Judah wins by split decision

After thoroughly controlling the first half of his IBF title eliminator against Argentine Lucas Matthysse, Zab Judah was cut by a head butt in the eighth round, pummeled in the ninth and finally knocked down in the 10th by a hard right hook. But the early work Judah did with his jab saved him in the end as he somehow salvaged a victory by split decision Saturday night at the Prudential Center.

The Brooklyn fighter came into the ring as the crowd favorite in his first bout at the junior welterweight limit of 140 pounds in seven years. But after a dull first half of the fight, the strong finish by Matthysse won many over.

All three judges scored the bout 114-113, but while Waleska Roldan called Matthysse the winner, Joseph Pasquale and Hilton Whitaker gave the edge to Judah, eliciting nearly as many boos as cheers when Michael Buffer announced the winner.

"I won the fight,'' Matthysse said. "This was a bad decision. I was undefeated. This decision hurts boxing. Zab never hurt me, and I won the championship rounds. What more do they want? I clearly won.''

Judah admitted he didn't expect Matthysse to be so strong and said he must have weighed close to 160 by fight time after making the 140-pound limit on the number Friday.

At the same time, Judah was upset by the head butts. "Every time I looked up, he was hitting me with butts from his head,'' he said. "He fought this fight with head butts. But I kept my jab, and that's what worked for me in the end.''

In 27 previous fights, Matthysse scored 25 knockouts, won once on a disqualification and won a 10-round decision in his only fight that went more than four rounds. So Judah was patient in the early going, respecting the Argentinian's power but generally controlling the fight with his right jab and landing the occasional sharp left.

Matthysse had a strong third when he landed several body shots, but in the fourth, he barely threw anything because Judah was too fast.

Starting in the fifth round, Judah grew more aggressive, connecting with a right hook to the head and a sharp left hook later in the round. Matthysse saved his response for the sixth when he tried to get inside with Judah and get a little more physical. In the seventh, Judah spun out of harm's way whenever he was threatened and continued to use his jab as a control mechanism.

Boos from the crowd of 4,172 peppered both boxers at the bell ending the seventh because of their impatience with such a tactical fight. Judah heard and opened the eighth by scoring twice with two hard left hands. Moments later, he reeled angrily from a head butt by Matthysse that left a cut at the corner of his left eye.

Emboldened by the sight of blood and the sight of Judah's puffy left eye starting to close, Matthysse began to show his strength in the ninth. He started out working the body, and then the Argentine grabbed the back of Judah's head with his left hand and fired three quick rights. It was a move he would repeat to great effect in the next round without any warning from referee Earl Brown.

Matthysse opened the 10th with a hard right and then knocked Judah down with a second right hook. Judah landed once when he got up, but now Matthysse was in brawling mode, holding Judah's head once more while landing the right and pushing him to the ropes. When Judah worked free, his legs seemed rubbery. The 11th was all Matthysse, though Judah landed one sharp combo.

The fight was even on Newsday's card going to the 12th, but of course, the momentum was all going the way of Matthysse, who continued to move forward and push Judah around the ring to the final bell. But Newsday's card favoring Matthysse 114-113 didn't help him. All three judges agreed with the score, but the majority allowed Judah to continue his comeback in the 140-pound division.

Notes & quotes: In the co-main that opened the HBO telecast, former champion Robert Guerrero (28-1-1, 18 KOs) was impressive in winning a unanimous decision over Vicente Escobar (22-3, 14 KOs) in a lightweight match. The southpaw Guerrero knocked Escobar down with a short right in the third round and again in the sixth with a powerful left uppercut.

A sharp left in the fourth opened a cut over Escobar's right eye, and Guerrero re-opened it during an exchange in the 10th. The scorecards indicated Guerrero's mastery by margins of 100-88, 98-90 and 96-92. Newsday gave Guerrero a 98-90 win.

"I feel great,'' Guerrero said. "I'm the mandatory for the winner of Marquez and Katsidis now.''

Escobar was unlucky in battle but lucky in love as his proposal in the ring after the fight was accepted by his girlfriend, Valerie Zarate.

The undercard was loaded with mismatches that were little more than glorified sparring sessions. Brooklyn welterweight Sadam Ali improved to 10-0 with 5 KOs by scoring a TKO at 2:18 of the second round against Gary Bergeron (12-7, 7 KOs), who is from New Orleans and would have been better matched against fellow Cajun Calvin Borel, who showed more aggressiveness at Churchill Downs than Bergeron did. It was target practice for Ali because nothing was coming back at him.