Boxing News Boxing News
There were a few decent fight cards in the states aside from the big Bradley vs. Abregu bill and we kick things off on Friday with the return of former two-weight world champion Zab Judah to the light welter division.
32 year old southpaw Judah, 39-6 (27), a full five years removed from his last victory in a world title bout and almost seven since treading the boards at 140, gave his flagging career a big boost by halting Jose Armando Santa Cruz, 28-5 (17), at 2:33 of the third round at Newark, NJ’s Prudential Center.
Negating his sizable height and reach advantages by crouching down to his opponent’s level, former Interim WBC lightweight strapholder Santa Cruz fought the wrong fight and paid the price.
Judah timed his faster punches, particularly a lethal uppercut, inside the wide shots of Santa Cruz and hammered home his most important victory since losing the WBC welterweight title to Carlos Baldomir in 2006.
Should Judah win a couple of progressively more difficult contests at 140, the Brooklyn native could be looking at another shot at world honors.
Heading south, we land at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven, MS, where the vacant NABF middleweight crown was on offer.
Fernando Guerrero, 19-0 (15), defeated Ishe Smith, 21-5 (9), after ten frames, by a 97-91, 96-93, 95-93 unanimous decision but had to climb off the canvas in the eighth to do so.
Smith, who is at least six years past his best days at welter and light middle, lost a point for low blows in the sixth but still managed to give Guerrero a tough fight.
On the undercard, light middleweight up and comer Shawn Porter, 16-0 (12), dropped down to welter for the first time in his career and floored lanky southpaw Ray Robinson, 11-2 (4), in the sixth enroute to posting a 99-89, 97-92, 98-91 points verdict after ten hotly contested rounds.
Light welter prospect Mike Dallas Jr, 15-0-1 (5), outboxed Lanard Lane, 12-1 (7), via a 78-74 decision on all three cards.
On Saturday, the action moved to Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City, NJ as two former aging world title challengers duked it out in a high profile heavyweight contest.
The bout was supposed to be a stepping stone in the comeback of big punching 37 year old former contender David Tua, 51-3-2 (43), but 39 year old veteran Monte Barrett, 34-9-1 (20), refused to roll over.
Barrett showed good skills in nullifying Tua’s vaunted left hook based offense for the entire bout and managed some success behind the jab.
New Zealand’s Tua lost a point in the 12th and final round for slamming Barrett to the canvas and was then floored by the New Yorker, giving Barrett a two point advantage that was good enough to force a majority draw.
Barrett showed that he still could have some legs yet to his 14 year career while Tua suffers a serious setback in his campaign for another world title opportunity.
The Armory in St. Paul, MN hosted a bad blood rematch between big hitting heavyweights as Joey Abell, 27-4 (26), and Arron Lyons, 11-9 (8), went at it three years after Lyons stopped Abell in a single round.
This time it was Abell who had the last laugh, finishing off his rival at 0:52 of the fourth due to a cuts stoppage.
