by James Slater – At one time there was a possibility that former two-weight world champion Zab “Super” Judah would fight Ricky Hatton’s less-famous brother Matthew in his next fight. However, as has been revealed on FightNews.com, the 31-year-old Brooklyn southpaw will now face the useful 29-year-old Jesus Rodriguez of California at the beginning of May in Las Vegas..
Fighting the night before the massive Ricky Hatton-Manny Pacquiao clash – therefore there will be an army of fight fans in town, many of whom will surely call in to the South Point Hotel and Casino to check out his fight – Zab could get quite an audience. Hoping to remain sharp against the 19-3(5) Rodriguez, Judah wants another big fight down the road. Judah would almost certainly jump at the chance to fight the Hatton-Pacquiao winner, and maybe, just maybe, he will land the fight. He can obviously afford no slip ups against the man known as “Chuy.”
Rodriguez is a reasonable fighter who has only ever been stopped once as a pro. Back in May of 2006, the fighter who actually lost his pro debut by way of a four-round points setback, was stopped in the 8th round by Russia’s unbeaten Vladimir Zykov. This is not an especially bad loss, but his being stopped by Zykov, who has just 4 KO’s on his record, is bad news for Rodriguez. As we know, Judah throws fast and accurate shots – can the 29-year-old take them?
At least Rodriguez has been pretty active as of late and at least he has been winning. Victorious in his last two outings, winning both fights by close decision (being knocked down in one of them, against Robert Frankel), Rodriguez should not be overly rusty. Saying that, his last fight was in May of 2008, therefore he will have had a year out by the time he gets in there with Judah. Zab could have picked a far worse opponent to keep himself sharp against though.
Zab last boxed in November of last year, winning his only fight since the TD loss to new IBF welterweight champ Joshua Clottey. “Super” is still campaigning as a welterweight, although May 1st’s fight will be fought at a contracted weight of 142-pounds (so say FightNews). Still a big name, even though he is now 37-6(25) and has lost four out of his last eight bouts, Judah will likely get one more chance to reign before he’s through.
Some fighters seem to get chances again and again, and Zab, as fans on this site have commented, is one of them. Look for the former IBF light-welterweight, former WBO light-welterweight, former IBF welterweight and former WBC welterweight king to box his way to a clear points win over Rodriguez on May 1st.