Undisputed welterweight champion
In Zab Judah's
first fight as undisputed welterweight champion, he fought Cosme Rivera
on May 14, 2005, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Judah sent Rivera
down with a straight left hand to the face less than 30 seconds into
the bout. Rivera beat the count, but was knocked down again about
10 seconds later. Judah hit Rivera hard several times in the second
round, and in the third round, he connected with a left uppercut,
that caused Rivera to stagger backwards and fall into the ropes before
hitting the canvas. Rivera rose at the count of five, but he was badly
hurt and the referee stopped the fight.
is next fight took place
on January 7, 2006 at Madison Square Garden in New York City
against Carlos Baldomir. For Judah, the fight was viewed as a tuneup
bout that would lead to a lucrative bout between Judah and WBC Light
Welterweight Champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., which was tentatively
scheduled for April. Judah entered the fight as a 10-to-1 favorite
over Baldomir. The stage was set when Judah unsportingly punched Baldomir
on the thigh during the prefight introductions instead of touching
gloves to show sportsmanship. The early rounds of the fight were close,
but as the rounds passed, Judah was doing less than necessary to win,
while Baldomir kept applying pressure on Judah. In round seven, Judah
was hurt by a right hand and Baldomir landed a series of right hands
to Judah's head along the ropes during the tenth round. Baldomir defeated
Judah by unanimous decision with scores of 115-113, 114-113 and 115-112
from the three judges.
The Ring named Baldomir's victory over
Judah the upset f the year for 2006. Judah's IBF and WBA belts wee
not on the line, because Baldomir did not pay sanctioning fees to
the IBF and WBA. Baldomir did win the lineal, WBC and The Ring titles,
while the WBA (Super) title was vacated after Judah's loss WBA (Regular)
titleholder Luis Collazo became the sole WBA Champion, but the IBF
still recognized him as their champion.
With the loss to Baldomir, it appeared that Judah's much anticipated
bout with Mayweather was off but Judah's promoter Don King and Mayweather's
promoter Bob Arum reworked the deals so the fight would go on. Mayweather
was scheduled o earn a minimum $6 million while Judah was to earn
$3 million plus a percentage of the profits, but because of Judah's
loss, Mayweather earned a minimum $5 million while Judah was guaranteed
$1 million plus a percentage of profits above $7 million. The fight
took place on April 8, 2006, at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las
Vegas.
Judah started strongly and put up a valiant fight, at
times matching Mayweather's speed and punching precision. It appeared
that Judah scored a knockdown in the second round when Mayweather's
glove touched the canvas; however, referee Richard Steele ruled it
a slip. In round four, Judah landed a right hand to the head that
caused Mayweather ot retreat to the roped and cover up. The momentum
changed in the fifth round, when Mayweather hurt Judah with a combination
to the face. Than Mayweather landed a right hand on the bridge of
Judah's nose, and blood began to flow. The seventh round was the most
dominant for Mayweather backed Judah into a corner, and Judah's foot
movement was considerably slower than it had been earlier in the fight.
With
about 10 seconds left in the tenth round, Judah hit Mayweather with
a low blow and followed it with a right and to the back of Mayweather's
head. As Mayweahter hopped around the ring in pain, Steele called
time to give Mayweather a rest period. Mayweather's uncle and trainer,
Roger Mayweather, climbed into the ring and approached Judah. Yoel
Judah entered the ring and threw a punch at Roger. At that point,
members of both fighters' camps entered the ring and an all-out melee
ensued. More than a dozen security officers and police officers rushed
into the ring and managed to control the situation. After the ring
was cleared, Roger Mayweather was ejected from the fight. Mayweather
cruised through the last two rounds on his way to a unanimous decision
victory by scores of 116-112, 117-111 and 119-109.
