Judah to fight on September 10th, wants Matthysse rematch

By Boxing News - 08/12/2015 - Comments

judah4345By Dan Ambrose: The soon to be 38-year-old Zab Judah (42-9, 29 KOs) will be launching a comeback on September 10th on Premier Boxing Champions on CBS in a fight against an opponent still to be determined in New York. Judah hasn’t fought in almost two years since losing a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision to Paulie Malignaggi in December 2013.

Judah couldn’t pull the trigger on his shots in that fight, and he looked completely over-the-hill. Judah says the time that he’s had out of the ring since then has him feeling fresh, and he says he wants to fight a rematch against the big punching Lucas Matthysse after he takes a couple of tune-up bouts.

Judah defeated Matthysse by a controversial 12 round split decision five years ago in a fight where many boxing fans had Judah losing. Matthysse fought cautiously in the first four rounds, but he then completely took over the fight from the 5th round on and dominated the last 7 rounds. In the 10th, Matthysse knocked Judah down. However, the fight took place in the East Coast in Newark, New Jersey, and it was considered a hometown decision for Judah in fight that he clearly lost in this writer’s opinion,

“I’m back at it September the 10th on CBS in New York City. The rest was needed,” Judah said to Fighthype. “Now I’m back at. After the whole Mayweather camp of me going through, I got myself in some of the best conditioning that I’ve ever been in. 1, maybe 2 tune-ups, then after that, we’re going to go right back for the top guys again. I like the Lucas Matthysse fight. I’m the first guy to beat Lucas Matthysse. A lot of people forgot that. I laid out the blueprint in how to beat him. Before I fought Matthysse, nobody wanted to fight him. I got in the best condition and I went in and boxed his brains out,” Judah said.

Judah didn’t box Matthysse’s brains out. It was a situation where Matthysse gave Judah far too much respect in the first four rounds by doing zero and hanging bag on the outside. When Matthysse finally started attacking Judah, he dominated the fight and had Judah looking like an old man. It wasn’t competitive in the last seven rounds. It was totally one-sided.
Judah has lost 3 out of his last 6 fights, and he’s no longer ranked in the top 15. Judah has lost 3 out of his last 4 fights with defeats at the hands of Malignaggi, Danny Garcia and Amir Khan.

I don’t think a rematch between Judah and Matthysse is going to be possible without Judah picking up some solid victories and without him getting ranked in the top 15. It is possible under those circumstances. Of course, Matthysse will need to get past unbeaten Viktor Postol in their fight for the vacant WBC light welterweight title in October. It’s not a forgone conclusion that Matthysse will win that fight. Postol, 5’11”, has nearly a five inch height advantage a huge reach advantage as well. But if Matthysse beats Postol and Judah wins his next fight to get a top 15 ranking, then I can see a rematch between Judah and Matthysse happening. But Judah shouldn’t be under any illusions that he would beat Matthysse.

In a rematch, Matthysse will show no respect for the nearly 40-year-old Judah, and he’ll clearly go after him immediately at the opening bell to score a quick knockout. I honestly can’t see Judah making it past the 3rd round against Matthysse. Things are so much different now. Matthysse is in his prime and a lot more confident than he was when he fought Judah five years ago. At the same time, Judah is older, slower and not what he was in 2010. Matthysse isn’t going to let the judges rob him a second time. He’ll make sure he turns the judges into spectators by making quick work of Judah.

Judah should just focus on trying to get a couple of wins over 2nd tier fodder, and hope that he can win those fights. At this point, I don’t even know that Judah can beat even C-level guys. If you saw old and decrepit Judah looked against Malignaggi, I have serious doubts whether Judah can beat 2nd or 3rd tier fighters at this point. Judah looked totally shot against Malignaggi, and I can’t see him getting better after two years out of the ring.



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