He may be full of himself, but he has never to
my knowledge ducked a tough fight. He always wanted to meet Kostya Tszyu for the
unified title at light-welter. He got him - and got stopped. He clamoured for a
rematch. It didn't happen. Now Judah, a two-time world champ at 140lbs (10st),
steps up to the welterweight division to take on Cory "Next Generation" Spinks
for the undisputed championship at 147lbs (10st 7lbs). The two southpaws, both
promoted by Don King, meet at the Mandalay Bay casino resort in Las Vegas on 10
April with live coverage on HBO in the U.S., and this is the sort of fight that
the real fans love because it is so difficult to pick a winner.
Judah, from Brooklyn, New York, is faster,
flashier and certainly looks the puncher in the fight, with 22 opponents halted
in his record of 30 wins and one loss. Spinks, from St. Louis, Missouri, has
stopped just 10 opponents in his record of 32 wins and two defeats but he can be
frustrating to fight with his crafty moves and technical adroitness and he does
not respect reputations.
The underdog against Ricardo Mayorga last
December, Spinks not only shocked the wild-swinging Nicaraguan but also KO'd a
proposed super fight between Mayorga and Shane Mosley. Spinks has the confidence
of being champ, he is the natural welter against a fighter moving up in weight
and let's not forget that he has the bloodlines (father Leon and uncle Michael
are expected to be ringside in Las Vegas, as they were in Atlantic City for the
Mayorga fight). Once again, Spinks meets a fighter who is deemed the bigger
attraction. Promoter King can, I think it's fair to say, make bigger, more
compelling and more lucrative matches if the exciting, fast-talking Judah is the
winner. Spinks is talented but, let's face it, he isn't colourful.
But Spinks is the type of young man who won't
go away. After a six-year professional career that had been conducted in
relative obscurity - until he beat Mayorga - he is finally the champ and he
means to stay that way. Spinks is not a fighter who has had a lot of breaks, in
the ring or in life. Dad Leon didn't so much desert the family as drift away
from it. Cory seems to have been deeply affected by the death of his mother,
Zaida Mae Calvin, from a stroke in 1999 at the age of 48. An older brother Leon
Calvin, was shot and killed in 1993 at the age of 19. Cory's best friend and
training buddy, Terrence Rice, died in a shooting in 1995. In the ring, Spinks
has had two decisions go against him in fights he quite reasonably believes he
won.
The first defeat was on a split decision to the
rugged Antonio Diaz outdoors on a freezing December night at a casino in Indio,
California. And in his first world title attempt Spinks lost a unanimous but
questionable decision to Michele Piccirillo in Italy. But it seems that Spinks
is one of those people who are made stronger by adversity.
In a rematch with Piccirillo in Italy he made
no mistake, winning a one-sided, unanimous decision in which he totally outboxed
and outfought the Italian to capture the International Boxing Federation belt.
He has grown closer to his father since the death of his mother but people in
boxing say his personality is more on the lines of his uncle Michael: serious
and sensible as opposed to plain zany. In terms of boxing style Cory certainly
is more Michael than Leon."They both had a huge heart and that's what I have,"
Spinks says."I had to fight everyone put in front of me to get where I am. It's
like the old school. That's the type of champ I am. I'm not scared to fight
anybody.
" Now he meets Judah, who brings starpower and
attitude. The 26-year-old from Brooklyn was devastating in his last fight, a
72-second blowout over the Colombian Jaime Rangel in Atlantic City on the night
Spinks upset Mayorga. Judah opened the pay-per-view telecast that night and
promised he would get the evening off to a spectacular start. He did just that,
drilling his fellow-southpaw with a thunderbolt of a left-hander. While Spinks
is the champion, Judah is the"name" fighter, with eight wins - six by KO - in
world championship fights. He dominated Junior Witter over 12 rounds in Glasgow
and I thought he comfortably outpointed DeMarcus"Chop Chop" Corley to win the
World Boxing Organisation title last July even though one judge had Corley
winning.
I thought that Judah was outstanding against
Corley considering he fought with a broken left hand after flooring his man in
the third. For all his tough talk, Corley was never really in the fight. If
Judah has a weakness it could be his chin. No one who saw it is likely to forget
Judah's legs doing a crazy dance when he got off the floor after getting tagged
by Kostya Tszyu's right hand in November 2001. But in the first round it had
looked as if Judah might be on his way to the easy win he had predicted when he
outboxed Tszyu and seemed to hurt him with a left hand. Judah has always
maintained that he could have come back to win if referee Jay Nady had let him
continue.
I have my doubts. Tszyu's right-hander seemed
to short-circuit"Super" Zab's nervous system. Judah's post-fight behaviour,
putting a glove to referee Nady's throat, throwing the corner stool in the
direction of the official, was inexcusable and led to a fine and suspension. But
I don't think anyone doubts how desperately disappointed Judah was that the
fight was stopped. Zab's heart isn't in question, but his chin seems to be
another matter, the way he"went" from Tszyu's right-hander, plus knockdowns
suffered against Jan Bergman and Terronn Millet. But Judah came back to crush
Bergman and Millett, both fights ending in the fourth. In the Spinks fight,
though, Judah is facing someone who is not likely to test his chin. Spinks
hasn't stopped an opponent in more than three years. If Spinks is to win he is
going to have to do it by being smarter and stronger.
