Judah asked promoter Don King for a second chance. One more shot at Cory Spinks. "Not only will I win," said Zab, " I’m going to knock him out." In front of a capacity crowd of 22,370, a record for an indoor boxing match, Judah delivered. A left to the face of Cory Spinks sent him into a tailspin. Juda seized the WBC/WBA/IBF belts with a 9th round stoppage. Judah, king of the Welterweights, brings all the titles back home to Brooklyn, New York.
Here’s a story of a champ who fell and got back up.
He was the glare and the glitter of the talented pool of boxers from the class of 1996. In his coming out party, a guy named Kostya Tszyu brought the punch to the dance. Within 6 minutes Zab Judah, or Zabby Fresh, your on Show-time was over. Then in his first fight at Welterweight for the 147lbs title, Cory “The Next Generation� Spinks prevailed. For the second time Judah fell from grace and was considered buried and gone.
Judah asked promoter Don King for a second chance. One more shot at Cory Spinks. “Not only will I win,” said Zab, ” I’m going to knock him out.” In front of a capacity crowd of 22,370, a record for an indoor boxing match, Judah delivered. A left to the face of Cory Spinks sent him into a tailspin. Juda seized the WBC/WBA/IBF belts with a 9th round stoppage. Judah, king of the Welterweights, brings all the titles back home to Brooklyn, New York. The ShowTime televised bout was at the Savvis Center in St. Louis.
Spinks’ grand entrance into the ring was with rap-star Nelly, adding a spice of Hip-Hop flavor–Turning the bout into an event worthy of an MTV award. From the roar of the crowd Zab knew that he was in the lion’s den. The only way out was to slay Pharaoh. A focused Judah had payback on his mind and revenge on the menu. The crowd was still screaming as the bell sounded. Judah aggressively took the fight right to Spinks. Landing whirlwind left hands to the face of Spinks like it was round 13. Spinks looked like he left his legs at the concert.
The next couple of rounds Judah set a fast pace by applying pressure. Spinks soon found the bounce in his legs circling and popping Judah with short shots from outside. Spinks started pulling back from the left-hand assault of Judah allowing him to attack the body of Spinks. Both fighters mixed it up, with Cory boxing while Judah closing the distance. Zab would work on the inside putting combo’s together, Spinks bending low, darting in and out, landing the right-left combo to the jaw of Zab with the crowd yelling after every Spinks punch.
The two crafty southpaws exhibited style over substance in an even fight until Zab figured it out with the right hook to the head of Spinks in the 7th . A solid left to the head followed by solid right hook to the rib cage sent Cory stumbling from the ropes and gloves touching the canvas at the bell. The ref ruled no knockdown. In the 8th Zab came out taking matters in his own hand. Judah swarmed all over Spinks, firing chopping punches to Spinks’ face. Pinned in the corner Spinks grabbed his mouthpiece looking for blood. Spinks continued to fight as both boxers mixed it up to the bell.
In round nine Cory Spinks started snapping the jab. He connected with a combo to the head of Zab. Spinks’ straight left stopped a Juda counter-attack. The crowd was chanting for Cory. Zab landed a wicked left hand while the two were trading punches. The shot to the face froze Spinks. Zab advanced with a barrage of punches and Spinks’ wobbled then fell down. Spinks rose only to be greeted by another left. Judah looked at ref Amando Garcia to stop the onslaught. Zab walked down spinks and landed two tremendous lefts shots to the face of Spinks. Garcia stepped in and stopped the fight at 2:49 of the 9th.
With 27 wins Judah captured the undisputed welterweight titles and improved to (33-2, 24KO’s). Big names like Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley with big pay days wait in the wings. Spinks’s dropped to (34-3, 11KO’s). The trilogy between Zab Judah & Cory Spinks well be on the back burner for a while because Cory will move up to 154lbs to fight.
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