By Lem Satterfield
BoxingScene.com caught up to newly crowned southpaw, IBF junior welterweight titlist, Zab Judah, who is being trained by southpaw, former four-division world champion, Pernell Whitaker.
Last Saturday night, at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., Judah earned his fifth straight victory and the IBF's vacant junior welterweight title with a seventh-round knockout of South Africa's Kaizer Mabuza to improve to 41-6 with his 28th career knockout.
The 31-year-old Mabuza (23-7-3, 14 KOs) had won eight straight times, with six of them being by knockout, including February's sixth-round stoppage of Kendall Holt (26-4, 14 KOs), the man against whom WBO and WBC king Tim Bradley (27-0, 11 KOs) had to rise from the canvas to dethrone as WBO champ in April of 2009.
A former Brooklyn resident now living in Las Vegas, and former holder of the WBA, WBC and IBF welterweight belts, as well as a former IBF and WBO junior welterweight champion, Judah's last loss was to ex-welterweight titlist Joshua Clottey in August of 2008.
Judah now wants to pursue a title bout opposite Mexico's WBO and WBA lightweight king Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5-1, 38 KOs).
Prior to facing Mabuza, Judah had to rise from a 10th-round knockodown to grind out November's split-decision over 28-year-old Lucas Matthysse (28-1, 26 KOs) of Argentina.
The 33-year-old Judah is the elderstatesman in boxing's most youth full and talented weight class, one that includes Bradley and 24-year-old WBA titlist Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KOs), as well as southpaw, 23-year-old Devon Alexander (21-1, 13 KOs), Januarys' unanimous decision loser to Bradley.
Khan is coming off of December's unanimous decision victory over hard-punching, former WBA interim champion Marcos Rene Maidana (29-2, 27 KOs) of Argentina, whom Khan dropped with a pair of first-round body shots.
Prior to facing Judah, Matthysse had scored four straight knockouts, including a February, 2010, fourth-round knockout of ex-titlist Vivian Harris (29-5-1, 19 KOs). After losing to Judah, Matthysse earned January's eighth-round knockout of ex-champion, DeMarcus Corley (37-16-1, 22 KOs), scoring eight knockdowns in the process.
Corley had gone the distance in August's toe-to-toe, unanimous decision loss to Maidana, who had dropped Corley in the eighth round.
On the Khan-Maidana under card, rising southpaw junior welterweight Victor Ortiz (28-2-2, 22 KOs), of Oxnard, Calif., battled to a 10-round, majority draw with Lamont Peterson (28-1-1, 14 KOs) of Washington, D.C.
Judah earned his first world championship in February of 2002, when he stopped Jan Piet Bergman in four rounds to win the vacant IBF junior welterweight title. Judah defended that crown five times before suffering his first career loss, being dethroned by Kostya Tszyu in November of 2001.
Judah rebounded with three straight wins at 140 pounds before rising to 147, where he lost a 12-round, unanimous decision to Cory Spinks. That clash of southpaw fighters occurred during April, 2004, as Judah was unsuccessful in his bid to earn Spinks' WBA, WBC and IBF welterweight belts.
But Judah's ensuing, four-straight victories included a February, 2005 rematch with Spinks, whom he dethroned with a ninth-round knockout in the latter's hometown of St. Louis.
Judah then lost three of his next four 147-pound bouts, respectively, to Carlos Baldomir, Floyd Mayweather, and, by 11th round knockout against Miguel Cotto, the latter in June of 2007.
BoxingScene.com: How gratifying are your consecutive wins over Lucass Matthysse and now Kaizer Mabuza?
Zab Judah: They were totally two seperate fight, two separate game plans, and, two separate things. I focused in on both of them.
I willed and allowed myself to go in there and just focus on each fighter, individually. I allowed myself to put 100 percent focus on each man and I was able to handle it. I felt great afterward.
BoxingScene.com: Do you feel vindicated that you had said that Lucas Matthysse was a great fighter, and that your victory over him would be more appreciated after the next fight that he fought, which, as you know, was the knockout of DeMarcus Corley?
Zab Judah: I knew that Matthysse was a hard punching fighter, and that in the future, people would have to start to respect his power.
And he's a good fighter. I mean, when you can go in there and you see him just start knocking guys out, you know, I just want to get a little bit of credit.
You know? I mean, just a little bit for beating him.
BoxingScene.com: How about with this fight, considering that Kaizer Mabuza destroyed Kendall Holt, who had given so much trouble to Tim Bradley?
Zab Judah: I wanted to win this fight impressively. My whole game plan and my whole training camp, I kept telling everybody, you know, that I wanted to not just win this fight, but to do it in spectacular fashion.
I figured that just a regular win, you know, people would just look at it like, 'Okay, you know, he won. Okay, cool, we expected that.'
But when you come in there and dominate, then they're going to be like, 'Yo, that was the Zab that we wanted to see.'
You know what I'm saying? And I came in there and I made my point.
BoxingScene.com: Can you discuss the sequence with which you finished off Kaizer Mabuza?
Zab Judah: Kaizer Mabuza is right hander who went left hander on me and he tried to switch back to right hander. But he got caught in a twist, trying to twist me up and stumble me up.
