By Cliff Rold

One is a fighter who, despite exceptional achievement, can be seen by some as having fallen short of his potential.  The other exceeded what anyone expected, if only for a night.  Both will enter the ring Friday at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, two wins removed from their most recent defeats and their careers colliding at a similar point of desperation.

It has the ingredients of quality theatre, but the play is the thing.  It won’t be known until the first act begins at the opening bell just how well Zab Judah and Jose Armando Santa Cruz play together.  It is a significant crossroads battle between a man who was king and a man who should have been. 

Of the two ESPN2 headliners, Judah (38-6, 26 KO) is easily the more renowned.  For him, Friday will be a bit like coming home in a televised sense.  After a surprising upset exit from the 1996 U.S. Olympic trials, Judah would develop into a late 90’s staple of ESPN broadcasts, wins over the likes of Mickey Ward building the ledger of a fighter some billed as “Pernell Whitaker with power.”

Judah had the speed, power, flair, and New York roots which screamed future superstar.  Stardom was found but superstardom eluded Judah.  He has been, for the most part, a co-star. Instead of the main attraction, Judah will be remembered most as one of the marquees win on the ledgers of Kostya Tszyu, Miguel Cotto, and Floyd Mayweather.

That can’t be all he is remembered as.  For at least one night, Judah got it all right. 

A narrow 2004 loss to then-Welterweight champion Cory Spinks, which saw both men on the deck, led to a rematch in February 2005.  On Spinks turf, in front of a wild St. Louis crowd, Judah delivered the most complete performance of his career.  He dominated the night, finishing Spinks in round nine and seizing the storied honors at 147 lbs.

Much has been written over the years about Judah’s temper, maturity, and focus.  However, none of those things can be written without the acknowledgement “former Undisputed Welterweight Champion of the World.”  Many a fine fighter has fallen short of such accolades.  Judah is not one of them and if he fell short of what other deigned he could achieve, it is only fair to cite how much he did.

Judah’s failings cannot be ignored despite that reign.  After a fairly easy defense, and with a Mayweather title defense in the offing, Judah blew it in January 2006, losing his crown to a man whose talent was less than his own.  Carlos Baldomir took his title (if not his Mayweather date), the beginning of a run four wins, four losses and a no contest.

Baldomir should be a source of inspiration for Judah’s opponent this Friday. 

Santa Cruz (28-4, 17 KO), three years younger than Judah at 29, knows what it is like to defeat the reigning World Champion of his class.  That he does not know what it feels like to be the king is no fault of his own.

In November 2007, on the undercard of Miguel Cotto-Shane Mosley, Santa Cruz scored a flash knockdown early and outhustled then-lineal World Lightweight champion Joel Casamayor for most of twelve full rounds.  It was a feel-good story in the ring for a blue collar guy and one of the better upsets of the decade right up until the reading of the scores. 

Santa Cruz left the ring being told he was a split decision loser.

It was as egregious a call as any in recent memory.

Santa Cruz might not have been a champion for long, but he should have been for a night, should have known what it was like to leave the ring with the elation of victory and enter, at least once, as the last man into the ring.  Since the Casamayor bout, he has gone 3-1, stopped in six against his only notable foe, Antonio Pitalua.

Santa Cruz is a significant step in Judah’s stated intention to work back to the Jr. Welterweight division where he began his career.  Judah is a significant step in Santa Cruz getting anywhere at all. 

Anyone who follows boxing right now knows how good, how deep, Jr. Welterweight is at the moment.  It’s not an easy field to navigate and even the winner on Friday will have difficulty squeezing into the mix.  Judah would have the easier time, his name value providing an economic incentive for titlists like Amir Khan, Timothy Bradley, and Devon Alexander to test the veteran.  A defeat though would erode an already questionable standing and make Judah a hard sell to major networks.

Santa Cruz is less attractive economically, anonymous outside ardent fight following circles and guaranteed little even with a victory.  That little is still far more than defeat could allow.  Based on athletic gifts, talent, experience, Santa Cruz is unlikely to find the little he needs Friday.

But the unlikely is not the impossible.  Two men with much to lose and the memory of pinnacles past can be quite dangerous to one another.  A former king and a man who almost owned a crown are paired off in a must-win scenario.

When the curtain draws Friday, for as long as it lasts, each man will need to deliver every line they have to be asked for the encores they desire. 

Weekly Ledger

But wait, there’s more…

Cliff’s Notes… Was Golden Boy even planning a show in New York in the next 90 days?...Kelly Pavlik as sacrificial lamb for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. would have seemed absurd even a year ago.  He’s good enough to make any such notion mince meat but at 160 after another long layoff, it could end up being the script…Martin Castillo would have run circles around Jorge Arce in 2004.  Today, who knows?...Chris John needs to start training in a plastic bubble or something...One week closer to the kick off of the unofficial Light Heavyweight final four.  Glen Johnson-Tavoris Cloud and Chad Dawson-Jean Pascal is as worth looking forward to as anything on the boxing calendar. 

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com