was more to than adjusting to Trout’s fighting style.

Also, I would like to mention the disappointment of the pro Canelo crowd booing Trout and his wife. On twitter someone also mentioned that the crowd booed during the national anthem, while they did boo, I know for certain it was not because of the National Anthem but no matter the reason, booing a fighter’s family is disrespectful. The open scoring system that was used for the fight simply sucks. What is the benefit? You want to change the scoring, great but open scoring needs work. Perhaps only show the score after the 6th and that is it perhaps that may make for more urgency second half of some fights.