Comments Thread For: After Close Call, Zab Judah Looks To The Future

[Spray_resistant]

It was a really close fight.

It was but with Zab's talent it shouldn't have been. Matthysse is just not very good and if Zab can't get by him in some kind of decisive manner I don't see him making much noise at 140 against the younger guys on top of the division now.

[SmoovSwan]

Zab won the fight, but barely

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Zab should fight Matthyse. Because Zab didn't win that fight. It was given to him by either corrrupt or biased judges.

I was at the fight and thought Zab won on points, but barely. Matthyse countered Zab, who was the aggressor for the first 8 rds. Zab was piling up the points with the Jab and for being aggressive, and Matthyse wasn't active enough.

If you want to blame anyone, blame Matthyse's corner for not telling him to pick up the pace early. If Matthyse would have been aggressive from the start he would have KOed Judah IMO.

[LAFIRPO]

Probably true. Matthyse should've been more aggresive early on. But the majority of the people who did see the fight agreed with me in that Matthyse deserved the win. I had Matthyse winning 7 rounds to 5.

Last 3 rounds were clearly for Matthyse.

Then I gave him the 3,4, 6, and 9. Matthyse outworked Judah in those rounds. Watch the fight again, and you'll see that Matthyse landed body shot after body shot. Body shots do count in professional boxing. It is part of the sport, and should win you rounds. Especially if the other opponent is not being very active, and the only offense he's bringing is a weak jab. Lets face it, Zab never had a great jab. And we can tell by looking at Matthyse's face after the fight, that those jabs did no damage at all. By contrast look at the body work that Matthyse did in those early rounds, and how it paid off.

Which punches were more efective?

The jab that did no damage, or the body punches that clearly slowed Judah down?

[rogdogx]

I think Bradley, Khan, Maidaina, & Ortiz would take Zab out. He has a stylistic chance with Devon but I ain't saying he would beat him. Zab ain't beating these guys but he can still win a vacant title against Mabuza, which will also be a tough fight but a fight I see him winning.

[rogdogx]

Probably true. Matthyse should've been more aggresive early on. But the majority of the people who did see the fight agreed with me in that Matthyse deserved the win. I had Matthyse winning 7 rounds to 5.

Last 3 rounds were clearly for Matthyse.

Then I gave him the 3,4, 6, and 9. Matthyse outworked Judah in those rounds. Watch the fight again, and you'll see that Matthyse landed body shot after body shot. Body shots do count in professional boxing. It is part of the sport, and should win you rounds. Especially if the other opponent is not being very active, and the only offense he's bringing is a weak jab. Lets face it, Zab never had a great jab. And we can tell by looking at Matthyse's face after the fight, that those jabs did no damage at all. By contrast look at the body work that Matthyse did in those early rounds, and how it paid off.

Which punches were more efective?

The jab that did no damage, or the body punches that clearly slowed Judah down?

Judges will tend to score head shots over body shots. Judah was landing that uppercut throughout the fight also. Matthyse has one hell of a chin & one hell of a punch. I think he earned fans that night even if the decision didn't go his way. I'd like to see him in there again.

[Mr. Ryan]

He didn't get pummeled in the first seven rounds, but he surely didn't put it on a vastly outclassed Mathysse. Composure and focus have always been his Achillise Heal, but it was his dynamic explosiveness that made us want to watch him. As a man he seems more calm now than he did a few years ago, but let's face it, he did nothing on Saturday to make me feel he beats any of the top 4 at JWW. I like Romebyko's thought of a Judah - Ortiz fight, but for entertainment's sake only. Bradley would preesure him into submission, and Kahn boxes his ears off. Even a raw Maidana would make Zab wilt. I think Zab lost his prime to a lack of professionalism and out of control life outside the ring. There's no way he climbs back to undistupted status, and that sux because there's nobody outside of Brooklyn that would want to see him on top again than me.

One thing Zab did right was not get out of his envelope. Sure, the crowd was booing to the point that I thought they were going to start raining down with bottles and debris, but he stuck to his game and kept his jab working.

Judah did squander the vast majority of his considerable talents, but I think he has a very good combination of talent and experience that he can give the top guns of the division a severe acid test.

And I'm not going to say yet that he can't beat some of them.

[STREET CLEANER]

It would be interesting to see Zab matched against any of the top 140. He is a good name to have in a resume. He is simply not active enough and loses concentration during the fight

[LAFIRPO]

Just because the judges didn't score the body punches doesn't mean it was the right call. One of the huge differences between amateur and professional boxing are body punches. Amateur boxing doesn't score body punches, professional fights do.