He might not have Judah's overall quickness but
he might be able to match him in the hand-speed department. And when it comes to
mental toughness, Spinks takes a back seat to nobody. He has said that he takes
the memory of his late mother, brother and best friend into the ring with him
and that it makes him tougher. Both Spinks and Judah had solid amateur
backgrounds, Spinks winning a national Golden Gloves title, Judah reaching the
Olympic trials.
Each is 26 years old. Judah has done well
against southpaws, outpointing Chop Chop Corley, blasting out one-round wins
over Jaime Rangel and a slick southpaw named David Sample. But he has never met
a southpaw like Spinks. Judah is the puncher here, but Spinks stood up to 12
rounds of heavy-handed aggression when he won the World Boxing Council and World
Boxing Association titles from Mayorga. Spinks faces a different type of
pressure against Judah, though. While Mayorga swung punches from all directions,
Judah fires fast, sharp punches. The straight left hand from his southpaw style
will be a particular hazard for Spinks. Judah can alter the complexion of the
fight suddenly with just one well-timed punch - if he can land it.
Conversely, Spinks is unlikely to get Judah
into trouble with one punch, but if he can keep hitting him he can get Zab
rattled and disorientated. Spinks can be accused of having a style that is
unappealing and of being little more than a pitty-pat puncher, but at his core
he is a fighter, the product of a tough, street-type environment. I was
impressed with the way Spinks came back punching with both hands after a rocky
spell against Mayorga. There is an inner strength there. In terms of being
worldly wise and mature, Spinks almost could be called the man in the fight,
with Judah sometimes coming across as a sort of brilliant, some might say
spoiled, boy wonder.
If Judah wins this fight, though, he will have
lived up to all the words of praise that were written prior to the fight with
Tszyu - a fight that, surprising though it may seem now, he was heavily favoured
to win. Since that night Judah has won three bouts, starting with a unanimous
decision over the durable and competent Omar Weis, of Argentina, which was
followed by the victories over Corley and Rangel. He comes into the fight with
Spinks a slight favourite, partly, I think, because the one-round knockout in
Zab's last fight was so impressive but also because he is higher profile, with a
string of bouts on the Showtime television network in America. Also, there could
be a perception that Spinks beat an overrated champion when he upset Mayorga.
The old"styles make fights" thing comes into it, too. Spinks's style was all
wrong for Mayorga, who swung and missed, whereas in Judah he is meeting a fast
boxer-puncher.
Spinks was able to make Mayorga miss and
counter him. He had the Nicaraguan slugger looking off-balance and clumsy.
Against Judah, though, it will be a different sort of fight. Judah won't be
rushing in throwing clubbing-type blows. He will be looking to be assertive in a
smart way, using the jab, feinting, putting mental pressure on Spinks as he
seeks to bring over a big left hand or a right hook. This could be a tactical
sort of fight in the early rounds, each man looking to slip punches and come
with their own shots, each concerned not to make mistakes. If Spinks can put
some doubt in Judah's mind by hitting him with clean punches, if he can get Zab
a bit confused and cause him to lunge or reach with his punches, he can start to
take command. But if Judah can land a big shot early and put Spinks on the floor
- and it could happen - it will have a big impact on the course of the contest,
boosting Judah's sense of being in control while perhaps pushing Spinks into
more of a defensive fight than he really wants. That said, Spinks's chin has
always seemed reliable and he is the genuine welterweight, with natural size
advantage. Judah is stepping straight up to 147lbs without testing the waters.
We can not be sure whether Judah will carry his
punching power up in weight with him - although I have a feeling that he will.
Also, Spinks's punches might affect Judah more than most critics realise. Don't
forget that Zab has never been hit by a fully fledged 147-pounder before. With
all the intangibles, and the proven pedigree of both men, we have that rarity: a
fight in which few can have a really clear idea who is going to win. My feeling
is that at some point, one man is going to take a firm grip on proceedings,
whether it is Judah with speed and power or Spinks with his slippery,"difficult"
style. Judah is the showier fighter but Spinks might be steadier.
I have, though, a vague feeling that Judah
might be on the cusp of a big, breakthrough performance, the one that we thought
would come against Tszyu until Zab got detoured by the Russian-Aussie's right
hand. As I write this preview, my inclination is to go with Judah, because
superior firing power is a wonderful thing to have in a fight where talent seems
equal. Spinks, though, presents problems of almost a unique nature with his
ability to move his body this way and that to avoid blows and come back with
punches from unexpected angles. He can be maddening to fight. If Judah becomes
discomposed by Spinks's deftness and awkwardness he could start to unravel and
get picked off. So, all in all, it seems a toss-up. The winner, very simply,
could be whichever fighter has the better night, and, all things considered, I
think that fighter might be Judah. For additional coverage, see April issue
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