Zab dazzles in Brooklyn
THEY SAY there’s nothing like Paris in spring. And after Vernon Paris’ trip to Brooklyn to take on Zab Judah at the Aviator Sports and Event Center he probably wished he were strolling down the Champs Elysee on Saturday night.
Judah, who hails from Bed Stuy and was fighting in Brooklyn for the first time in his professional career, pounded Paris for eight rounds before stopping him on a TKO at 27 seconds of the ninth in an IBF junior welterweight title elimination bout. The victory puts Judah one step closer to regaining his IBF title that he lost to Amir Khan in Las Vegas last July.
Judah hurt Paris with a straight left and then landed a barrage of unanswered punches before referee Steve Willis stepped in to stop the fight. It was a good stoppage, because Paris was totally outclassed and was only going to take more punishment if the fight had gone the full 12 rounds.
Paris (26-1, 15 KOS) suffered his first defeat. Judah (42-7, 29 KOS) landed 61% of his power shots, according to Compubox punch statistics, and Paris had no answers for Judah’s southpaw style.
It was a brilliant boxing performance by Judah, who seemed to regain his championship form, and it capped an action-packed night.
Judah was coming off a disappointing loss to Khan, in which he was stopped by a body shot that he thought was low. He lost the IBF title during that fight and he was trying to regain his status as a world champion and a measure of respect. But first he needed to get past Paris.
There was quite a bit of trash-talking going on from the Paris camp. The ques- tion was whether Paris would be able to back it up when he stepped into the ring against Judah, a former undisputed welterweight champion and two-time junior welterweight king.
Judah opened with a blistering pace and Paris tried to get up to speed. In the first couple of rounds, whenever Paris got stung by a shot he would turn his back to Judah. Midway through the second round Judah caught Paris with a blistering right hand that seemed to knock Paris off kilter, but Judah couldn’t follow up.
By the fourth round Paris was running out of steam and he had abandoned whatever strategy that he took into the ring. He was merely waiting for Judah to make a mistake that he could capitalize on with a big shot. Focus has never been one of Judah’s best qualities. But all he had to do was to concentrate on using his boxing skills to get rid of Paris.
In the end Paris simply was no match for the 34-year-old Judah. Khan lost the IBF title to Lamont Peterson. They are fighting a rematch in Las Vegas on May 19.
In the main undercard bouts, Curtis Stevens ended a two-year layoff by stopping Romaro Johnson at 2:16 of the first round. Stevens (22-3, 16 KOS), moving down from super middleweight to middleweight, knocked down Johnson (11-6-1, 6 KOS) three times in the first round before the fight was stopped. . . . Philly heavyweight Bryant Jennings (13-0, 5 KOS) stopped former champion Sergei Liakhovich (25-5, 16 KOS) on a ninth-round TKO. . . . Heavyweight contender Tomasz Adamek (45-2, 28 KOS) pounded out a tough 10-round decision against Nagy Aguilera (17-7, 12 KOS). It was Adamek’s first fight since losing in a title match against Vitali Klitschko back in September.