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HBO Boxing After Dark Recap Part 2

 

August 2, 2008

Palms Casino-Las Vegas

 

This is part 2 of a 2 part recap of Saturday's HBO BAD event. Tomorrow a recap of Saturday's Showtime Championship Boxing event featuring Dmitiri Kirilov vs. Vic Darchinyan for the IBF Junior Bantamweight Championship and a secret that people going to the Beijing Olympics should know about the Cuban baseball team.

 

IBF Welterweight (147 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Zab Judah (36-5, 2 NC, 25 KO's, 143 pounds) vs. Joshua Clottey (34-2, 1 NC, 147 pounds)

This title is currently vacant. It was previously held by Antonio Margarito, who vacated it to face Miguel Cotto.

Judah is making his return to television in the United States following a technical knockout loss at 49 seconds of round 11 to Cotto on June 9, 2007 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The match was somewhat controversial. In round 1, Cotto devastated Judah with a left hand to the groin. Judah immediately dropped to the ground in agony, but did not take enough time to recover. He was clearly boxing impaired for the next few minutes fighting to breath and respond normally. Then as it appeared Judah had gotten himself back together in round 3, Cotto savaged Judah, with this time a right hand to his wedding tackle. Judah dropped to the mat and was literally rolling around in tears at the excruciating pain going through his manhood. Again, Judah did not take enough time to recover, and arguably never fully recovered from the second low blow the rest of the match. Cotto then methodically worked the body of Judah, while Judah's wind was already suffering from the 2 shots to his twig and berries (Judah later reported it was mostly all twig). This broke Judah down mentally, until he finally took a knee to stop the onslaught with 1:10 to go in round 9. Judah stood back up and rallied to last out the round. However, following a legitimate knockdown in round 11, Judah was unable to satisfactorily defend himself, and the referee stopped the contest. The final time of the stoppage was 49 seconds of round 11. The original recap of the match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/7/25/recap-of-cotto-vs-judah.html

Judah was originally scheduled to make his return to television in the United States for a May 31 PPV main event match against Shane Mosley. However, in the few weeks leading up to the match, Judah slipped in his Las Vegas hotel bathroom and put his right arm through the glass shower door. The cuts on Judah's arm required 50 stitches to close. The match was originally going to be rescheduled. Then apparently without notifying Mosley, Judah took this match.

The Brooklyn, New York native's last match was a 12-round unanimous decision victory over Ryan Davis on November 17, 2007 to capture a vacant belt at 154 pounds.

Judah is The Ring magazine's number 6 contender to their vacant championship at 147 pounds.

The native of Ghana, now residing in Bronx, New York only has 1 legitimate loss on his record. His first loss came via controversial disqualification to Carlos Baldomir on November 29, 1999 at The Arena in London, England. Clottey's only legitimate loss was a 12-round unanimous decision loss to the new number 1 boxer in the world at 147 pounds, Antonio Margarito, on December 2, 2006 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Clottey was winning the early part of the match with Margarito, before he broke both of his hands on Margarito's face by the end of round 5. (After last week's match with Cotto, someone said if lightning hit Margarito it would have to go to the hospital.) After that, Clottey flew back to Africa to have work done to repair both hands. Clottey's recurring hand injuries could be a problem in this match.

There are not a lot of quality wins on Clottey's record. The most impressive win on his record was a 10-round unanimous decision victory over the late Diego Corrales on April 7, 2007 at the Shrine Mosque in Springfield, Missouri. That was the final match of Corrales' life. The original recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/8/3/recap-of-joshua-clottey-vs-diego-corrales.html

The Bronx resident's last match was a technical knockout victory at 2:48 of round 5 over Jose Luiz Cruz on April 3, 2008 at the Aviator Sports Club in Brooklyn. The win made Clottey the mandatory challenger to this title. It would have meant a rematch with Margarito. However, when Margarito vacated it Clottey was ordered to face Judah for the belt.

