By Jim Dower: Former IBF light welterweight and undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah (37-6, 25 KOs) is interested in fighting both Ricky and Matthew Hatton in 2009. Judah, 31, has lost four out of his last 10 fights and is no longer a relevent factor in the welterweight division. Perhaps for this reason in mind, he recently took on light welterweight Ernest Johnson, beating him by an easy 10-round decision in November.
Judah, though, not one to be content to take minor small fights, is going after Matthe Hatton first, and if he’s successful in beating him, it could spur Ricky to want to fight Judah in order to seek revenge for his brother’s defeat.
It’s a nice try on Judah’s part, but it’s highly unlikely that Ricky will want to waste time in trying to avenge the defeat of his brother Matthew. If that was the case, Ricky would have likely gone after Craig Watson, who easily defeated Matthew Hatton by a lopsided 12-round decision in May 2008 for the British Commonwealth title.
Matthew is reportedly interested in fighting Judah, since it’s a fight that brings him the biggest name of his career. However, Matthew has to get by Ted Bami on March 28th, and that won’t be an easy stask. In Matthew Hatton’s last fight, a 10-round decision over Ben Tackie in November, he looked impressive in pounding on a clear cut points victory.
However, Matthew did have some problems with Tackie in the 8th and 9th rounds, as Tackie stalked him around the ring landing power shots. In the 10th, Matthew dug deep and let his hands go to win the round and get the decision.
It’s unclear whether or not Judah would still be interested in fighting Ricky should he lose to Manny Pacquiao on May 2nd. That, of course, would take a lot of the interest out of a potential Hatton-Judah bout, particularly if Ricky loses really badly to Pacqauiao like many people suspect he will.
However, you can’t blame Judah for wanting to sneak his way into a fight with Ricky by beating his brother, because minus that, there’s little chance that Ricky would see Judah as an appealing fight. He could maybe use him in the same way that he used Juan Lazcano after a loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr., someone to get an easy win over to rebound from a defeat.
But, other than that, the liklihood of Hatton fighting Judah would seem rather remote at best. At this point in Judah’s career, he’s nothing more than a gatekeeper for young welterweights to sharpen their skills against. He could be a factor in the light welterweight division if he would commit to it.
However, the division has few big name fighters for him to fight aside from Ricky Hatton, Timothy Bradley, Kentall Holt and the young prospect Victor Ortiz. And, really, if you want to get down to it, only Hatton is a big name in that division.
That’s obviously a reaon why the undersized Judah has stayed so long in the welterweight despite his lack of success in the past several years. When he left the light welterweight in 2003, Judah was one of the best fighters in the division, second only to Kostya Tszyu.
It’s too bad that he didn’t stay there, because at welterweight Judah, after momentary success in defeating IBF/WBA/WBC welterweight champion Cory Spinks by a 9th round stoppage in 2005, Judah would begin his avalanche of losses in the next year starting with his 12-round decision loss to Carlos Baldomir.
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