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When Judah blew out Rivera (TKO3) on the undercard of Winky-Tito, I, like many others I'm sure, thought Rivera must be some bum that DK paid the sanctioning bodies to be the mandatory for one night.
I do recall, however, more than one boxing expert (and I won't name names just because I'm not sure who they were, frankly), that Rivera was a tough customer and Judah wouldn't walk right through him. Rivera had never been stopped before (and still hasn't since), so Judah would have his work cut out for him and he couldn't afford to just sleepwalk through it.
It was an impressive showing by Zab, and given how he usually fights to the level of his competition, I liked what I saw and I had high hopes for him. He knocked Rivera down twice in the first I believe and then once in the third before it was stopped. He was so much faster than Rivera it was unfair. People were talking about how he turned the corner after stopping Spinks in St.Louis and I started to buy into it after his win over Rivera--his credentials notwithstanding. Zab had his head screwed on straight and got down to business for once instead of messing around. In fact, from what I remember, Zab did not partake in any showboating or tomfoolery until the fight was over--the "he has finally matured" talk was all the rage.
In his next fight, Rivera was almost shut out by Mario Ramos of all people in a ten-round unanimous decision, but since then he beat Gilberto Reyes and Felix Flores, a couple of decent wins, and of course his last two fights were against the much-ballyhooed prospects Joel Julio and Andre Berto, both of whom he nearly stopped.
Zab, on the other hand, I think suffered from his next fight getting delayed a few times. His win over Judah was in February and his win over Rivera was in May. He was then scheduled to face his mandatory--some journeyman named Carlos Baldomir--in September, but the card the fight was going to be on (I think a DKP card in St Louis) was canceled. The fight didn't get a venue and date until January of 2006, a delay of 4+ months. Oh well, I'm not making excuses for Zab, it's just that he had the most momentum going in his career at that point and not staying in the ring on a consistent schedule may have allowed some bad habits (e.g., losing focus) to creep back in.
I do recall, however, more than one boxing expert (and I won't name names just because I'm not sure who they were, frankly), that Rivera was a tough customer and Judah wouldn't walk right through him. Rivera had never been stopped before (and still hasn't since), so Judah would have his work cut out for him and he couldn't afford to just sleepwalk through it.
It was an impressive showing by Zab, and given how he usually fights to the level of his competition, I liked what I saw and I had high hopes for him. He knocked Rivera down twice in the first I believe and then once in the third before it was stopped. He was so much faster than Rivera it was unfair. People were talking about how he turned the corner after stopping Spinks in St.Louis and I started to buy into it after his win over Rivera--his credentials notwithstanding. Zab had his head screwed on straight and got down to business for once instead of messing around. In fact, from what I remember, Zab did not partake in any showboating or tomfoolery until the fight was over--the "he has finally matured" talk was all the rage.
In his next fight, Rivera was almost shut out by Mario Ramos of all people in a ten-round unanimous decision, but since then he beat Gilberto Reyes and Felix Flores, a couple of decent wins, and of course his last two fights were against the much-ballyhooed prospects Joel Julio and Andre Berto, both of whom he nearly stopped.
Zab, on the other hand, I think suffered from his next fight getting delayed a few times. His win over Judah was in February and his win over Rivera was in May. He was then scheduled to face his mandatory--some journeyman named Carlos Baldomir--in September, but the card the fight was going to be on (I think a DKP card in St Louis) was canceled. The fight didn't get a venue and date until January of 2006, a delay of 4+ months. Oh well, I'm not making excuses for Zab, it's just that he had the most momentum going in his career at that point and not staying in the ring on a consistent schedule may have allowed some bad habits (e.g., losing focus) to creep back in.
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