Judah Blames Don King

After Zab Judah’s shocking loss of his welterweight titles Saturday night  it wasn’t shocking that he lost it was shocking that the judges got it right the tension in the air at the Madison Square Garden Theater was thick enough to cut with a knife. The ring was crowded with people who feared and hoped to prevent another Jay Nady-type incident. That, fortunately, did not occur in New York City. Zab did not get violent Saturday not with the ref Arthur Mercante Jr., not with the judges Melvina Lathan, Guido Cavallieri and Julie Lederman, not with his opponent Carlos Baldomir.

Among those responsible for Zab’s humiliating loss, the first name that came to his mind, the first name that popped out of his mouth, was his promoter Don King. There are several reasons for Zab’s meltdown last week, at which he needs to take a good hard if hopes to go out a winner, but Don King is not one of them.

According to the now ex-welterweight champ, I have no excuses, but my promoter (Don King) messed me up. All week I was doing his job of promoting the fight by making appearances all over the place.

Yeah, sure, Zab’s right, it’s true, it’s tough and it’s hard: a week of press conferences, TV appearances, radio spots, whatnot and et cetera; life’s a bitch and then you die.

At the post-fight press conference, someone told Don King what Judah said about the promoter being responsible for what happened, and King, in his fashion, was amused. He heard the accusation, smiled his zillion watt smile and said, They’ve been blaming me for everything for as long as I can remember. The Johnstown Flood, the Sinking of the Lusitania, the San Francisco Earthquake, Krakatoa everything but Hurricane Katrina!

That’s as good a commentary on Judah’s excuse for his loss to Carlos Baldomir as anything I can think of at the moment.