I caught him in a twist. I got him with the left hand and stopped him. But I am a seasoned, solid veteran who has been in with a lot of solid fighters.
I've been in there with the best today. And the best is yet to come. I've been good to boxing and boxing's been good to me. My message to everybody is to keep the Lord Jesaus Christ first and all things are possible.
BoxingScene.com: Can you discuss the trainer-fighter relationship between you and Pernell Whitaker, in addition to the fact that you are both southpaws?
Zab Judah: Having Pernell in my corner is a great thing, man, you know, Pernell is a great champion who brings into my training camp his great experiences.
He's a legendary fighter with legendary experiences and now that's in my training camp. He's a funny guy with a great sense of humor, and I learn a lot from him.
With that being said, you guys can see the difference and the change in my boxing abilities and my stratgies. You know, having Jesus Christ and Pernell Whitaker on my team, you know, makes Zab Judah unbeatable again.
BoxingScene.com: Can you discuss the similarities between your style and that of Pernell Whitakers?
Zab Judah: I've been watching Pernell Whitaker for a long time. You know, I've been watching Pernell Whitaker since I was coming up as a young kid.
It was a dream come true for me at the age of 15 to work with him, and now, at the age of 33, to be back working with him and winning my fifth world title and my first with Pernell Whitaker is a great accomplishment.
It was great for me, to help him, as a trainer, to get his first world championship as a trainer. I'm happy that it was myself. It's like having your first girlfriend, you never forget her.
BoxingScene.com: Can you talk about the next man you would like to face?
Zab Judah: Marquez, Marquez, Marquez, Marquez, Marquez. I'm putting together a team right now. When you see me, you're going to see Team Marquez.
We're campaigning for Marquez-Judah. I think it's a great fight. I think that Marquez brings a lot to the table. I think of him as a fighter, with all of the great accomplishments that he's done in the sport of boxing.
The kind of person that he is in boxing, for me to have the opportunity to go up against him head-to-head, I think that would be great.
I don't want anybody to take this as a sign of disrepect. I have a lot of respect for Juan Manuel Marquez. I think that he's a great fighter and I respect everything that he's done in the game of boxing.
And this is why I would like to have my first, junior welterweight title defense against Juan Manuel Marquez?
BoxingScene.com: Why do you believe that Juan Manuel Marquez would bring out the best in you?
Zab Judah: I think that just because of the type of fighter he is. He's a rugged fighter. He's tough. He represents the Mexican legacy and heritage.
Like I said, I love the Mexicans. He loves his country. He loves to win. We would go in there and we would make a great fight.
It might be a fight like Pernell Whitaker-Julio Cesar Chavez. But having Pernell in my corner, that would be a great event. I think that we could put together a great strategy.
I think that there would be a lot of similarities in the fight to the whole Whitaker-Chavez fight. It would be great.
BoxingScene.com: But would this one end in a draw like Whitaker-Chavez?
Zab Judah: Ssssshhhh! Don't tell nobody.
BoxingScene.com: What are your thoughts on Bernard Hopkins' assertion that top notch African American fighters such as yourself, Floyd Maywather or Shane Mosley would give Manny Pacquiao problems?
Zab Judah: You know, Manny Pacquiao has his own problems right now. He's got his hands full with having to fight Sugar Shane Mosley. I have a lot of respect for Manny Pacquiao. I love the Filipino people.
I have an assistant trainer, Morris East, in my corner and he's an ex-junior welterweight world champion. He's from the Philippines. I have a lot of respect for the Filipino culture, and I think that a fight between Manny Pacquio and Zab Judah would be a great fight.
But like I said, he's got his own problems with Shane Mosley, and I have a lot of respect for Manny Pacquiao, and I like him. But I am going to go for Shane to win. I just think that Shane is the bigger guy, and he's knocked out guys three times Manny Pacquiao's size, and he should be able to go in there and get the job done.
Which, I'm all for the the whole Napoleon thing, you know? As a young kid growing up coming out of Brooklyn, I always had the Napoleon complex. I didn't like anybody that was taller than me or who stood over 5-foot-10. You were too big and you looked hard to me.
Because I was a small guy. I was always the little guy. That's why I got into a whole lot of street fights. So all of my brothers will tell you that 'Zab is kind of crazy' because he always would start fights with the biggest guy in the building.
Why? Because I just didn't like big people. I like the little people. The big people looked wierd to me. Now, Shane Mosley is big. But I also think that Mosley has a lot of experience. Nevertheless, it's going to be a great fight because Manny Pacquiao always comes in 100 percent ready to fight.
But for some reason, I'm leaning toward Shane on this one.
BoxingScene.com: Have you ever envisioned how a fight would go betweeen you and Manny Pacquiao?
Zab Judah: I don't envision that. I just envision trying to live right, and whatever comes, in the sport of boxing, it comes. There's not anything personal here. It's all a sport. I don't want anybody to take it like I have a personal vendetta against them or anything.
Not even for Juan Manuel Marquez. I think that for right now, in my career, and at this point in his career, it would be a great match up. But at the end of the day, I love all of these guys. And I wish all of these guys well, whatever they do.