Judah wins easy decision

By John McMullen
The Phanatic Magazine

Former undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah won a rather uneventful unanimous decision over Edwin Vazquez Friday.

Judah (35-5, 25 KOs) dominated all three scorecards, 97-93, 98-93, 100-90, en route to winning for the first time since May of 2005 when he upended Cosme Rivera.

The bout marked the Brooklyn native's first action since a violent 11th-round TKO loss to Miguel Cotto for the WBA welterweight crown on June 9 at New York's famed Madison Square Garden.

Judah was never in trouble against the lightly-regarded Vazquez (22-11-3, 3 KOs), who was coming off a unanimous decision loss to Matthew Hatton in June.

Judah failed to impress, however, in what came off as a glorified sparring session for the former champ. He established his superiority early and won the first four rounds of the fight on most scorecards before losing some of his aggressiveness and letting Vazquez score a little in round 5.

Judah reestablished control from there as the Puerto Rican veteran, Vazquez, seemed content to go the distance without pushing or challenging Judah.

Knowing he needed a miracle, Vazquez came out in the eighth round throwing wildly but failed to connect again and again as Judah taunted him and played defense, scoring with a few nice counters.

Judah, who is already penciled in for another tune-up bout in mid-November, cruised to the finish line from there as he shoots for one last big payday with the division's most popular fighter, Oscar De La Hoya.