Brooklyn legend, boxer, enthusiast, trainer, manager, kickboxer and champion Yoel Judah was born in Cumberland Hospital in 1955. While initially raised in the Fort Greene Projects, the family moved throughout the borough, living in different parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brownsville, eventually moving to Lefrak City in Queens, New York when Judah was 13.
“They were rough and gang-related,” he says of the neighborhoods, “There were the Outlaws, Black Keystones, Tomahawks, Jolly Stompers, and the Warlords.” After starting martial arts at nine, as he became of age to join a gang, they soon found out he wouldn’t be an easy target. The fighting didn’t bother him, for he was quick and tough, and both his father and uncle were boxers who led the way to it being a family business and way of life. His uncle, Johnny Saxton, was best known for winning the world welterweight championship twice. With that said, it’s in the blood. Ask his son, boxing champion Zab Judah.
In 1965, Yoel told Mom that he wanted to train in the arts, but she forbade him. However, inside every champion, wrapped tightly around every bone is a will that cannot be stifled. Although he didn’t want to disobey her, by 6:30pm, he would go to the bathroom and climb out the window. He’d rush over to Ed Pugh’s dojo for instruction in the EP System that started at 7pm and later sneak back into the house. There, he learned Jiujitsu and Shotokan while training under and beside some very notable Brooklyn-born martial artists like Bouncy, Bo Peep, Slim, Shihan Butterfly, and others.
“He was gifted, more so, he's an elite athlete,” says GM Lou Brown, an EP student and Judah’s dojo mate. “His speed was legendary, and he and his family were decent, fair-minded and good-spirited people. And he (Yoel) offered as much to everyone in the dojo as he absorbed. I recall him as classy and he brought honor to the EP dojo floor.”
Judah was getting into a lot of fights in school, on the local streets, and on the basketball courts. He explained that someone older, or a gang of teens, would show up and tell everyone to get off the court. But he wasn’t one to stand down; instead, he would challenge them until one or more would step up to fight the smaller Yoel. It didn’t take long before he made a name for himself; one, impressively, he says, even reached two boroughs away to the Bronx.
At 16, he found religion and interest in becoming a Hebrew Israelite, which he still follows. “Every Wednesday,” he says, “many of those in the gangs showed up at the camp to learn about becoming an Israelite.” When he became knowledgeable enough, he taught Saturday classes on Tomkins Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
During the same time, he added boxing to his life. He trained at the now permanently closed Howard Houses off Pitkin Avenue in Brownsville.
“Old-Man Joe” started training Judah, whose bloodline proved to hold a certain talent for fisticuffs. He started getting good, but another boxer named Spoon put a beating on him. “He was too slick, too fast,” said Judah. After not seeing Spoon for about a year, he walked into the ring with Judah. They say that revenge is a dish best served cold, and this time the tables had turned, leaving Spoon on the bad end of a beating. Regardless of Judah’s ever-growing skills, he often left the dojo and the ring bleeding, busted up, and with bruised ribs.. Full story here in our print magazine or get the ebook here.
Written by Glen Beck
Photos by Coach Charles