Clottey is The Ring's number 7 contender at 147 pounds.

At 31-years-old, Clottey is 1 year older then the 30-year-old Judah. Clottey has the height advantage standing 5' 8" tall, while Judah stands 5' 7" tall. The Bronx resident has the reach advantage with an arm length of 24" measured from the armpit to the end of the fist, compared to the 22" arm length of Judah. Clottey will have the weight advantage in the ring. The native of Ghana's unofficial weight approaching match time is 156 pounds, while Judah is only up to 147 pounds on HBO's unofficial scales. Judah will employ the southpaw stance, and Clottey will employ the orthodox stance. Clottey is approximately the 5-to-2 betting favorite.

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this match. Two of the official judges keeping score of this match from ringside are from Nevada. The other judge is from Pennsylvania. The referee is Robert Byrd. Harold Lederman will be keeping the unofficial scorecard for HBO.

Judah is significantly busier then Clottey in round 1. The southpaw did not land a lot of punches, but was good enough to win round 1, 10-9. Lederman scores round 1 for Judah, 10-9. Judah's activity wins round 2, 10-9. Judah wins round 2 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. Clottey lands the cleaner punches to take round 3, 10-9. After 3 rounds, Judah leads on my scorecard, 29-28. Lederman scores round 3 for Clottey, 10-9, but has Judah ahead in the match after 3 rounds, 29-28.

With 1:54 to go in round 4, the boxers come together and Judah hits Clottey with a left hand low. Since they are in a clinch, Clottey's body shielded the referee from seeing the foul. Judah is receiving a warning, and the referee is rushing Clottey to continue. However, Clottey is still grimacing and hunched over from the pain in his loins. Lacking Bernard Hopkins' wisdom, Clottey is going to accept the referee's urging to continue 4 seconds after the low blow. With 35 seconds to go in the round Judah is beginning to bleed from his nose. He may also have suffered a cut in or around his mouth earlier in the round. Judah may have landed more total punches in round 4, but the clean power punches in round 4 were landed by Clottey. Clottey wins round 4, 10-9. Judah's face is beginning to look bad, with swelling beginning to occur all over his face. Lederman scores round 4 for Clottey, 10-9. Clottey's effective power punching take round 5, 10-9. The native of Ghana wins round 5 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. With 1:18 to go in round 6, Judah, again, hits Clottey low with a left hand. This one was clearly an accident. The punch was directed at Clottey's body. However, Clottey moved towards the punch, cutting off the punch's upward trajectory with his cup. The referee is calling time with 1:10 for Clottey to recover. The referee is not deducting a point. Clottey is not taking very long to rest. That is a mistake boxers make frequently in an attempt to prove they are tough or unhurt, instead of doing what they are supposed to do and take all the time they need to recover from an illegal blow. That may have been Judah's undoing against Cotto. Judah's activity barely wins round 6, 10-9. After 6 rounds the match is even on my scorecard, 57-57. However this match is very similar to Cotto-Margarito. Judah and Cotto had taken roughly the same amount of visual damage through the first 6 rounds. Plus with round 3 being close it is possible that Judah is ahead by the same 58-56 score Cotto was entering the second half of his match. Similarly, Judah's situation looks desperate. The momentum of the match is turning against him and after last week it seems only a matter of time until Clottey knocks him out. Since, Judah is not Cotto making it to round 11 in this situation seems unlikely. However, Clottey is not Margarito. Lederman scores round 6 for Judah, 10-9, and has the match a draw after 6 rounds, 57-57.

