By Rick Reeno
Zab "Super" Judah gets what may be his final shot at glory as he takes on the undisputed welterweight champion Cory "Next Generation" Spinks. This is a rematch of their April 2004 encounter. Both men know that a victory in this fight will bring huge signature bout paydays. Both Sugar Shane Mosley and Oscar De La Hoya are coming back to the welterweight division, Kostya Tszyu and Floyd Mayweather Jr. may move up by the end of the year. The winner of this bout will have all the belts, meaning that all roads will lead to them.
Both men weighed in tonight under the welterweight limit. Spinks weighed 147, Judah weighed 146. Spinks was a slight underdog in the first fight, he is now a slight favorite in the rematch. The first bout was either close or a won by a wide margin depending on who you speak to. The two men exchanged knockdowns in the final two rounds, setting up the big rematch in the process. Spinks went down the harder of the two when he was dropped with very little time left in final round and almost put away for good.
Judah gave away too many early rounds in the last fight and this time he will need to start fast if he plans to beat Spinks. Spinks has the hometown advantage so it would be in the best interest of Zab to make it a slugfest. Zab should not let the fight go to the cards in the hometown of the champion. Zab is the stronger fighter and should test the chin of Spinks early. Spinks can win this fight by keeping Zab at a distance and avoiding any type of slugfest, Cory needs to keep it a boxing match. The last bout was scored 116-111, 114-112 and 114-112 in favor of Spinks.
Tonight's round by round coverage will be a bit different. As the rounds go on, you will get the scorecard numbers of myself, Dr. Peter Edwards and Sammy Rozenberg.
***Round By Round Coverage Has Started, Remember To Reload Often***
They just went over the first fight with Judah and Spinks giving their take on the fight. Judah said he was blessed to get 12 more rounds to get the undisputed welterweight crown. Spinks said that he will repeat the same result as the first fight.
The first bout will a heavyweight elimination bout between undefeated Owen "What The Heck" Beck and Monte Barrett. The winner will likely see a title fight in the very near feature.
Round 1 - Both guys are coming out slow and jabbing. Left by Barrett. They trade bodyshots. Beck is opening up well and landing plenty of lumber to the body. beck dancing around and jabbing. Barrett landing a good left. Combo by Barrett. Close round.
BoxingScene Scorecards = Reeno: 10-9 Barrett, Edwards: 10-9 Beck, Peters:10-9 Beck
Round 2 - Barrett is getting off well with the jab and trying to get some power off the jab. Good left by Beck, Right by Barrett. They trade bodyshots in close. Both men jabbing at the distance and now trade in close. Bodyshot by Barrett and a left. Barrett beating Beck against the ropes and Beck fights his way out with power shots, crowd goes wild. Huge uppercut by Barrett and Beck goes down. Beck is up and Barrett jumps on Beck. Beck and Barrett are swinging to the fences. Beck with a big right. Crowd is into the fight.
BoxingScene Scorecards = Reeno: 10-8 Barrett, Edwards: 10-8 Barrett, Peters:10-8 Barrett
Round 3 - They go back to a jabbing contest, Beck seems to have his head clear. Barrett is getting off better with the jab. Bodyshots getting traded. Big right by Barrett and a good uppercut. Jab by Barrett. They are trading some big shots, Barrett stunned by a Beck bomb, back comes Barrett with a huge right and another huge right. Big right by Barrett.
BoxingScene Scorecards = Reeno: 10-9 Beck, Edwards: 10-9 Barrett, Peters:10-9 Beck
Round 4 - They jab and come in close to start trading shots on the inside. Beck is getting off with his powershots well now and landing good bodyshots. Barrett with a good left. Beck is doing plenty of body work. Barrett trying to go to the body. They are slugging away against the ropes. These guys are trading left hooks and Beck is winning. Beck with a good right. Cut around the left eye of Barrett from a clash of heads. The cut seems to be bothering Barrett.
BoxingScene Scorecards = Reeno: 10-9 Beck, Edwards: 10-9 Beck, Peters:10-9 Beck
Round 5 - The cut looks pretty bad. Replay shows two head clashes to the same spot in the previous round. They trade bodyshots in close. Barrett wobbling as Beck gets of a left and right combo. Jay Nady calls time to get the doctor to take a look at the cut. They continue. Huge left by Beck. They trade big shots and both guys are landing solid. They continue to trade punches in close.
