By Sammy Rozenberg (photo by Richie Maldonado)

 

The stage had been set, Zab Judah (35-3, 25KO) was on course for a high stakes showdown with pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather, Jr. The buzz surrounding the bout had been building for the last twelve months. Two men who were once close friends - now enemies, were going to settle the feud on the tentative date of April 8.

 

Forget Mayweather, Judah was unable to get past fringe contender Carlos Baldomir (41-9-6, 12 KO). Baldomir is now the newly crowned WBC welterweight champion. Because Baldomir did not pay the sanctioning fees to the WBA and the IBF, both of those belts are now vacant.

 

Since his unanimous decision loss to Cory Spinks in 2004, Judah has sharpened his skills and turned his career completely around. The pinnacle for his career was gaining revenge when he stopped Cory Spinks in their 2005 rematch to become the undisputed welterweight champion.

 

Judah's bout against Carlos Baldomir was such a mismatch to casinos that there were no betting lines on the fight in Las Vegas. Instead, Baldomir fought like the favorite and landed his right hand that changed the entire fight in the seventh round as he caught Judah cold. The remaining rounds were all Baldomir as Judah barely threw any punches - occasionally landing a meaningful combination. The scores were 115-113, 114-113 and 115-112 - all for Baldomir.

 

The maturity of Judah has been showcased inside and outside of the ring for the last couple of months. The in-ring clowning of Zab has been missing from his last couple of performances, but he brought them back against Baldomir. He gave Baldomir a bodyshot prior to the start of the fight and was warned several times during the fight for roughhouse tactics.

 

The major weakness of Judah is not taking lesser opponents seriously and is showed. Mike Marley, the advisor of Carlos Baldomir, said that there was no rematch clause and there will not be a rematch.

 

"No, I will not give him a rematch." said Baldomir

 

On the undercard, IBF champion O'Neil Bell (26-1-1, 24 KO) became the first unified cruiserweight champion since Evander Holyfield unified the division 17 years ago, when he stopped WBA/WBC champion Jean-Marc Mormeck (31-3, 21 KO) in the tenth round.

 

The action packed bout which could be an early candidate for fight of year was off to a quick pace from the very first round. Mormeck used his strength advantage to pound out an early lead in the first five rounds. Around the sixth round, it appeared that Mormeck was physically spent and Bell would begin to turn the tide of the fight.

 

In the seventh round, Mormeck was rocked by a right hand and would be fighting against the ropes for most of the remaining rounds. In the tenth and final round, a combination of punches to the head sent Mormeck crashing to the canvas. As Mormeck was laid out on the mat, the referee immediately waived off the right and called in the ring physician to check on Mormeck.

 

"I'll give Mormeck a rematch, I'll move up to heavyweight...whatever," said Bell. "He stood up to two big right hands, but I got stronger as the fight went on. He never hurt me, I got caught with a good bodyshot, but was able to play it off. "

 

Don King, Bell's promoter, said that Bell's next bout will against number one contender Steve Cunningham.