Boxing Recap: Zab Judah vs. Jose Armando Santa Cruz

Last Friday in the main event of a seven bout fight card at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, Zab Judah of Brooklyn, New York, scored a third round stoppage of Jose Armando Santa Cruz of Michoacan, Mexico. The card was co-promoted by Kathy Duva’s Main Events and Super Judah.

Judah, fighting at light welterweight for the first time since 2003, and at 141- his lowest weight in seven years – felt out his opponent for two rounds before closing out the show.

Santa Cruz has 17 knockouts in 28 fights and he came into Newark with a game plan. He came forward immediately and tried to fight Zab on the inside. Santa Cruz , who had size and a 2 1/2 inch reach advantage over Judah, just could not capitalize, however. Judah worked his jabs while moving to the right, slipping punches. Santa Cruz looked for openings but kept missing short, then getting tied up by Zab.

Judah was playing with his opponent for all three rounds. Santa Cruz landed several weak combinations on Judah that scored, rattling his cage. Judah ‘woke up’, landing a right hook which sent Santa Cruz face first to the canvas. Santa Cruz beat the count, but was done, whereby Judah landed a left-right and left-right to the head, with Santa Cruz helpless on the ropes, ending the contest at 2:33 of the third.

Judah is now 39-6 (27), while Santa Cruz falls to 28-5 (17). Judah appears much more effective at light welterweight.

In preliminary bouts, Patrick Farrell of Jersey City, New Jersey, battled to a six round cruiserweight draw with Newton Kidd of Bronx, New York. After a cautious first round, the bout proceeded as a no-defense slugfest from round two onward. Both fighters stood in front of each other throwing everything they had in the tank

After the third round, both fighters looked winded, but the bout’s furious pace continued. Kidd had Farrell in big trouble in the fifth round with power shots which landed, but Farrell would not fall.

Farrell regained a second wind in the sixth, and had Kidd in trouble with good power jabs that scored, but Kidd survived. Perhaps Farrell won the bout in the sixth round. Overall, it was an entertaining even match up that pleased the crowd with two fighters giving their all. Farrell was cut above the right eye by a head butt at some point, but the cut was not a factor. Farrell is now 5-1-1 (3), while Kidd is now 7-7-2 (4).

In the post fight interview, Farrell stated, “Kidd punched me behind the head, the referee’s got to do something. I was in good shape for this fight. I’ve been in training since January 1st and I’m taking three weeks off. I lost the fifth round, so I came back and won the sixth.”

In a brief but explosive heavyweight affair which began in controversy, Adam Kownacki, a Polish fighter now out of Brooklyn, New York, went to 4-0 (4). Seconds into his bout with winless Damon Clement of Dayton, Ohio, now 0-3, Clement landed a flurry of punches on Kownacki, who looked nervous as the bout started.

In the confusion that ensued, one of Kownacki’s gloves touched the canvas. He got right back up in a corner, and referee Eddie Cotton began to count. Trouble was Clement was never sent to a neutral corner, and Clement proceeded to punch Kownacki twice in the head from behind the referee. Both the referee and Kownacki could have been seriously injured.

The bout resumed without a disqualification or warning, and soon thereafter Kownacki landed a right-left, right-left flurry of his own, sending Clement to the canvas. Clement beat the count, and was eating jabs to the head in a corner as the bell sounded. A Kownacki straight right put Clement down for the count with a loud thud at 42 seconds of round two.

In a time consuming welterweight contest, Alex Perez of Newark, New Jersey, went to 12-0 (7), with an eight round decision over rugged Edvan Dos Santos Barros, a Brazilian fighter now out of Boca Raton, Florida, now 10-10-1 (7). Barros, a winner of only two of his last 11, has been stopped only once in those 11 bouts.

Perez landed cleaner shots from the opening bell, wobbling Barros and setting the tempo. Barros began with a plan, landing body shots which scored, then tried to bait Perez into corners, spinning around and attacking Perez while pinning him against the ropes. Perez had to spin out right away to avoid the trap.

In rounds six and seven, both fighters traded bombs in center ring. Perez began to tire near the end of the seventh. Barros fought the bout trading and losing exchanges with a sparring partner mentality, and Perez, winning most rounds, was content to outbox his opponent without pushing it.

In the post fight interview, Perez said, “Santos kept on butting. I hit him a whole bunch of times to the body. I hit him more than a couple of times, so he resorted to his stuff to get the referee’s attention.”

According to trainer Jose Rosario, Perez will fight next on August 21 on the Adamek-Grant undercard at the Prudential Center again. Perez holds the WBC Caribbean Boxing Federation title belt, which he showed in the ring after the bout, but the WBC CABOFE title was not at stake.

Light middleweight prospect Sadam Ali of Brooklyn, New York, improved to 8-0 (4), with a third round stoppage of Julias Edmonds of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Ali picked his shots, landing overhand lefts and rights to the head, and dropped Edmonds in round one with straight right. Edmonds bought time by spitting out his mouthpiece.