JUDAH RETURNS...OR DOES HE?

Zab Judah understands what is expected of him. He just doesn't intend to comply this time.

by Ron Borges

The former undisputed welterweight champion returns to the spotlight June 9 at Madison Square Garden after a year's suspension from boxing riding a two-fight losing streak in major matches. Those are not things he is proud of but they are the things he believes brought him the opportunity to square off with undefeated World Boxing Association champion Miguel Cotto in front of what is expected to be a jammed and frenetic house at the Garden and a HBO pay-per-view audience that will be watching to see if, at 29, Judah has anything left of the great promise that saw him become a world champion in two weight classes.

That few in Cotto's camp believe he has is why he will be standing in front of the undefeated Puerto Rican favorite that night. That Judah himself believes he remains what many in boxing once thought he would become is why he is convinced this time things will be different.

Different from the night he was knocked into staggering semi-consciousness by Kostya Tszyu 5 1/2 years ago one round after he had himself appeared to dominate Tszyu. Different from the night he first lost his challenge for the welterweight title to Cory Spinks in a fight in which he seemed disinterested until nearly stopping Spinks with a desperate flurry in the final round.

Different certainly than the fighter he was when he lost the undisputed welterweight titles he'd won from Spinks in a rematch to journeyman Carlos Baldomir in another lackluster performance just over a year ago and far different than the man he was the night he seemed to win three of the first four rounds against Floyd Mayweather, Jr. 13 months ago before allowing the fight to slip away from him round after seemingly disheartening round as Mayweather began to dominate him in ways Judah had no answers to until he twice fouled Mayweather in a 10th round that cost him dearly. Those actions led to a near riot and ultimately resulted in Judah's year-long suspension from the ring but, in his mind, they also have conspired to present him with a chance for redemption against the undefeated Cotto (29-0, 24 KO).

Judah knows what happened in those fights and he understands many expect him to again unravel in some way when Cotto begins to pressure him with his relentless style and unbridled aggressiveness. He believes, too, that were it not for those last two losses and the year layoff Cotto's promoters would have had far less interest in making this match than they have shown.

Such a checkered boxing life, and the pain it has caused him, have made Judah a sad realist. While he knows many feel he is standing at the crossroads of a career that could go utterly and irrevocably wrong on June 9, he also knows every crisis is an opportunity. If properly handled.

"I want to prove that Zab Judah is still great,'' Judah (34-4, 2 NC 25 KO) said from his Memphis training camp recently. "I know what Mayweather said. He said I can't go more than four rounds. I want to prove that I can go strong after the seventh round.

"As for Kostya Tszyu, that was six years ago. I don't even think about that fight. I'm much older and much smarter than I was that night. And I'm a different guy than the one who fought Baldomir and Mayweather. I had a lot of outside distractions then. I'm focused now. The year off allowed me to rest my body. I'm like a classic car that's been in the shop for a while. You tune it up and put it on the street and it's impressive. I didn't have no losses, really. I had lessons. I learned from them.

"The great, legendary (promoter) Bob Arum has taken a lot of care to keep Miguel Cotto sheltered. They got him the right fights at the right time but they kind of forgot who Zab Judah is because of those two losses (back-to-back to Baldomir and Mayweather) and the suspension. They underestimate me because of that but he's no Mayweather. He's no Baldomir. There's nothing Miguel Cotto can show me that I can't handle.''

Such talk is common among fighters coming back from the kind of disappointing losses and outside the ring problems that have plagued Judah over the last year but talk is far easier to come by then courage or calmness in the ring when your arms are weary, your breath is coming in short bursts and you are being assaulted. Only then, when pain and exhaustion and even a little fear are setting in, can Zab Judah prove to a skeptical public that he is the fighter he was once believed to be. While doubt may now be encircling him, history has proven that for a fighter of real skills like Judah the past is not always an accurate predicter of his future however. Lennox Lewis twice entered the ring ill-prepared and suffered dearly for it, being knocked out by journeymen Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman, only to regain the heavyweight title in both instances and ultimately defeat Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson.

The Cinderella Man, Jim Braddock, came back from far worse circumstances than Judah has ever faced to win the heavyweight title from heavily favored Max Baer in a story so much like a fairy tale that it recently became a popular film and the subject of at least two full-length books.

Then there is Arturo Gatti, who had been written off several times only to come back to win both world titles and pack arenas, and Antonio Tarver, a fighter whose career seems to have paralleled Judah's in many ways. Both turned pro with great expectations and achieved moderate success only to see it all dissolve away in a combination of bad management decisions, promotional problems and personal turmoil. For Tarver, all that reversed itself when he fought bravely against Roy Jones in their first meeting before knocking him cold in their second. Redemption was Tarver's that night after too many evenings when his supporters, like Judah's, left the arena shaking their heads in bewilderment at the disappointment they had just felt.

The list goes on of such redemptive moments to include Hall of Fame performers like Archie Moore, who didn't win his first world title until he was 39, and Jersey Joe Walcott, who won the heavyweight title on his fifth try after losing early fights to world-class opponents like Tiger Jack Fox and Abe Simon, not to mention Joe Louis and Ezzard Charles. The latter beat Walcott twice before the future champion finally bested him.

Judah has certainly seemed to disappoint on a regular basis as well just about the time the world was ready to believe in him and thus must live with the consequences of that until he can erase the memory of nights like when he faced Tszyu. He can argue there that he simply got caught by a big puncher and paid the inevitable consequence, of course. As for the loss to Spinks, Judah points out he avenged that by dominating Spinks in a rematch before 23,000 Spinks supporters in St. Louis and so can rightly claim it is a black mark on his record that has been erased.

So the real question then is whether his setbacks to Baldomir, Mayweather and the Nevada State Athletic Commission (who suspended him for the last year because of his actions during the Mayweather disturbance) are precursors of another disappointing letdown or, as he seems to view them, are actually the dawning of a new day in which his speed and exceptional power for a smaller welterweight will carry him to heights long predicted but yet to have been attained. Although he may be in the minority these days, Zab Judah has an opinion on that. An opinion that will also serve as a warning to Miguel Cotto not to take lightly his presence despite his sometimes disappointing past.

"You live and learn,'' Judah said hopefully of his date with Cotto. "If a riot breaks out (at the Garden, where Cotto's Puerto Rican supporters figure to pack the house alongside the New York natives' own backers from Brooklyn) they've got us outnumbered but other than that I'm not worried about anything. I can't wait. "I'm from the bottom. I came from nothing. I'm a person who can adapt to any situation and do what I have to do to survive. I've watched Cotto fight live. He's a one-dimensional fighter. When he fought (Paulie) Malignaggi you could see Malignaggi was definitely faster. Malignaggi's a good little boxer but he didn't have the confidence to throw with Cotto. He knew he didn't have the power to rhrow down with Cotto. It will be a different fight with me because I'm faster than Malignaggi and I can sit in there and punch.

"Cotto's not ready for this event. There's a tiger waiting to jump on him and bite him from all angles. On June 9, it's going to be a different world for Miguel Cotto.''

If it is, it'll have to be a different world for Zab Judah, too.