Round 7 was close. Judah dominated the first half of the round by being active, while Clottey hardly punched. Then Judah started only looking to counter after that, which allowed Clottey to land several clean power shots to steal the round. Clottey wins round 7, 10-9. Lederman scores round 7 the same. Judah is more active and wins round 8, 10-9. However, a lot of Judah's best punches in round 8 were blocked. Clottey wins round 8 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. With around 2 minutes to go in round 9, Judah has been cut around his right eye. It is unclear if that will impact his vision. The blood from Judah's nose has been getting wiped across his face in the clinches, and he already has swelling around the right eye. Therefore, it is unlikely this new cut will be much worse then anything Judah has been dealing with, so far. This cut was probably caused by an accidental clash of heads. With 1:38 to go in the round the referee is calling time to have the doctor check the cut on the right eyelid of Judah. The ruling is that it is from accidental clash of heads. The doctor is ruling that Judah cannot see. Judah failed the doctor's test of "How many fingers am I holding up?" This match is going to the scorecards where I have it a draw, 76-76. Lederman has the match scored for Clottey, 77-75. Clottey is celebrating, like he won and his corner is hoisting him into the air. The man who is not, yet champion made a rude gesture at the Judah camp, because he believes he has just knocked out their boxer. Unfortunately, this match is going to the scorecards which has the crowd disappointed and will have Clottey dismayed in a few seconds when he figures that out. The referee has tried to explain to him that he has not won, yet. However, Clottey does not seem to be getting this message quickly. Apparently the rules require scoring of the partial round 9. Clottey won round 9 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. That makes Clottey the winner on my scorecard, 86-85. Lederman gives Clottey the match, 87-84. On replay it shows that the cut that prematurely ended this match was clearly caused by a left hand from Clottey.

The official decision courtesy of Lupe Contreras is that the judges have scored this match: 86-85, 87-84, 86-85 all for the winner by way of unanimous decision, and new IBF Welterweight Champion of the World, Joshua "The Hitter" Clottey. The win moves Clottey to 35-2 with 20 of those wins coming by way of knockout and 1 no contest.

The final punchstat numbers have Clottey landing 122 of the 393 total punches he threw, for a 31% total connect percentage. Clottey landed 114 of the 363 power punches he threw, for a 31% power connect percentage. That means Clottey only landed 8 jabs and only attempted 30 in the entire match. Judah landed 117 of the 419 total punches he threw, for a 28% total connect percentage. The Brooklyn native landed 72 of the 139 power punches he threw, for an excellent 52% power connect percentage.

Clottey said in his post match interview that he would like Margarito. If he cannot have Margarito he would like Andre Berto. Clottey's promo made him sound a lot more interested in facing Berto, but knowing that for the money he needs to face Margarito if that match is available.

Judah in his post match interview said that the cut was caused by a headbutt. He thinks it may have been a small cut that was made larger by the punch. Judah is near tears in this interview. He is so disappointed, because he thinks this may have been his last chance at a title.

The doctor is now being interviewed. The doctor said Judah insisted he could fight, but could not see. The doctor then had Judah try to tell how many fingers he (the doctor) was holding up 3 different times. Judah was unable to tell how many fingers the doctor was holding up each time. Therefore, the doctor stopped the match. The doctor is saying that the blood was not what was stopping Judah from being able to see, because the blood had been cleaned away from Judah's eye when Judah was given the eye test. The doctor would have let Judah continue, because the cut was not that threatening, had Judah been able to see.

Clottey looked very good in this match. He belongs among the elite at 147 pounds. However, he is not going to get a match with Margarito. Clottey pulled his right bicep in round 5. Margarito's people have scheduled a return to PPV for their boxer on November 1, potentially at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. Clottey will reportedly be able to resume training in a week, but even if he is healthy by then he is not enough of a name to headline a PPV card in Chavez Ravine. He was impressive in this victory, but not impressive in the way that will sell thousands of PPV's. He is a dangerous match up for Margarito or any other top boxer at 147 with little upside that he can help them draw money. ESPN.com's Dan Rafael points out that even if Berto and Clottey would like to face each other, Berto's people will ensure that match does not happen. Berto's people have a rising star and it would be a poor idea to risk permanently damaging him in a match that cannot draw against an elite champion. This match may happen in 2 or 3 years, but not anytime soon. Clottey is probably going to have to face a lot of nameless challengers of varying skill on HBO BAD events, until one of the top boxers at 147 pounds decides they need him or his title to prove something.

