Whitaker: Judah’s extra muscularity won’t slow down his quickness

By Boxing News - 07/20/2011 - Comments

By William Mackay: In case you haven’t already noticed, IBF light welterweight champion Zab Judah (41-6, 28 KO’s) has put on a lot of news muscles for his fight against WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (25-1, 17 KO’s) on Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. This has got to be the most muscular version of Judah that I’ve ever seen before.

Judah is looking muscular around his shoulders and arms, and Khan might be in for a big surprise on Saturday with Judah’s power. This isn’t the same Judah that existed in the past. He’s looking a lot more powerful from having worked with Victor Conte.

Pernell Whitaker, Judah’s trainer, said this to ringtv: “Zab might have more muscularity, but he won’t weigh but 140 pounds. He ain’t no heavyweight. All of his speed and all of that, it don’t bother his quickness or his ability to move.”

I believe Whitaker. If anything, Judah will be more powerful but not slower in terms of hand speed. That added muscle will only make him stronger with every shot he throws and he won’t have to load up with every shot like he’s been doing recently in his fights. Whitaker has been working on improving Judah’s conditioning and has him in shape to fight 12 rounds with ease without tiring.

If this is true, Khan could be in for a long hard fight because his trainer Freddie Roach is counting on Judah fading after the 5th round. If that doesn’t happen, Khan could be in trouble because if you have a powerful and quick guy like Judah hitting you for any length of time, it’s going to be hard for the weak-chinned Khan to stay on his feet for long.

Judah has one punch power with his uppercuts and he’s going to land one of those shots sooner or later. Whitaker doesn’t want him looking to take Khan out with a single punch and doesn’t have looking for a knockout. Whitaker is comfortable with Judah winning a decision over Khan if need be.



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