It's a rematch of a fight with a dramatic conclusion. An undisputed title is on the line. And one of the fighters has bloodlines to two former champions.
Tonight's 147-pound title bout in St. Louis between southpaws Cory Spinks and Zab Judah seems to have the makings of a great fight. But outside of St. Louis -- Spinks's home town, where the 20,655-seat Savvis Center, site of the fight, is sold out -- it hasn't exactly created a buzz.
Zab Judah will attempt to take away Cory Spinks' welterweight title on Saturday night. Spinks and Judah fought last April with Spinks winning by unanimous decision.
(Charles Rex Arbogast - AP)
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"It's not on the national radar," longtime boxing observer Bert Sugar said.
The 26-year-old Spinks (34-2) and the 27-year-old Judah (32-2) first met on April 10 of last year in Las Vegas. For most of that fight, Spinks used his jab and defense to build a lead before scoring a knockdown in the 11th round.
But Judah responded in the final round, flooring Spinks with a right hand with 25 seconds left. Spinks survived, but the late knockdown paved the way for a rematch.
"I guess the good thing is we do not have 30 more seconds or one more round," Judah said in a conference call earlier this week. "We have 12 more rounds and a whole new fight and two fresh men. So I think it will be interesting."
So does Sugar.
"To me," he said, "it's a tremendous fight."
But in the next breath, Sugar admitted most casual boxing fans might not share his enthusiasm.
There are several factors working against the bout, the most obvious being Sunday's Super Bowl, which will have a stranglehold on the attention of the sports world all weekend. Also, save for the last two rounds, Spinks-Judah I was largely forgettable.
But most importantly, neither fighter has been able to develop a widespread following despite victories aplenty and a boxing landscape desperate for a star.
In that regard, Spinks and Judah are facing the same problems that have plagued middleweight king Bernard Hopkins. Regarded as the world's best pound-for-pound fighter, Philadelphia's Hopkins has missed out on big pay days and widespread recognition for most of his career.
Like Spinks and Judah, Hopkins does not have the built-in fan base of Latino fighters. He also does not fight in the heavyweight division, to which most casual fans are drawn, nor does he have a compelling style.
"As great as Bernard Hopkins is, do I desperately have to see him fight? No," HBO boxing commentator Jim Lampley said. "I know he's going to win the fight with the least possible risk and not be wildly entertaining."
Hopkins finally seemed to receive the money and recognition he deserved from his September fight with Oscar De La Hoya. But that had more to do with the endlessly marketable and popular De La Hoya. And with De La Hoya reportedly moving back to the welterweights, tonight's bout may be for a shot at The Golden Boy and a spot on the national stage.
Lampley mentioned Arturo Gatti, Felix Trinidad and Fernando Vargas, as well as De La Hoya, as fighters with styles that draw fans -- not coincidentally, all HBO fighters, the network for which Lampley works. The styles of Spinks and Judah are more subtle. Spinks, in particular, is a defensive tactician. He has knocked out just 10 of his opponents.
Sugar compared interest in the fight to an old cartoon in which a husband and a wife show up for a baseball game in the ninth inning. It turns out the game is scoreless, so the wife tells an obviously perturbed husband that they haven't missed anything.
"There could be two no-hitters going on, but all people care about is where did the home run go," Sugar said. "That's our culture. . . . The hard-core lives and dies by [tonight's fight]. This is an excellent fight for us. But the casual public is caught up in which box they have at the bar for the Super Bowl. Will the third quarter end in a zero and a seven?"
