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Danny Garcia walked out of Brooklyn’s Barclays Center bloodied and humbled but still a world champion as the Philadelphia light welter got past former two-weight world titlist Zab Judah after a hard-fought bout.
Widely perceived as well past his best before the fight, southpaw Judah managed to turn back the clock for large parts of the contest, hurting Garcia in the tenth and eleventh rounds but was unable to better his work in the crucial 12th round.
For “Super Judah” this late round resurgence was remarkable as many had predicted the 35 year old ex-Unified welterweight world champion would have been disposed of by that point.
Judah’s rally came after he was nailed in the eighth by Garcia, hitting the deck but drawing on the experience of 18 previous world title bouts, was able to regroup.
The New Yorker had been doing well prior to the knockdown, having started the process of breaking Garcia’s control by the middle rounds.
The champion was starting to slow down after a busy effort on the early frames, hurting Judah, 42-8 (29), in the fourth with powerful right hands.
This after an uneventful initial round that saw the combatants study each other, taking notes on reactions and counter moves.
Garcia now stands at 26-0 (16), having retained the WBC and WBA titles. He could be in line to face the winner of the upcoming Lamont Peterson vs. Lucas Matthysse contest.
Light welter isn’t as stocked with talent as it has been in years passed, Garcia could clean out the division but would face a completely different situation should he attempt to jump up to welterweight.
Middleweight Peter Quillin, 29-0 (21), put on a good performance by flooring Fernando Guerrero, 25-2 (19), twice on the way to producing a seventh round stoppage and retaining his WBO crown.
Quillin is developing nicely after a long development period and would be a dangerous proposition for any of the other middleweight champions in a title unification bout.
