Boxing

Judah dominates, retains title

By TOM JONES, Associated Press
Published May 15, 2005

LAS VEGAS - Zab Judah was looking for redemption and a big win.

He got both Saturday night to retain his undisputed welterweight title.

Fighting in the same ring where he embarrassed himself and was suspended from boxing four years ago for going after a referee, Judah stopped Cosme Rivera in the third round to make his case as a prime candidate for some big money fights.

"This is the new Zab Judah," Judah said. "I have grown up a lot."

The fight was on the undercard of the Felix Trinidad-Winky Wright middleweight fight at the MGM Grand hotel-casino.

Judah knocked Rivera down only seconds into the fight, one of three knockdowns before referee Joe Cortez moved in to stop the bout at 2:11 of the third round.

It was the first defense of the titles he won by stopping Cory Spinks on Feb. 5. Both the ending and Judah's actions were far different than in November 2001, when he was stopped by Kostya Tszyu in a 140-pound title fight and went after referee Jay Nady for stopping the fight.

"I wanted to give a world championship performance tonight to help put behind me what happened after that fight," Judah said. "I apologize for that."

Though the end didn't come until the third round, the fight was pretty much over when Judah (34-2, 25 KOs) knocked Rivera (28-8-2) down just 23 seconds into the bout with a big left hand that landed squarely on his nose.

THANKS, BUT NO THANKS: Even before the combatants stepped into the ring, some were hyping the Wright-Trinidad match as a potential fight of the year.

To accomplish that, Wright and Trinidad had the monumental task of trying to outshine the slugfest of a week ago between Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales. And Wright had no intention of getting into trading haymakers.

"Man, there ain't no way on earth I'll be in a fight like that," Wright said of Corrales' TKO victory in the WBC/WBO lightweight title fight in Las Vegas. "Those kind of fights? They take years off your career."

IT'S MONEY THAT MATTERS: Wright had no problem that he made $4-million for Saturday's fight while Trinidad made $10-million.

"I'm taking less money, but it's cool," Wright said. "I'm still making money that most people never make in their lives."

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS: Saturday's fight was the fifth in Las Vegas for Wright.

He was 4-0 entering the fight against Trinidad. The three losses of his 45-fight career all came away from Las Vegas: France, South Africa and Oregon.

Times staff writer Tom Jones and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Last modified May 15, 2005, 01:21:24]