PROMOTION ISN'T JUDAH'S STRENGTH.

Byline: ROBERT MORALES Boxing

Floyd Mayweather Jr. didn't pull any punches when talking about Zab Judah and the unprofessional manner in which he has handled the promotion for their fight Saturday at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Judah's International Boxing Federation welterweight belt will be on the line, and HBO pay-per-view will televise for $49.95.

Judah, in his last fight in January, lost his World Boxing Council belt to Carlos Baldomir, a journeyman.

Afterward, Judah tried to blame his promoter, Don King, for dragging him around town doing interviews in the days preceding the fight at Madison Square Garden.

Now, Judah won't even participate in the promotion for Saturday's fight that Bob Arum and King have predicted will become the biggest money-making non-heavyweight fight in history.

Judah was only supposed to get the fight with Mayweather - the pound- for-pound king - provided he beat Baldomir. The respective promoters decided to go ahead with the fight anyway, saying Judah fought poorly simply because he wasn't motivated for Baldomir.

Judah certainly would be pumped for Mayweather, they said, so the fighters will go at it Saturday. But the ingratitude shown by Judah has been galling. Last Tuesday, Judah was supposed to be on a conference call with reporters, but he did not show. He left his father/trainer Yoel, and King, holding the bag.

``No disrespect to nobody ... we (meaning son Zab) are just not talking,'' Yoel Judah said. ``He's focused. He's training. And, we're going to do what we've got to do in the ring come April 8.''

Mayweather said the real reason Judah is acting out is because Mayweather schooled him during a sparring session two years ago at the Top Rank Inc. gym in Las Vegas that is owned by Mayweather's promoter, Arum.

``I think Zab is really upset because he is not in my shoes,'' said Mayweather, who has made significantly more money fighting for Arum than Judah has fighting for King.

Mayweather, nicknamed ``Pretty Boy,'' said that about two years ago, he and Judah were friends. That's why he asked Arum, King's longtime rival, if Judah could use the Top Rank gym to train. Arum said yes. Little did Mayweather know that Judah was hopeful of sparring with him.

``I had beat him in basketball in front of all his friends early that week - I guess he wanted to test himself against me in sports - and I came out on top each time and I guess he didn't like that,'' Mayweather said.

Mayweather went on to describe their sparring session.

``I got the best of him, easy. He talked so much trash, calling me punk and pretty girl and now this guy don't even want to cooperate with this promotion ...'' Mayweather said. ``That is why he can't be in my shoes, because he doesn't know how to act like a professional.''

Judah held three of the four welterweight belts - the WBC, IBF and World Boxing Association - leading to his fight with Baldomir. But he was stripped of the WBA belt before that fight, then he lost the WBC belt to Baldomir. The only reason Judah still holds the IBF belt is because Baldomir refused to pay that organization's sanctioning fee, so it was not on the table when he shockingly defeated Judah by unanimous decision.

Judah, 28, is 34-3 with 25 knockouts. Mayweather, 29, is 35-0 with 24 knockouts.

``He (Zab) doesn't hate the man (Mayweather), he's just going to close his big mouth,'' Yoel Judah said.

--Brewster won't listen: Lamon Brewster is a talented fighter. But the man doesn't listen.

His new trainer, Buddy McGirt, told him after virtually every round Saturday night to quit head-hunting, to bring some of those punches down to the body of Sergei Liakhovich in their heavyweight title fight in Cleveland.

When Brewster followed McGirt's instructions, he had success. The only knockdown of the fight came in the seventh, when Liakhovich went down to one knee after absorbing a series of vicious body blows. Alas, it was one of the few times Brewster followed McGirt's advice.

The result was not surprising: Liakhovich, who was much better than most thought, won a unanimous decision and took Brewster's World Boxing Organization belt.

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