Zab Judah Still Thinks He Beat Mayweather: 'Should've Been a DQ'

Zab Judah has never let go of April 8, 2006, and a recent appearance on Andre Ward's podcast made that plain. Twenty years after Floyd Mayweather took a unanimous decision off him at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Judah is still doing the math out loud — and by his count, the official verdict is wrong.

His argument is arithmetic before it's anything else. Judah says he banked the first five rounds and adds a knockdown to make it six, which leaves the other six for Mayweather. Split the 12 rounds down the middle, he reasons, and you've got a draw, not a loss. That's his floor. His ceiling is far more damning.

The Brawl That Broke the Fight

The 10th round is where it all came apart. Judah landed a low blow and a shot to the back of Mayweather's head, and Roger Mayweather climbed into the ring in response, sparking a melee that referee Richard Steele — by Judah's telling — didn't know how to score or call. Judah insists neither foul was intentional, chalking it up to two fatigued men in the heat of a rough exchange.

Here's the part he really wants you to sit with: he says a cornerman entering the ring mid-fight should be an automatic disqualification, full stop. Follow that rule to its conclusion and Mayweather doesn't leave with the win — and the pristine ledger everyone still quotes gets a blemish. Judah framed it as the moment that would have altered the entire trajectory of a career that ended 50-0.

Judah also pointed to what came next as the real tell. He got suspended for a year, tagged as the instigator of the brawl, while Mayweather's team — he named Bob Arum in the mix — moved on and climbed the ladder. By the time Judah was cleared to return, the appetite for a sequel had evaporated. He's convinced that was by design, arguing they never wanted the rematch because he'd been giving Mayweather genuine trouble.

Whatever you make of the grievance, the record is the record: Mayweather UD, no Part 2, and a story Judah has been retelling on his own terms ever since. The suspension did its work. The '0' survived. And two decades later, the man on the wrong side of the scorecards is still swinging.