“You are fuckin’ something, man!”

His arms draped across the fighter’s shoulders, looking reverently at, and beyond, the disfigured face, referee Steve Smoger offered this raw encomium. He did not address it to the victor, however—who was milling around the ring, lost in celebratory whoops and embraces—but to the loser. Nestled amongst his supporters, Zab Judah listened to Smoger with the pained smile of a man accepting consolation, the smile of a man who recognizes that, however flattering the words, they are a confirmation of failure.

Read Storm Rider: Danny Garcia W12 Zab Judah on The Cruelest Sport.

“You can roll your eyes at the redemptive narrative of Zab Judah, but the fact that he has clung to relevance over seventeen years is no meager accomplishment. Despite the worst intentions of men like Kostya Tszyu, Miguel Cotto, and Floyd Mayweather, Jr., and a history of self-sabotage that runs the length of the comedo-tragic spectrum, Judah, 42-7 (29), has staved off inconsequence time and again. And while his speed and power—relatively undiminished in his 35th year of life—will continue to award Judah the proverbial puncher’s chance, those physical attributes alone do not explain his materializing against Danny Garcia at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on Saturday night.”

Cinders And Smoke: Danny Garcia-Zab Judah Preview on The Cruelest Sport.