If that's the case, boxers should never attempt to throw body punches if ultimately it'll cost them the fight.

Also, how many clean punches did Judah land?

Watch the 3,4,6, and 9 round. How many clean punches were there? And how many shots were landed to the body by Matthyse in those rounds.

It's not rocket science. Judah didn't do enough to win those rounds.

This fight reminds me a little of the first Castillo-Mayweather fight. I thought Castillo did enough work to the body, and was busy enough to win a close decision against Mayweather. The judges, like in this case, gave it to the flashier, local fighter who seemed to have been outworked by a busier fighter in many rounds.

Ring generalship does not win you rounds, nor do a couple of "clean" shots. The guy who is doing more damage and landing more is the one who should win rounds.

Look at Matthyse's face. Not a scratch. Was he affected by any of Judah's punches? Not one.

Look at the payoff Matthyse got from the body punches.

Doesn't that tell you that the most effective puncher, who did more damage in those rounds, was Matthyse and not Judah?

[MarcianoFan]

did you actually watch the fight?


seriously did you?

what rounds did lucas win in the first 8?


name them and tell me why??


you cant, because he didnt

lucas is losing respect calling for a robbery when he didnt do shiiiiit for 8 rounds

You're the one who didn't watch the fight- you only watched Lederman's goofy-ass scorecard and listened to Roy Jones' admittedly rooting commentary. Let's see- Matthysse won rounds 2, 3, 4, 5 (maybe), 6, 7, and 8 (maybe). I gave him all of those rounds. Thought round 2 and 8 were close enough to go either way, and that 5 was a complete toss-up, but I had round 1 as a Judah round but thought it could have gone the other way as well. Why? Because Judah was landing defensive jabs with no leverage that weren't doing anything and was not initiating the exchanges, while Matthysse was landing solid power punches to the body, dictating the tempo and style of the fight, and acting as the aggressor. Judah won no rounds clearly, one on my card, three more without much argument from me, and one more (round 3) if you are really stretching. Best-case scenario for Judah with any kind of judging: 115-112 Matthysse. I'd have been slightly more comfortable with a shutout than with even that score, though.

[MarcianoFan]

Just because the judges didn't score the body punches doesn't mean it was the right call. One of the huge differences between amateur and professional boxing are body punches. Amateur boxing doesn't score body punches, professional fights do.

If that's the case, boxers should never attempt to throw body punches if ultimately it'll cost them the fight.

Also, how many clean punches did Judah land?

Watch the 3,4,6, and 9 round. How many clean punches were there? And how many shots were landed to the body by Matthyse in those rounds.

It's not rocket science. Judah didn't do enough to win those rounds.

This fight reminds me a little of the first Castillo-Mayweather fight. I thought Castillo did enough work to the body, and was busy enough to win a close decision against Mayweather. The judges, like in this case, gave it to the flashier, local fighter who seemed to have been outworked by a busier fighter in many rounds.

Ring generalship does not win you rounds, nor do a couple of "clean" shots. The guy who is doing more damage and landing more is the one who should win rounds.

Look at Matthyse's face. Not a scratch. Was he affected by any of Judah's punches? Not one.

Look at the payoff Matthyse got from the body punches.

Doesn't that tell you that the most effective puncher, who did more damage in those rounds, was Matthyse and not Judah?

Very well said. I go a step further, though. I agree with you that, for the reasons you stated, Matthysse won rounds 4, 6, and 9 beyond a reasonable doubt. I think he won 3 also by only a slightly lesser margin. I also thought he won 7 clearly, and that he won 2 and 8 narrowly. I gave him 5, but I damn near made it 10-10- edged it to Lucas based on effective aggressiveness and ring generalship, which were on his side in every round except maybe the first. I believe I can extrapolate from your message that you scored it 115-112 which I think is basically a fair score considering the fight was in Judah's back yard and the judges would naturally give him some close rounds that I gave Matthysse without their competence or honesty being called into question. I do think, however, that an equally fair score in Argentina would have been 120-107. I think a dead on neutral-site score would have been more on the order of 119-108 (my card) or 118-109. I'm not even sure I realized at the time just how much Matthysse was controlling the action or how much he was making the fight (what little there was at times). I came to my 119-108 based almost solely on the clean effective punching edge he clearly had over Judah in most rounds.