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There was a thread recently in NSB about Kostya Tszyu being overrated because some feel his best win was Zab Judah. It got me to thinking back and looking over some old Judah stuff and at what was probably his best fight and a very underrated fight at that.
He's such a strange guy and hard to rate properly. I think what happened is that because everyone thought him to be the next ATG and he showed such amazing skill and would often show skill of such a high level that his career overall was felt to be one of lost potential. However, because of that I think people have now started to greatly underrate what he did achieve and see him as something of a joke. Because of what he was meant to do, what he did do gets overlooked as nothing.
When you look at the period up until his loss to Baldomir at 29 and what was probably the end of his best years, he was better than everyone gives him any credit for now. He is thought to have been a fighter with no heart, mental strength or stamina after four/five rounds and yet up to this point in his career he had showed just those things in many of his fights.
His best wins over this time were against guys like: Micky Ward, Darryl Tyson, Junior Witter, Terron Millett, Jan Bergman, Reggie Green, Demarcus Corley, Omar Weis, Cosme Rivera, rafael Pineda and Cory Spinks. All of these guys were either champions or top ranked contenders.
During that time he was a three time world champion of two divisions, the Undisputed welterweight champion, made six defences of his IBF JWW title, won the WBO JWW off Corley and the Undisputed WW title off Spinks.
He had two losses during that decade. One to Tszyu and a close decision loss to Spinks in their first fight. However, what I really wanted to talk about was that of all the things people laugh about now with him, he showed during that time and people didn't really talk about them. He showed the ability to focus for twelve rounds and to keep his power and stamina well after the fourth round. His biggest flaw was his consistency and his wildness at times, and yet in his biggest fights he showed great defence, speed, power, skill, and he showed a number of times heart, power late in a fight and brilliant combination punching. I, like many, thought him to be pretty crap but going over his old fights really showed me something about him and what a great fighter he was for that time and why people thought him to be among the very best fighters in the sport in what was, at that time, considered the deepest division for talent.
So much has changed now and people look back on those times differently, but like now, 140 was considered the best division for talent and skill of young champs.
I think Judah's best fight is undoubtedly the Spinks rematch in which he showed heart, concentration and focus for the full fight, late fight stamina and power in what was really a very good, underrated fight. It's the only time Spinks has been knocked out and it was an exciting back and forth fight that was a real edge of your seat type showing.
It's no wonder people thought such high things of him when you look back at that fight because he really shows incredible speed and power the likes of which really are only seen in someone like Pac now. While his game dropped off dramatically since and during the Baldomir fight, he had shown the things in fights against excellent opponents and champions that people now think he never had.
Don't get me wrong though. I'm not saying he's some amazing, super Judah. What I am saying is that he has now become very overlooked for what he did achieve because of what people thought he should achieve.
Going back and listening to commentators talk about him and talking about that fight is very interesting. That Tszyu fight was a long time in the making and I had forgotten how big it was at the time. It was seen as the superfight of that period and was hugely hyped between what commentators referred to as a current legend in Tszyu and the makings of a future legend in IBF champ Judah in what was talked about as the best division in boxing.
Interesting insights into the recent past and what many people think of as something very different than what was thought at the time. Talked about in the same way Roy Jones was; a super slick defensive fighter with incredible reflexes, hard to hit with power and great boxing skills. Also interesting is hearing everyone talk about Tszyu as a speedster with great boxing skill, quick feet and combinations, head movement as well as the power. The people who watched boxing at this time remember that of course because that's how he was thought of up until around the times of the Judah fights and before because he had slowed significantly by then, but I always find it interesting to hear people talk of him as a plodder with no head movement or skill and just a plain slugger.
Anyway, watch Spinks/Judah II. Great, underrated fight between two of the best fighters of that period in a highly anticipated bout with a great crowd of nearly 25,000 people which in itself is amazing. Seeing Judah in his best fight back then really was something. The speed, skill and power were really something to behold. Those fights, though largely forgotten for what they were now, were major attractions/superfights (especially Judah/Tszyu) that equal the biggest fights that could be made today apart from Pac/Money.
