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Zab Hears The Right Hand of God – What did You Hear?
THU January 12, BUSTER PARIS - Shhhhhh…do you hear that? That’s the sound of millions of dollars flying out the window.
Wait…there’s more. Hear that? That’s the sound of Zab Judah’s hold over the Welterweight Division slipping away – and if you listen closely you can actually hear his credibility deteriorating.
Do you hear that? That’s the taunting resonance of the ‘No Rematch’ clause echoing throughout Madison Square Garden.
Here’s a deafening blast of sound that we all heard on January 7 2006 roaring over the PA system of the Garden:
“…and NEW WBC Welterweight Champion - Carlos Manuel Baldomir!”
Shhhhhh …let’s listen to Yoel Judah – Zab’s father and trainer:
“Zab won the fight!!”
“They took the fight from him!!”
He’s right! – I saw Elvis, Big Foot and the Loch Ness Monster conspiring with the judges during round 3.
I don’t know about you, but I think that Big Foot has a beautiful singing voice, his duet with Pavarotti gave me goose bumps - and who’s got a better stand-up act than Nessy? – my sides still hurt from laughing.
What? – weren’t we all watching the same fight?
OK - I know that this is all pretty harsh and I usually don’t take this much glee in the failings of another human being, but “Super” Judah really brought this on himself.
Let’s listen to the sobering sounds of reality – the scoring. The judges had this bout scored unanimously for Baldomir as:
Guido Cavalleri 115-113
Melvina Lathan 115-112
Julie Lederman 114-113
I had it 116-112 for Carlos. There’s just no way that Judah won this fight and I honestly don’t know what Yoel Judah is talking about.
From beginning to end the fight was odd and awkward – even before meeting in the ring there was the incident of the fighters ‘bumping into’ each other – and later Zab making Carlos wait in the ring while he leisurely inched his way from his dressing room - and then the stupid and cheap little punch to the thigh instead of simply just ‘touching ‘em up’ after the final instructions.
I figured these were all just head games, but why in the world would Zab Judah need to play head games with Carlos Baldomir?!?
Here’s some highlights – or lowlights - depending on your point of view:
Rounds 1 & 2 I gave to Judah – he was peppering Baldomir with jabs and his defensive speed was right on it’s game. He was avoiding punches and had good movement. Carlos seemed aggravated and wasn’t really landing any shots.
Round 3 I gave to Carlos - he was throwing more, began to also hold and hit, but nonetheless was throwing and landing more punches. There was an interesting exchange at 30 seconds remaining that had both fighters slugging away.
Round 4 I gave to Baldomir. He was the more aggressive fighter – at one point Zab used Carlos’ momentum against him and sort of threw Carlos to the canvas, which oddly enough was the only effective thing Judah did the whole round. He wasn’t really throwing any punches.
It was at this point I raised my eyebrow and asked myself why isn’t Zab just tearing up Baldomir? It didn’t make any sense. Zab’s a much better fighter than Carlos – and a much better fighter than what we’re seeing – something isn’t right.
Rounds 5 & 6 were the last rounds I would think that Judah won. He was finally answering back and throwing punches as well as picking up the pace. In round 5 there was an accidental clash of heads causing Baldomir to bleed and then in round 6 it seemed an odd pattern was beginning to develop - Zab started to wind down near the end of the round and I awoke to the question – how many rounds so far has Judah - in like the last minute or so of the round – seem to just stop trying?
Then came round 7 – both fighters on their toes and moving - and then out of nowhere came what Baldomir’s translator called “The right hand of God” – it landed solidly on Judah’s chin.
BOOM
You could hear the entire stadium rise to their feet. You could hear all the home viewers snapping up and leaning closer towards their televisions.
You could hear the whole world say it in unison – Zab Judah is hurt.
He tries to grab on to Baldomir and it’s a wrestling match – it then turns into a bizarre 3-way scrum among Zab, Carlos and referee Arthur Mercante Jr. After Mercante breaks everyone apart Zab tries to tackle Carlos around the waist, they clinch, break and then Zab tries another tackle around the legs.
Judah is in big trouble. He’s winded, tired and confused.
Rounds 8 through 12 were not pretty rounds, but they were all Carlos Baldomir’s. In the 8th Zab got a bloody nose and before the round ends he gets rocked again. In between 8 and 9 he looks beaten up, confused and somewhat worried.
For the rest of the night there was an electric sense of urgency and concern in his corner and he simply looked off – almost jetlagged - and really had no offense to speak of.
Judah did have moments that there were still of signs of life in him – once at 20 seconds remaining in the 9th and then again for a few exchanges in the 10th, but he truly never mounted any real offense. There were no significant punches coming from him.
Carlos was cautious at times, but was without a doubt the aggressor and the initiator. He never could fully capitalize when he had Judah in trouble, but Baldomir did what he did well enough to get the decision, the victory and of course the WBC belt and title.
Do you hear that? That’s the sound of everyone in Argentina still cheering.
Carlos Baldomir deserves to hear the cheers and - sad to say, but Zab Judah deserved to hear the boos that poured over him after the bout.
Right now - if you listen close enough you can hear the reverberation of the good folks over at BoxRec.com snatching the listing of the Mayweather/Judah fight off their site.
Right below that sound wave I think I hear Floyd Mayweather’s accountants chocking back some tears.
And - if you listen close enough - you can hear Judah fans worldwide frantically typing me angry emails.
Buster Paris can be reached at: bparis@talkingboxing.com - and always enjoys receiving your thoughts, comments and questions
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