(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) By Dan Ambrose: Zab Judah (42-8, 29 KO’s) wants to beat Paulie Malignaggi (32-5, 7 KO’s) bad enough tonight to where he’ll give up the sport and focus on his job as a Showtime analyst full time. Judah is facing the 33-year-old Malignaggi tonight at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, USA. An East coast match-up, with both guys coming from Brooklyn, and both popular in the area, and both guys have been better says career-wise.
Judah said “After I knock him out, then he’ll need to be a full-time commentator and grow old like Larry Merchant [the former HBO analyst] and retire like that, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
That would be an accomplishment if Judah can stop Malignaggi because it’s been two years since he was last stopped in an 11th round TKO defeat the hands of Amir Khan in 2011. Since that time, Malignaggi has been facing largely weaker opposition and that’s enabled him to get through the fights without the danger of being taken out. since the Khan fight, Malignaggi has beaten Michael Lozada, Jose Miguel Cotto, Orlando Lora, Vyacheslav Senchenko, and Pablo Cesar Cano. Malignaggi stepped opposition finally in his last fight against Adrien Broner last June and was beaten by a 12 round split decision. You’d have to put Judah above the other guys that Malignaggi has beaten in the last two years, and that could mean that he’ll have problems tonight. Judah has the power and the speed to give Malignaggi some issues if he can avoid getting stopped on cuts.
Judah looked pretty good in his last fight in losing a 12 round unanimous decision to WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia. Judah did a good job of taking away Garcia’s left hook and forcing him to win using his right hand instead. Although Garcia was still able to get the victory, it was close and he was staggered at one point by Judah.
If Judah can fight smart like he did against Garcia then he should be able to win tonight against Malignaggi. He’s got the better speed and power than Malignaggi, and that might be enough to get the victory. Whether Malignaggi retires or not is unknown. With his name, he’ll probably remain a viable opponent for champions like Adrien Broner and Devon Alexander for a little while longer.
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