By Dan Ambrose: 35-year-old Zab Judah (42-7, 29 KO’s) gets a shot at WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (25-0, 16 KO’s) on February 9th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Judah used to be one of the best fighters in the world a decade ago, but he’s really slipped and is now a former champion that is pretty much only being given a shot at title against Garcia because he’s well known to casual boxing fans and because he’s not considered really dangerous at this point in his career.
This is just another old fighter for Garcia to get name for his resume. The idea here is that casual boxing fans will tune in to watch the fight upon seeing Judah’s name mentioned as the opponent. A lot of these same fans don’t realize that Judah isn’t the same fighter he once was, and they’ll be unpleasantly surprised when Garcia knocks him out or batters him beyond belief.
This is going to be a one-sided fight like Garcia’s last fight against 36-year-old Erik Morales. It’s the same kind of fight – Garcia fighting another old guy that doesn’t have it anymore.
Judah was easily beaten by Amir Khan last year in a 5th round knockout. Judah then won his next fight against fringe contender Vernon Paris, and that’s all it took for Judah to get another title shot. It goes like that in boxing. Once you build up a name that the casual boxing fans recognize, you get easy title shot whether you deserve it or not.
Look at Evander Holyfield. He kept getting title shots despite the fact that he was no longer facing 1st tier opposition. Judah did technically beat 1st tier fighter in Paris, but it was unproven one and he should have had to do more than just beat one guy to get another title shot.
Judah doesn’t have much of a chance in this fight. Judah’s going to have to try for a knockout as quick as possible because Garcia is going to get to him if the fight goes past the 3rd.
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