BoxingScene Scorecards = Reeno: 10-9 Beck, Edwards: 10-9 Barrett, Peters:10-9 Barrett
It should be noted that the cut on Barrett was not caused as a result of a head clash so if the fight gets stopped, Barrett will lose by TKO.
Round 6 - Barrett is showing more activity in his feet as he is moving around and trying to box. It doesnt last long as they are back in close. Seems to be a second cut below the left eye of Barrett. They are trading more big shots again. Beck looks stunned but comes back with a left. Beck against the ropes but fights his way off. Beck with bodyshots. Left by Beck.
BoxingScene Scorecards = Reeno: 10-9 Barrett, Edwards: 10-9 Barrett, Peters:10-9 Beck
Round 7 - Hard jabs by Barrett and a good right. Beck with some hard right hands. Barrett dancing around and now they they trade against the ropes. Huge right hand by Barrett and Beck looks daze, another right by Barrett and another. Beck keeps coming and throwing punches. They go back to fighting close and trading shots.
BoxingScene Scorecards = Reeno: 10-9 Barrett, Edwards: 10-9 Barrett, Peters:10-9 Barrett
Round 8 - They start winging punches and now Barrett begins to jab. Power shots are being traded. Huge uppercut rocks Beck's head, Beck makes a face and Barrett tries to follow up. They are now fighting from the outside as Barret switches to southpaw. Hard shot by Beck on the nose of Barrett. Good right by Beck.
BoxingScene Scorecards = Reeno: 10-9 Barrett, Edwards: 10-9 Beck, Peters:10-9 Barrett
Round 9 - They are back into trading at close range. Uppercut by Beck and Beck going to the body. Bodyshot by Barrett. Beck is landing well on the inside. Uppercut by Barrett, Beck jabbing. Right by Barrett, Beck comes back with a combo. Barrett with a huge right, Beck is hurt and Barrett goes for the kill with tons of power punches and Beck is down again. Barrett with a huge power punch combo, Beck goes down hard on his back and Jay Nady stops the fight. It is all over. Barrett with a huge 9th round TKO win over the undefeated Owen Beck and now sets himself up for a title shot.
I had Barrett winning at time of the stoppage 5 rounds to 3 (one being 10-8 from the knockdown. Peter Edwards had Barrett winning 5 rounds to 3 (one being 10-8) and Carl Peters who is subbing for Sammy Rozenberg who is at the fight live, had it 5 rounds to 4 in favor of Barrett (one round being 10-8)
They are going over the Barrett-Beck fight. Barrett said that he wants Chris Byrd next and respects him more then any of the other champions. He said Vitali is ducking him but it doesnt matter because he feels Rahman will knock him out. Judah-Spinks 2 is coming up next.
They are now showing footage that was shot with Spinks in St. Louis and an interview with him about his famous family.
Now they are going over Zab Judah and doing a video montage of him.
Zab Judah is coming down to the ring and the arena full of 20,000+ is booing him to death. You can't even hear Zab's song because the boos are so loud.
Cory Spinks is coming to the ring led by rapper/r&b star Nelly. Fireworks are going off in the building, lights and the crowd noise is insane for Cory Spinks. Nelly is rapping and Spinks is doing the dance to a Naseem Hamed type of entrance.
The ring entrance of Spinks is taking forever, the crowd is singing along with Nelly as Spinks does the dance of his and singing into the mic with Nelly.
Crowd now with an ear blowing Cory chant before they announce both fighters. Spinks is 163 pounds tonight , Judah is only 155.
Round 1 - Both guys look pumped. Judah is starting much faster and trying to hit bombs but missing. Spinks moving and jabbing to the stomach of Zab. Left by Judah, jab by Judah. Spinks with two bodyshots. Zab is pressing this fight hard and landing a good left and moving away. Right by Spinks left by Judah.