Judah probably had one of his best performances in this loss. He showed a ton of heart going out and trying to win, rather then boxing to survive the last several rounds. It is unlikely that Judah lied to the doctor about not being able to see and used the cut to bail out of this match. Judah's career needed the win in this match for him too much, and he did not have the look of a man trying to take the easy way out of a match. However, he clearly knew what saying "I cannot see" meant. It took 18 stitches to close the cut above Judah's eye after the match. Judah's strong performance in the loss and proven drawing power may earn him the call to be Margarito's opponent on November 1. Despite that, Judah should not be boxing at 147 pounds. He is giving up far too much size to the other boxers in the division. Margarito is 4" taller then Judah. Paul Williams is at least 7" taller then Judah and would enter the ring about 20 pounds heavier then Judah. Judah belongs at 140 pounds. There his power, speed and proven ability to draw money would probably earn him a shot at Hatton on PPV by the end of 2009.

 

This match was good. However, the flat ending took away from the match. Judah lost the match on the judges' scorecards based on his 1:22 of inactivity in round 9. The 2 scorecards that had Clottey by 1 point, both had the match a draw going into the round. They then gave the abbreviated round 9 to Clottey. However, Judah should have lost the match via technical knockout from the cut being caused by a punch. No matter what the ending was unsatisfying. It was not, there should be a rematch unsatisfying. More of is that really it? What could have been a great crowd reaction for a new champion was replaced with apathy and some boos. This HBO BAD event is a must watch, but the recommendation is to skip the live portion of the broadcast, it will only leave a viewer disappointed.

 

News and Notes: Israel Vazquez has decided to take the rest of 2008 off. He last boxed on March 1 against Rafael Marquez, in a near lock for match of the year. It was the pair's third consecutive meeting and Vazquez was told to retire after the first meeting, because he was showing diminished capacities. Vazquez' trainer, Freddie Roach, refused to work with him anymore after the first match saying the boxer should retire. After 2 more life altering encounters, it would be best if Vazquez were to end his career. If Mick Foley has been thinking about and feeling that night with the Undertaker for the last 10 years, Vazquez will be thinking about and feeling his 3 nights with Marquez for the rest of his life. Hopefully, at the end Vazquez will be able to remember who the man he is dreaming about is.

Jeff Lacy has signed to face Jermain Taylor on November 15 on HBO. The winner of that match will challenge the winner of Carl Froch vs. Jean Pascal for a belt at 168 pounds that has been vacated by Joe Calzaghe.

In an update to what I wrote yesterday, the match between Steve Forbes and Andre Berto will no longer be on the October 4 HBO event. It will now be on the undercard of the September 27 HBO event that will feature Shane Mosley vs. Ricardo Mayorga.

The purgatory Sergio Mora has been in the last several months by being contractually obligated to face 2 different opponents next appears to be nearing an end. A deal is now being finalized for Mora to rematch Vernon Forrest on the undercard of the September 13 HBO PPV event that will feature Joel Casamayor vs. Juan Manuel Marquez.

The WBO has ordered a match between Enzo Maccarinelli and Johnathon Banks for the title at 200 pounds that was recently vacated by David Haye. It will take place September 27 somewhere in the United Kingdom and not be televised in America.

Haye is finally going to be making his heavyweight debut now on November 15 at the O2 Arena in London, England. An opponent has yet to be named and because of the numerous delays it will not be broadcast on HBO. All of this makes it very unlikely Haye will get a title shot at Wladimir Klitschko following his November 15 match, no matter how much he works the British press.

 

The recap of Saturday's Showtime Championship Boxing event will come out tomorrow.