10.04.06 – By Vanessa McConnell, photos by CJ Cansler — Sworn Enemies Photo Gallery — Last weekend’s fight card at the Thomas & Mack arena was more than what fans, security, the police or even the boxers themselves could have imagined. Actually, Floyd Mayweather Jr. anticipated something illegal or bad was going to happen, so him and his entire camp came with their game faces and bandana’s on. All it took was one false move on Judah behalf and it was an all out battle in the ring and the arena. With about 15,170 fans packed into the arena, they all got more than their monies worth as Mayweather’s camp tried to beat down the entire Judah entourage.
Mayweather paced himself throughout the fight. He came out aggressively but you could tell he was not giving Judah all he had. Without a doubt, Mayweather launched great body attacks and right hand shots that bloodied Judah’s nose and mouth, which eventually became a target for Mayweather to focus on. Judah briefly had Mayweather on the ropes in the fourth round, however, he was unable to keep him there for long, as Mayweather seemed to get juiced up being on the ropes and turned the attack on Judah, thus gaining advantage of the fight once again.. In the ninth round, Judah suffered a mean cut on his face that predicted the rest of the fight, well most of it.
With the fight pretty much going Mayweather’s way, things suddenly got ugly, when five seconds before the tenth round was over, Judah landed a hard left punch to Mayweather’s groin that sent Mayweather hunched over to the mat. As he was going down, Judah hit him in the back of the head with a rabbit punch and that’s when the crap hit the fan. Mayweather’s trainer and uncle, Roger Mayweather, stormed into the ring to confront Judah and Yoel Judah, Zab’s father and trainer, rushed in the ring shortly after and threw a punch at Roger. Judah stated afterwards that Roger was chocking him until Judah’s father entered the ring and threw a punch at Roger. That was all it took for Mayweather’s entourage, security and people from the crowd to rush in the ring, causing all out mayhem throughout the arena. People were throwing beer and food into the ring and around the arena; police and others could do nothing but form a “human wall” around the arena and threaten to shoot anyone that came near the ring.
Ring announcer Michael Buffer took control of the microphone and tried to calm the crowd down by giving them updates on the situation and asked people to take their seats as security and officers got the near riot under control. One officer stopped several members of Judah’s entourage from coming into the ring by nearly drawing his revolver on them saying, “Don’t you come up here.” Referee Richard Steele did the best he could to intercept Roger coming into the ring, but when Yoel entered the ring and swung at Roger, there was nothing Steele could do but wait for security to help him break it up.
After separating both camps, Roger was ejected from the arena and has yet been able to be contacted for a statement. The ref gave both sides five minutes to get their act together and step back in the ring like professional fighters. When the fight resumed, Mayweather was like a kid in a candy store, taunting and tapping on Judah’s head even more than before the brawl. Mayweather won the IBF welterweight title when the judges rendered a unanimous decision, which Judah’s corner is protesting because of the brawl.
Don King was furious that Mayweather was not disqualified for Roger running into the ring, but the ref did not feel it was severe enough to disqualify anyone. Both fighters could have easily been disqualified, but the fight was not going to end because of it. Mayweather had a purse of $5 million and Judah $1 million for the fight and there will be a hearing to discuss the matter this week, where Roger will explain his actions during the fight and fines will be discussed. “The commission could fine the fighters, but they did go 12 rounds and completed the fight,” said Marc Ratner of the Nevada Athletic Commission. “Even if there are fines, the purses will still be released. Even the IRS had to wait. This is a mess.”
After the fight, Judah defended the fact that Mayweather accused him of fighting dirty, saying, “I’m not a dirty fighter. Mayweather is a great defensive fighter. Every time I went to throw body shots, he would drop. My thing was to get a little bit extra ‘oomph’ in my body shots. I didn’t mean it. But his uncle Roger jumped in and began to choke me. Security had my arm and he was choking me.” “The commission may fine him (Roger), revoke his license or do a myriad of things, but clearly he was in the wrong,” Ratner said.
All week, a mess was stirring up between both camps, with Mayweather hearing earlier in the week that Judah was going to resort to some illegal tactics, if “he got desperate” and Mayweather was not surprised when he hit him in the groin and sucker punched. “Roger said early in the week, if he did something dirty, he was going to go in the ring and confront him,” Mayweather said in Rogers defense after the brawl. “I got hit with a low blow and what happened, happened. Things happen in boxing. We’ll get everything cleared up and move on from here. I was about to stop Zab when the commotion happened. The low blow hurt real bad. Before it happened, he was ready to go. I was breaking him down and getting ready to knock him out, and the next thing you know, I get hit with a low blow and the ring is filled with people.”
Mayweather continued, “When it happened, I was like, Wow. That’s all I was saying. I’m a gentleman and I conduct myself in a professional way, so, of course, I didn’t like seeing that. I love my uncle Roger and I stick with him. He’ll always be my trainer.” Mayweather doesn’t seem concerned how this is going to turn out; he is more focused on challenging Oscar De La Hoya, Antonio Margarito or “Sugar” Shane Mosley next.
Out of all the crazy and silly things I’ve heard surrounding this fight, the worst one of all was that I’m good enough to write about the fights in the newspapers and online but I am not good enough to attend them in person, because there are certain people determined not to see woman covering boxing events. As a result of the black ball, my credentials were denied and I had to buy a ticket (which I did when they went on sale) and reviewed the fight, without anyone having my back.
The preliminary bouts for the evening heated things up for the crowd as WBA lightweight champion Juan Diaz (29-0, 14 KOs) from Houston, Texas. Diaz beat Jose Miguel Cotto (27-1, 19 KOs) from Caguas, Puerto Rico, by unanimous decision. Jorge Arce (44-3-1, 34 KOs) from Los Mochis, Mexico knocked out Rosendo Alverez (36-3-2, 24 KOs) from Mangua, Nicaragua in the sixth round, when he hit the mat from a left hook and remained on one knee until referee, Vic Drakulich, counted him out. But the prelims and the main event could not compare to the brawl in the arena that night. Don King and Bob Arum have been “Sworn Enemies” for many years and last weekends fight only threw fuel on the fire. One day maybe we could be so lucky to see them both step in the ring to settle their beef once and for all, but one can only dream.