Wow! I remember when he was an up & coming kid. It seemed like he had unlimited potential with the only question mark was concerning his chin. That seemed answered with the wins over Mickey Ward and Darryl Tyson, solid gatekeepers to the upper echelons. The first cracks appeared against Jan Bergman but he got up to win by KO in a manner similar to Trinidad.
Now, all these years have passed and Judah has been in some exciting fights, some crappy ones and a few controversial ones. He got more respect for his knockout loss to Cotto than he did in his previous 34 wins.
Has he over-achieved or under achieved? Hard to say. The only top guy he really beat was Spinks - and in light of Spinks' showings against Karmazin and Taylor - that looks like a great result. Apart from that, he's failed at every major test. There were the wins against late sub Witter, Corley and Pineda but none were impressive.
If he had better focus I think he could have been a much better champion. It's ironic that the only gift he appears to be lacking is mental, not physical. But maybe, now that he's entering the veteran stage of his career, he's addressing this shortcoming.
Anyway, Zab, even though you're a complete dick half the time, HAPPY BIRTHDAY. I hope you can continue the momentum you got in your loss to Cotto.
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