judah silent as april 8th approaches

By Dan Rafael
ESPN.com
Archive

For months, Zab Judah has done nothing but slam pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. in anticipation of their "Sworn Enemies" welterweight showdown.



AP Photo/Shiho Fukada
Mayweather (left) wants badly to "shut up" Judah on April 8.
Even coming off a humiliating title loss to unheralded Carlos Baldomir in January, the talkative Judah continued his braggadocious, in-your-face ways.

But now that the April 8 fight (HBO PPV) in Las Vegas is growing closer by the hour, it seems as though Judah (34-3, 25 KOs) suddenly has lost his stomach for verbal warfare, going silent at crunch time.

There was a time when you couldn't get Judah to shut up about what he would do to Mayweather. Now, you can't even find him.

It seems as though Mayweather already has won the psychological war.

Instead of facing the press corps on a long-scheduled national conference call this week to discuss the heavily hyped fight, Judah was a no-show.

Instead, he sent his father/trainer Yoel Judah, promoter Don King and publicist Alan Hopper to talk for him.

FIGHT CARD
HBO PPV (Saturday, 9 ET)
Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas
• Welterweights: Floyd Mayweather Jr. (35-0, 24 KOs) vs. Zab Judah (34-3, 25 KOs), 12 rounds
• Flyweights: Jorge Arce (43-3-1, 33 KOs) vs. Rosendo Alvarez (37-2-2, 24 KOs), 12 rounds, for Arce's interim title
• Lightweights: Juan Diaz (28-0, 14 KOs) vs. Jose Cotto (27-0, 19 KOs), 12 rounds, for Diaz's title
• Junior welterweights: Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (24-0-1, 18 KOs) vs. TBA, 6 rounds


Their excuse for Judah's refusal to participate in the promotion was that he was training and trying to remain focused on the fight.

"No, he's training right now," Yoel Judah said when asked whether Judah would answer questions. "He's focused now, you know what I'm saying."

Over and over, Yoel parroted the party line.

"No disrespect to nobody, no reporter, or commentator, or matchmaker, or nobody," he said. "We're just not talking. He's focused. He's training. And, we're going to do what we've got to do in the ring come April 8."

Added King, "The guy is mad, I guess. He don't want to talk. He's so upset and he's so focused that he's going to do what he's got to do. And, some of the reporters should take this as a hint. A word to the wise -- Zab is going after Floyd with a relentless dedication and commitment to destroy him."

Mayweather (35-0, 24 KOs), meanwhile, couldn't appear more relaxed. In his second major pay-per-view fight, he is becoming a seasoned veteran of the intensity of the process.

He said during his own conference call that he loved the media and was available for all interview requests. Then he even took the unusual step of inviting the media personnel -- and their families! -- to watch him train any time he was at the Top Rank Gym in Las Vegas.

He ripped Judah for ducking the media and not doing his part to promote a fight in which both boxers can earn money on top of their base purses depending on how well the pay-per-view sells.

"It's not cool that his father had to get on the phone with you guys," Mayweather said. "If talking to the media on a speakerphone from a couch throws you out of your focus, you'll never get focused.

"He don't understand business. He's gotta learn. It takes two. I sold this fight. This guy hasn't cooperated from the beginning."

Mayweather didn't buy Judah's "training and focus" reasons for suddenly going silent.

"You can't lose focus talking on speakerphone for a half hour," Mayweather said in one of his many digs at Judah. "I'm going to do this call and then go right to the gym. I told everybody I will shut Zab Judah up. I'm just surprised it happened this early. Every night, I know he can't sleep. He's tossing and turning. He knows he is fighting a better fighter than Baldomir and a tougher fighter than [former junior welterweight champ] Kostya Tszyu," who knocked Judah out in two rounds in 2001.

Zab might be starting to get nervous.

zab could very well be in the best condition of his life....but at some point im sure PBF is gonna put that chin to the test...

PBF will win....

CC number 399 Miles bro!Nice read and yeah, I don't know why but I have a feeling Zab is REALLY focused for this one,possibly realising the magnanimity of the fight,I mean this could be his last shot at the big time! If that does not get you focused, nothing will! Kind of similar to Mayorga.

thanks bud, clicked you somewhere methinks also...

yeah, the more i think about it the more i realise this isnt as easy for PBF as i was thinking after the baldomir fight....there is no way zab will be anything less than fully ready for this...

still, i think PBF has the greater all round skill and will test that chin at some point....

it isnt any walk in the park for PBF, not by any means...

"Judah is an irchant of the ghetto." ;D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by drgoodlooking

"Judah is an irchant of the ghetto." ;D

---

ahahaha, cc!

maybe zab actually is training and focusing. fair play to him for not doin all that bitch talk bollocks he usually does. do your talkin in the ring. no nonsece.

