Four-time world champion Joel Casamayor and three-time champ Zab Judah both earned victories in their respective returns to the ring Friday night.

Casamayor earned a unanimous decision victory over Jason Davis with all three judges scoring the 79-73. In the co-main event, Judah stopped Ubaldo Hernandez in the second round.

Hernandez came out in a different style than Judah was expecting and caused Judah to become somewhat tentative the  first two minutes of the fight. It loked like a train wreck as both fighters seemed content to just bump into each other while “trying” to establish an offense. The two continued to crash into one another a couple times during the opening round, then Hernandez crashed down into the canvas from a vicious body shot again.

Early on in the second, a second collision resulted in Hernandez on the ground. It looked like a pnch was thrown, it could have been a low blow however. Surprisingly, Hernandez decided that he didn’t want to continue, he then began massaging his “damaged” shoulder that somehow had been hurt from throwing some punches that nobody seemed to see in the second. Referee Joe Cortez called off the mismatch at :35.

The 38-year old Casamayor basically paced himself throughout the first five rounds of his fight before deciding that he was getting enough work in. He landed countless power punches in the sixth round and dominated the rest of the way. Casamayor looked real rusty in the fight, and I believe that’s why he allowed the fight to go on longer than it should have so that he could get his legs back. When he wanted to take control of the fight he was bale to do that, I don’t think he will be able to turn that kind of intensity on and off in future fights though.

Both fighters will look to put their recent works out to the public and various promoters in order to gain higher profile fights in the upcoming year. Based on the fights, I think the road is a little longer than both former champs expected.

What say you?