In the latest ESPN Friday Night Fights card from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey,  Zab "Super" Judah made an impressive return to the ring after an 8-month hiatus with a 3rd round TKO over Jose Armando Santa Cruz in a Junior Welterweight clash..

The former world Light Welterweight and Welterweight title holder from Brooklyn, New York, Judah (38-6 with 26 KOs) displayed the speed and excellent boxing ability that once highlighted his early career.  Coming off a lengthy layoff, Judah did not appear to have any ring rust against Mexico's Santa Cruz (28-4 with 17 KOs),  a former NABF Lightweight title holder.

From the opening round, Judah's superior boxing skills,  excellent jabs and  in-and-out movement kept him out of harm's way.  The younger Santa Cruz was unable to utilize his superior height and reach advantage over Judah.  Although he pressed the action from the start,  the Mexican was just too slow, displayed poor balance and threw mostly arm punches that were easily avoided by Judah's vastly better boxing skills.

After easily winning the two opening rounds, Zab caught his opponent with a crushing left uppercut to the head in the third round as he was rushing in.  The punch knocked a hurt Santa Cruz to the canvas,  and he listened to referee Benjy Estevez Jr.'s 8-count while on unsteady legs.  It was obvious the end was near.

Wanting to "close the show" in impressive fashion,  Judah landed a three punch combination that sent his reeling opponent into the ropes ready to go down once again.  However, referee Estevez Jr. wisely halted the action at 2:33 of the round to save the loser from unnecessary punishment. 

With the impressive victory,  Zab Judah made a successful return to the Junior Welterweight division after having mixed results in the higher 147-pound division, where he sported a 4-4 record in his last 8 fights.

In the post fight ring comments, the former two division champion commented on his desire to face three of the 140-division's elite fighters, Devon Alexander, England's Amir Khan and Timothy Bradley.

With his impressive boxing skills and speed, and with the addition of former Light Heavyweight champion Eddie Mustafa Muhammad to his training team,  Brooklyn's Zab "Super" Judah certainly is a tough hurdle to overcome for any of the world's best 140-pounders.  Facing any of the aforementioned three elite fighters would provide an exciting evening of boxing that surely would result in fight of the year candidates.
 

7-17-2010