All this crap about Judah's "focus" is stupid. This guy is a prize fighter. He should always be focused, so he doesnt wind up doing the "Judah Shuffle" again. And him and his Dad think because he was "focused" and beat Cory Spinks, that the same applies to PBF? Are they crazy?!!!

he's probably mentally preparing himself, he'll need absouletly everything to beat PBF

Don King put his a** in check. After the Baldomir fight, Zab slammed King for not doing his job. Now, King and Joel are doing the talking, and Zab is staying quiet.

This is really an "All or nothing" fight for Judah.

If he wins, he's back in the top 5 p4p.

If he loses, he'll be doing Friday Night Fights for a while.

I think Judah is silent because he realizes now that he's in over his head, and his mouth finally wrote a check that his soft chin can't cash.

He gonna get his butt kiiiiiiiiiiicked!!!!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BABABOOEY

All this crap about Judah's "focus" is stupid. This guy is a prize fighter. He should always be focused, so he doesnt wind up doing the "Judah Shuffle" again. And him and his Dad think because he was "focused" and beat Cory Spinks, that the same applies to PBF? Are they crazy?!!!

---

Ask anyone, I think they'll say a focused Zab beats 99 percent of everyone out there, we'll see if PBF is that 1 percent.

Two things:

1) He was focused versus Cory Spinks, not exactly a huge threat.

2) He was "focused" for Tszyu, and we see how well that turned out.

Yes, Tszyu is that skilled, not in the first round though. Zab made two mistakes, one leaning away with his hands down, and two, leaning to his left to evade Tszyu's right hand which actually instead of making Judah evade it, made him collide with it. We'll see what kind of heart PBF has if Judah can make him dig deep it would be impressive.

The Tszyu fight proves a point though. We can say Zab is as focused as ever. But his problem is his chin. Focused or not, when he gets cracked square on his jaw, he's in trouble.

If anyone gets cracked square on the jae by Tszyu they are in trouble.

Wrong. Hatton and Ben Tackie took good shots from Tszyu, and neither hit the canvas. Judah just cant take a good punch.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mr. Nightmare

Wrong. Hatton and Ben Tackie took good shots from Tszyu, and neither hit the canvas. Judah just cant take a good punch.

---

I agree that Judah don't always take punches well, but Tackie has a good chin, and Tszyu could never time Ricky because of his movement. The punches that Tszyu connected with were shortened punches. Tszyu had to make adjustments, just to be able to hit Ricky cleanly. Instead of trying to do major damage, Tszyu just wanted to at least make contact.

It depends on how you get hit and leverage. Otherwise it would be impossible to explain why Tackie stood strong against Tszyu and Hatton but was knocked down by Sharmba Mitchell.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mr. Nightmare

Two things:

1) He was focused versus Cory Spinks, not exactly a huge threat.

2) He was "focused" for Tszyu, and we see how well that turned out.

---

he wasnt focussed in the same manner,

he thought he was invincible,

he knows better now

however, i do not...

JUDAH WILL CRUSH VALUEV!!!

What about PBF?

its not really fair to judge judahs chin from the tszyu fight only. that was a hell of a shot he took that would have droped most

"Judah was a no-show."

Sounds familiar. ;)

http://wedding.everything-discounted...nawaybride.jpg

The only reason Tszyu and Baldimor could beat Zab Judah the way they did is because they could take what Judah was throwing at them and push forward on the attack.

Mayweather isn't as physicaly strong as these two fighters and will need to rely on defense and counter punching.

I feel that at some point Mayweather is going to get taged really hard and we may even see a little dance from him.

I can see Mayweather getting tagged too. The problem is that he has all around better skill. So, Judah better capitalize on any big opportunity that he gets, if he even gets one. PBF is going to be on top of his game overall though. The guy has never lost for no reason. So unless he's sleep like Tyson came in against Buster Douglas, then PBF is going to win again. I think he's a smart fighter. He knows what he's up against.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by steady_E

The only reason Tszyu and Baldimor could beat Zab Judah the way they did is because they could take what Judah was throwing at them and push forward on the attack.

Mayweather isn't as physicaly strong as these two fighters and will need to rely on defense and counter punching.

---

Very true. I just have to be a cc whore (in 24) on this one, even though it's obvious, that you pointed out the physical strength of both Kostya and Baldomir.

But what about the inconsistencies with Split Decisions with Chop Chop, Pineda and the first lackluster *loss to Spinks? Spinks was solved because he tired himself out, but what about the other "closer-than-should've-been" fights.

Assume that was Judah, no more no less, not lazy... or any excuses his fans give him. But just plain Judah. What if the real Judah is who he is? Not unfocused... but as a fighter, he just plain sucks. heh :D

How can you choose a fighter that *"sucks" over a fighter that wins?


*even Mike Tyson said, Judah lost because he didn't take it to Spinks.

*sucks: I say that only to make myself clear, I don't mean to upset the Judah fans or discredit Judah as a legit name in the Welterweight division.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mr. Nightmare

Wrong. Hatton and Ben Tackie took good shots from Tszyu, and neither hit the canvas. Judah just cant take a good punch.

---

too right he cant :coolclick:

baldomir was hardly a power punching ko artist himself and he had zab on the back foot for half the fight!!!