By Jim Dower: After nearly four years out of the ring, Zab Judah will be fighting this month against journeyman Jorge Luis Munguia (13-7, 5 KOs) in a scheduled 10 round bout on January 21 at the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, New Jersey. The fight will take place in the 140lb division.
Judah, 39, hasn’t fought since losing a 12 round unanimous decision to Paulie Malignaggi in December 2013. The loss was Judah’s second straight defeat and his third in his last four fights.
Judah (42-9, 29 KOs) was also beaten by Amir Khan by a 5th round knockout in July 2011. Believe it or not, Judah’s last win came five years ago in beating Vernon Paris by a 9th round knockout in March 2012. The years have flown by without Judah having done much of anything.
Judah says that he was able to comeback from a 2nd round knockout loss to Kostya Tszyu in 2001 to win world titles at light welterweight and welterweight divisions. However, it’s been 11 years since Judah lost his last remaining title in getting beaten by Carlo Baldomir by a 12 round unanimous decision in losing his WBC World welterweight title in January 2007. Judah is likely not going to win another world title at this point in his career unless he gets really lucky.
“I want to win another world title. I just want to be six-time champion of the world,” said Judah to Fightnews.com. “I just want to say that at 39 years of age I came back and won another world title,” said Judah.
Judah’s manager is hoping to get him a title shot in the light welterweight division by this summer, according to Fight News. With the 140lb division lacking any real big names, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Judah get a title shot in the summer, as long as he puts together two or three wins before that time.
Judah has four or five fights that fell out for him. If he continues to have fights that fail to take place, then it’s going to be difficult for him to get another title shot at his ripe age. The last time Judah fought against Malignaggi, he looked like a totally shot fighter. He froze after the 2nd round and wound up just standing around without being able to pull the trigger on his shots. I doubt anything has changed with Judah looking like a shot fighter. Judah’s boxing skills have got to have gotten worse since his loss to Malignaggi.