By Nick Bellafatto
Photo: Joe Camporeale, USA TODAY Sports
With each fighter bloodied down the stretch, Philadelphia, PA’s Danny “Swift” Garcia (26-0, 16 KO’s) cut from a clash of heads while Brooklyn born Zab “Super” Judah (42-8, 29 KO’s) suffered the effects of a gash under his left eye courtesy of a straight right hand, the action would be at it’s most heated.
And although the 35-year-old veteran and former world champion Judah would rally late to visibly sweep the championship rounds before a packed house at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York this past Saturday night, Garcia up to that point would prove to be the dominant fighter.
As a result, “Swift” Garcia would register a unanimous decision victory by scores of 116-111, 115-112, and 114-112 to not only maintain his WBA, WBC, and Ring Magazine 140-pound championship belts, but his undefeated record well.
With mutual respect shown amongst both camps after more than a little bad blood had developed during the fight’s build up, Danny Garcia would state post-fight, “I knew he was never going to give up so I had to beat the hometown guy in his hometown.”
As to getting stunned by Judah in the late going the Philly fighter would continue on. “He’s a crafty veteran with power. He hit me with a good shot. He hit me with a left hand. But I’m a true champion and I got to fight through a storm in order to be a champion. And I proved that tonight.”
Judah in offering his sentiments would succinctly conclude, “it’s boxing. You win some you lose some. Danny Garcia is a tough fighter. I was on my A game tonight. We gave it our best shot. Your gonna see me fight again. Why would I quit?”
Although falling short in his prediction to stop Judah within four rounds, “Swift” Garcia would nevertheless as early as round 5 demonstrate an edge in power. Wobbling the challenger in the fifth frame with a counter-right hand, it would be that same right hand paying dividends throughout, as opposed to that of Danny landing his vaunted left hook as many had anticipated.
Picking up where he left off, the defending champion after eating a solid left from Judah without so much as flinching, would land yet another stiff right in the sixth, staggering Judah in a manner that would conjure up memories of his knockout loss at the hands of Kosta Tszyu earlier in his career.
Round 7 would see the worm turn a bit as the Brooklyn born fighter now living in Las Vegas would outland his opponent, clearly banking his first round. However, failing to capitalize on that momentum, Zab would once more find himself on the receiving end of solid counters in round 8, in this instance a 1-2 combo that would not only deposit the challenger on the canvass, but in addition produce the aforementioned gash located under left his eye.
With not much in the way of offensive output from either combatant in the ninth stanza, “Swift” Garcia had perhaps garnered this particular round on aggression alone. Then by way of landing shots that on more than one occasion had stopped Garcia in his tracks, rounds 10-12 would see Zab significantly narrow the gap on the scorecards.
However, really in need of a knockout at this stage, too little too late delivered on the part of Zab “Super” Judah would cause him to fall short in this his latest title bid, with the prospect of participating in another fight of such magnitude quite diminished.
In the end, Danny Garcia who remains perched atop the junior welterweight throne to fight another day, will no doubt be an interested observer as regards the upcoming May 18th title clash between hard hitting Argentinian Lucas Matthysse and IBF champion Lamont Peterson.
For it’s these two fighters, respectively ranked first and third in the division, who will battle it out for the right to face Garcia in coming months, the aim here being to produce an undisputed 140-pound world champion. This is quite a noble aspiration harkening back to what seems a bygone era.
But with perhaps Amir Khan waiting in the wings to face the ultimate winner in what looks to be a two steps forward one step back scenario, this represents yet another irony that can only be found in the sport of boxing. A certain topic for a future article.
Quillin retains title with stoppage of game challenger Guerrero
The first knockdown of the seventh round, a counter-right uppercut administered by Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (29-0, 21 KO’s) of Brooklyn, New York, would for all intensive purposes finish off a game challenger in Salisbury, Maryland’s Fernando Guerrero (25-2, 19 KO’s), who, collapsing to the canvass after receiving further glancing blows, would prompt referee Harvey Dock to waive the bout off. The official time, 1:30 of round seven as Quillin not only retains his WBO middleweight title, but his unblemished record as well.
Scoring two knockdowns and nearly a third in the second frame, it was apparent that the slightly lengthier Quillin would also have an advantage in power. But miraculously surviving round 2, Guerrero would gather himself to continue on.
And at the request of trainer Barry Hunter, the Dominican born Guerrero would back Quillin up to find a bit of success in rounds 4 through 6, slightly outworking and outlanding the defending champion during this time despite being buckled at the end of the fourth.
But seldom throwing more than one or two punches at a time, the southpaw Guerrero would prove vulnerable to a fight finishing uppercut that would in essence derail his current title ambitions.
