By Rod Bautista: Former undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah made it pointedly clear what his opinion of current pound for champion Manny Pacquiao’s last two fights going as far as claiming that the fights looked staged.

In an article at fighthype.com, Judah said “I mean, that’s good. Like I said man, I’ve been watching the Pacquiao showdowns and you know, I think a lot of them are staged. I think a lot of them are different. I mean like fighters like Joshua Clottey, they just stood up there and didn’t bother to throw a punch. When I fought Joshua Clottey, he tried to go for broke. He tried to swing like he was swinging at an African Lion. When he fought Pacquiao, he just stood there like he was stuck on stupid, you know. Margarito is a fighter we know to be a killer. He didn’t do anything to Pacquiao, you know what I’m saying.”

He backed tracked a little at the end of his statement and also offered an opinion on Pacquiao’s next fight against Shane Mosley.

“I mean I don’t know. I can’t say these guys are staging fights but whatever case may be I think an in shape and well trained Shane Mosley should knock Pacquiao out.”

Judah who’s fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. notoriously ended in a melee in the 10th round resulting not only both corners running into the ring, but Judah’s boxing license being revoked, is now a close friend of Mayweather’s and is one of his very vocal supporters.

I can understand his stance and his loyal support for Mayweather, but my problem is for a boxer of Judah’s stature it’s just a statement that shouldn’t be made. In reality Judah was only asked what his opinion of the Pacquiao/Mosley fight was and he went on and insinuated that somehow Pacquiao’s last fights were fixed.

For a sport like boxing that is struggling to stay relevant in the North American sports landscape, this type of statement can only prove to hurt the sport. Not only does boxing have to endure all the criticism and cynicism it currently does, now one of the sports former champions is talking of a conspiracy to fix fights?

We already have the most talented boxer on the planet doing more trash talking and video posting than actual fighting, but I guess this is the boxing world we live in. Traditionally trash talking was for fighters to gain an edge or to hype up a fight, but now it seems fashionable to trash talk just to make someone look bad.

What I’m trying to say is Muhammad Ali mastered the art of trash talking, but there was a purpose to it. He eventually had to get in the ring with his target and face the music. Floyd Mayweather seems to talk trash exponentially more than he actually steps in to the ring.

It’s this type of thing that hurts boxing. In other sports when an athlete says something derogatory about a foe he runs the risk of it being posted on the bulletin board of a locker room and becoming motivation for a team to give it’s pay back on the field of play. In other sports you have to back it up. In boxing it seems one of the sport’s biggest stars has a license to freely talk trash without never having to back it up.

Judah’s sentiments make a mockery of the sport that he competes in and the sport that has given him everything that he has, without blinking an eye he unwittingly makes an accusation that can only bring more negativity to the sport.

As a true boxing fan I can see why Judah is saying these things, he’s just backing up his boy, but for some it can also serve as just another reason to ignore the sport.

Zab Judah should worry more about getting back to where he once was. Watching his last controversial split decision win over Lucas Mathysse tells me that he has a lot of work to do. Certainly he should be worried more about his up coming fight with Kaizer Mabuuza for the IBF welterweight title. You never know if he manages to win that title maybe he can put his hat in the Manny Pacquiao sweepstakes and have to back his talk up.

Whatever happens I hope Zab and his buddy Floyd can find a way to just shut up and fight.