Zab Judah Looks Trim And Sharp In Return To 140

Hes baaack. We can say that, cant we, after Zab Judah hammered Jose Armando Santa Cruz in the main event at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on Friday night?

Judah is now campaigning at junior welter, his starting out weight, and came in at a trim and ready 141 pounds. Judah rose to 39-6 when he dropped Santa Cruz in the third, and then went in for the killshot. He trapped the loser on the ropes, and ref Benji Esteves interceded, at 2:33 of the round.

The TKO win had Judah and promoter Kathy Duva pumped up, calling out any and all the young guns at 140.

Alexander, Khan, Bradley or Maidana, Duva wants em all to know she has the Pru Center booked for Oct. 2, and that she has an apparently on message Judah ready to school them.

Judah was in complete control early, using a jab to keep Santa Cruz at bay. He ripped body shots, with both hands, and the Mexican was too slow to do anything about it. He tried to pick it up, and pressure Zab, but the Brooklyner slipped too craftily. Santa Cruz tried to step it up, pressure Zab, but Judah was too fleet of foot to be bothered.

TSS U, maybe you think were getting ahead of ourselves, and would prefer to see Judah take on a better caliber hitter than Santa Cruz before you admit hes back in the mix. Fair enough. Perhaps we can agree that we shall see.

Newarks Alex Perez (11-0 entering) took on Edvan Barros (10-9-1 coming in) in a welterweight tangle, set for eight or fewer. This scrap kicked off the Friday Night Fights telecast. The lefty Perez looked to be the aggressor. He overswung, was too wild early on. He leaned in, offering his head on a platter to Barros quite often. Barros turned the tables, and took it to Perez later on. The pace was swift throughout. Wed go to the cards: 77-75, 78-74, 80-72 they said, for Perez.

Hey Russell Peltz, you could do worse than to book Patrick Farrell and Newton Kidd against each other for every Pru card. The cruisers went at it, and spent it all in the ring, enroute to a six round draw.

Heavyweight Adam Kownacki, fighting out of Brooklyn, had the Poles in attendance roaring when he stopped Damian Clement, out of Dayton, Ohio in round two.

Nicky Demarco, from Staten Island, met Jose Guzman in a lightweight four rounder.

Brooklyns Sadam Ali saw action, against Julias Edmonds, in a welter six. An uppercut dropped Edmonds in the first. He got up, and Ali waded in, and looked to end it. Julias hung in, and tried to get offensive. He made it to the next round. In the second, he went down again. The ref saw enough in the third, when Ali trapped Julias on the ropes, and basted him. The end came at 1:14 of the third. FYI this was the second time Julias was stopped. Pretty good session for Ali: he was crisp, busy, intent, powerful and speedy.

SPEEDBAG Tomasz Adamek was front row. The honorary Jersey Boy is looking to go 5-0 in the Pru when he takes on 6-7 Michael Grant on Aug. 21. He came over and chatted with Alex Povetkin, who was in da house, hanging out behind trainer Teddy Atlas.