Judah Escapes with Close SD Win; Guerrero Wins Exciting Bout Against Escobedo
ProBoxing-Fans.com was live at ringside for the Zab Judah vs. Lucas Matthysse headlined HBO card from the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, where 4,172 fans were in attendance on a big night for boxing. The televised supporting bout featured Robert Guerrero vs. Vicente Escobedo, and the undercard before that featured several big name prospects. Check out full Judah vs. Matthysse results, Guerrero vs. Escobedo results, a huge collection of ringside pictures from the event, and more.
Judah vs. Matthysse Results
The Zab Judah vs. Lucas Matthysse fight started with two questions. Was Matthysse really the devastating puncher that his record showed and was Zab Judah really back after winning a few comeback fights at the junior welterweight division?
The fight started very slowly, with the first three rounds offering extremely little for fans, or judges, to watch or take note of. Finally at the end of third round, Judah clipped Matthysse with a solid shot that got everyone’s attenton and got Zab smiling. He followed that up with a big fourth round, while Matthysse seemingly had no offensive game plan or ability to generate an attack. The same telegraphed 1-2 continued to be thrown without results.
Still, Judah was respectful of Matthysse’s power, because he stayed within himself and didn’t open too much with his own attack. Matthysse’s punches thud and push Judah back even just landing on his shoulders and arms, but nothing was landing cleanly or effectively for him.
In the eigth, Judah started to find a home for his straight left, throwing and landing it repeatedly before another clash of heads halted the action, and had Judah complaining to the referee. Matthysse came out for the ninth much more aggressively, bulling Judah aruond, winging combinations, and throwing hard to the body and head. Judah, who had been showing signs of swelling to his face, seemed to be wearing down by the end of the round.
Matthysse followed that up with a huge 10th round, going to the body, roughing Zab up and eventually sending him to the canvas against the ropes with a straight right to the top of the head. The pressure continued in the 11th round, as a gassed Judah stayed retreating and taking punishment. Another big round for Matthysse left three minutes left on the clock to close out the show. Judah managed to make it to the final bell, but it wasn’t easy.
Official scorecards read: 114-113 Matthysse, 114-113 Judah and 114-113 for Judah, winner by split decision. Fans booed the decision and the fight was close, but it was Matthysse who closed the show. Still, Judah swept the early rounds and had enough of them in the bank to escape with a win.
So to answer the original questions, is Matthysse for real? He’s raw, but he’s powerful, and he could potentially make some noise against the right opponents. Is Judah back? He’s still a big name, but he’s not much of a big draw any longer, and he doesn’t seem to have enough left in the tank to make another run to the top.
Guerrero vs. Escobedo Results
Robert Guerrero and Vicente Escobedo met in a lightweight clash, after fighting three times as amateurs. The man who deserved the win got it, but the judges did the loser a disservice by scoring a competitive bout as a one-sided blowout.
Escobedo was cut badly in the first round from an accidental head butt, with a large cut opening on the left side of his head. Guerrero sent Escobedo to the canvas right at the start of the third round, and continually went to the body against Escobedo, who was the smaller and speedier man in the ring.
But by the middle rounds it seemed that Guerrero’s power and technical boxing were too much, despite Escobedo having his moments with clean counters and well-timed shots. Guerrero turned Escobedo around and down to the canvas with a hook in the sixth, a thudding punch that echoed through the arena after knockdowns were incorrectly not called in the fifth.
After that though Escobedo came alive, and showcased great timing with his shots. Guerrero seemed to either tire or lose focus because he was winning, or both, as Escobedo landed flush, well placed shots and won three straight from the seventh to the ninth.
In the 10th, both men were tired but it was Ecobedo who took charge. He staggered Guerrero and contineud to apply pressure, closing out the fight with an emphatic statement. But it was Guerrero who had the two early knockdowns in the bag. Official judges’s scorecards read: 100-88, 98-90, 96-92, an extremely wide decision, with one judge saying that Escobedo didn’t take a single round. Who was that judge?… none other than Eugenia Williams.
ProBoxing-Fans.com thought Escobedo won the last four rounds of the fight, but Guerrero deserved the decision for the damage he did in the early going. Guerrero improves to 28-1-1 and Escobedo falls to 22-3. According to the interviews Guerrero had with ProBoxing-Fans.com before the fight, he’s putting his aim to the winner of the Marquez vs. Katsidis bout.
Massive Ringside Photo Gallery
Undercard Results
In the last undercard bout before the televised portion of the card, former Olympian Sadam Ali met Gary Bergeron. Ali came out strong and determined, knocking him down in the first round down, nearly finishing him at the bell and then pouring it on at the start of the second.
He put him down again in the second, and then landed a succession of hard shots to the head before the referee waived the bout off. Ali raises his record to 10-0 with 6 KOs and Bergeron falls to 12-7. Ali, from Brooklyn, had a strong following at the arena and looks to be a name to watch out for in the near future, with precision punching and good power.
Lightweight Adrien “The Problem” Broner from Cincinnati improved his record to 18-0 with 15 KOs with a knockout win taking just 1:34 of 1 round. He defeated Idilo Julio, now 40-20-1. Broner blitzed and overwhelmed him from the start, and left no suspense as to how these two were stacked up or how their fight would play out.
Light heavyweight prospect Angel Concepcion received a loud ovation from his hometown Newark, NJ fans as he took care of business in a four round decision against his overmatched opponent. Concepcion looked sharp but also failed to take out a hurt and tired fighter, winning his third pro fight easily in the process.
Prospects Mikael Zewski and Mike Perez also scored wins on the opening portion of the The Judah vs. Matthysse undercard. Both kept their undefeated records intact in the process.
Boxers in attendance at the card included Mike Tyson, Daniel Jacobs, Joan Guzman, Shamone Alvarez and Tarvis Simms. A heavyweight fight including Polish prospect Maruisz Wach was canceled because his opponent never showed to the weigh-in.
Thanks for checking out the ProBoxing-Fans.com report from ringside of the Judah vs. Matthysse results and Guerrero vs. Escobedo results from the HBO card this weekend.