He's such a strange guy and hard to rate properly. I think what happened is that because everyone thought him to be the next ATG and he showed such amazing skill and would often show skill of such a high level that his career overall was felt to be one of lost potential. However, because of that I think people have now started to greatly underrate what he did achieve and see him as something of a joke. Because of what he was meant to do, what he did do gets overlooked as nothing.
When you look at the period up until his loss to Baldomir at 29 and what was probably the end of his best years, he was better than everyone gives him any credit for now. He is thought to have been a fighter with no heart, mental strength or stamina after four/five rounds and yet up to this point in his career he had showed just those things in many of his fights.
His best wins over this time were against guys like: Micky Ward, Darryl Tyson, Junior Witter, Terron Millett, Jan Bergman, Reggie Green, Demarcus Corley, Omar Weis, Cosme Rivera, rafael Pineda and Cory Spinks. All of these guys were either champions or top ranked contenders.
During that time he was a three time world champion of two divisions, the Undisputed welterweight champion, made six defences of his IBF JWW title, won the WBO JWW off Corley and the Undisputed WW title off Spinks.
He had two losses during that decade. One to Tszyu and a close decision loss to Spinks in their first fight. However, what I really wanted to talk about was that of all the things people laugh about now with him, he showed during that time and people didn't really talk about them. He showed the ability to focus for twelve rounds and to keep his power and stamina well after the fourth round. His biggest flaw was his consistency and his wildness at times, and yet in his biggest fights he showed great defence, speed, power, skill, and he showed a number of times heart, power late in a fight and brilliant combination punching. I, like many, thought him to be pretty crap but going over his old fights really showed me something about him and what a great fighter he was for that time and why people thought him to be among the very best fighters in the sport in what was, at that time, considered the deepest division for talent.
So much has changed now and people look back on those times differently, but like now, 140 was considered the best division for talent and skill of young champs.
I think Judah's best fight is undoubtedly the Spinks rematch in which he showed heart, concentration and focus for the full fight, late fight stamina and power in what was really a very good, underrated fight. It's the only time Spinks has been knocked out and it was an exciting back and forth fight that was a real edge of your seat type showing.
It's no wonder people thought such high things of him when you look back at that fight because he really shows incredible speed and power the likes of which really are only seen in someone like Pac now. While his game dropped off dramatically since and during the Baldomir fight, he had shown the things in fights against excellent opponents and champions that people now think he never had.
Don't get me wrong though. I'm not saying he's some amazing, super Judah. What I am saying is that he has now become very overlooked for what he did achieve because of what people thought he should achieve.
Going back and listening to commentators talk about him and talking about that fight is very interesting. That Tszyu fight was a long time in the making and I had forgotten how big it was at the time. It was seen as the superfight of that period and was hugely hyped between what commentators referred to as a current legend in Tszyu and the makings of a future legend in IBF champ Judah in what was talked about as the best division in boxing.
Interesting insights into the recent past and what many people think of as something very different than what was thought at the time. Talked about in the same way Roy Jones was; a super slick defensive fighter with incredible reflexes, hard to hit with power and great boxing skills. Also interesting is hearing everyone talk about Tszyu as a speedster with great boxing skill, quick feet and combinations, head movement as well as the power. The people who watched boxing at this time remember that of course because that's how he was thought of up until around the times of the Judah fights and before because he had slowed significantly by then, but I always find it interesting to hear people talk of him as a plodder with no head movement or skill and just a plain slugger.
Anyway, watch Spinks/Judah II. Great, underrated fight between two of the best fighters of that period in a highly anticipated bout with a great crowd of nearly 25,000 people which in itself is amazing. Seeing Judah in his best fight back then really was something. The speed, skill and power were really something to behold. Those fights, though largely forgotten for what they were now, were major attractions/superfights (especially Judah/Tszyu) that equal the biggest fights that could be made today apart from Pac/Money.
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