BoxingScene Scorecards = Reeno: 10-9 Judah, Edwards: 10-9 Judah, Peters:10-9 Judah
Round 2 - Judah going back to pressing the action. Feinting with the jab and trying to come with big shots over the top by Zab. Spinks is ducking at Zab's feints. No jab output by Spinks, right by Spinks. Uppercut by Spinks. Left by Zab, jab by Zab. Both men missing most of their big shots.
BoxingScene Scorecards = Reeno: 10-10, Edwards: 10-9 Spinks, Peters:10-9 Judah
Round 3 - Zab is jabbing his way to get close to Spinks as Cory is moving away. Cory looking to counterpunch everytime Zab misses. Right by Spinks. Spinks pushed back by a body jab from Judah. Spinks is not doing much and Zab seems to be gaining confidence. Good combo by Zab against the ropes. Left by Judah, they almost clash heads at the end. These rounds are very hard to score, very close.
BoxingScene Scorecards = Reeno: 10-9 Judah, Edwards: 10-9 Spinks, Peters:10-9 Judah
Round 4 - A jabbing contest, Judah is mocking Spinks. Big right by Spinks pushed Judah back on a counter. Judah is closing the distance and crowd starts the Cory chant. Left by Spinks and a bodyshot. Combo by Spinks. Spinks moving and Zab is chasing. Combo by Spinks. They trade at the bell.
BoxingScene Scorecards = Reeno: 10-9 Spinks, Edwards: 10-9 Spinks, Peters:10-9 Spinks
Round 5 - Zab getting off with the jab well. Neither man is getting off with their shots, so far they are using theif defensive skills well. Cory jabbing. Combo by Spinks and he moves away. Spinks stumbles back from a Judah jab to the stomach. Zab keeps missing that left, good right by Judah and Spinks holds on. Right by Cory. Left by Zab.
BoxingScene Scorecards = Reeno: 10-9 Spinks, Edwards: 10-9 Spinks, Peters:10-9 Spinks
Round 6 - They jab away. They trade and Cory lands the left. They are trading jabs and now trade shots, either man landing anything big. Left and right by Zab. Jab by Zab. Combo by Cory. Good hard combo to the head and body by Zab. These rounds are close and very boring so far. Not much action at all as bothe guys seem to be waiting for counter opportunities.
BoxingScene Scorecards = Reeno: 10-9 Spinks, Edwards: 10-9 Spinks, Peters:10-9 Spinks
Round 7 - Zab misses a huge left hand attaempt as he leaped in. Right hook by Judah, Zab now jabbing. Big left by judah. Judah now throwing a pwoer jab. Spinks feinting with his jab. Left by Zab. They trade and Zab gets the better, Spinks holds on. Spinks slips, no knockdown is called. Another left hand and Spinks is rocked, the gloves of Spinks touch the canvas but the ref for whatever reason does not call it a knockdown.
BoxingScene Scorecards = Reeno: 10-9 Judah, Edwards: 10-9 Judah, Peters:10-9 Judah
Round 8 - Judah is now picking it up and want to test the chin of Spinks. Combo by Judah, Spinks trying to counter back. Judah is confident and trying to attack, Judah with shots on the inside. Spinks says Judah hurt him with a head clash. Spinks trying to get some combos in, Spinks with a right and tackles Judah to the ropes. Fight is heating up, Judah to the body.
BoxingScene Scorecards = Reeno: 10-9 Judah, Edwards: 10-9 Judah, Peters:10-9 Judah
Round 9 - Big left hand by Spinks over the top on Judah's head. They are fighting at a distance again. Spinks is moving away and Zab is coming in stalking. Another left by Spinks. Combo by Spinks and he moves away. Huge left by Judah and Spinks is real hurt, Juadh follows with two huge shots, Spinks is down. Spinks is hurt and all over the ring. Judah beating on him. The ref stops it, ITS ALL OVER. ZAB JUDAH GETS REVENGE WITH A 9TH ROUND TKO AND IS THE NEW UNDISPUTED WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION!!!
What a left hand by Zab, Spinks looked scared since round one. Zab came into the hometown of Spinks and only made $150,000 dollars for this fight, Spinks made over 1 million. Judah was so quick once he got Spinks hurt and unlike the first fight, there was more then enough time left for Zab to put Spinks away this time.
Both guys and Don King said that they will have a trilogy. I personally feel that these men will not fight eachother anytime soon.