Joshua Clottey of the Bronx beat Brooklyn’s Zab Judah in a shortened bout to win IBF welterweight title. BY GEORGE WILLIS
While it certainly didn’t equal Antonio Margarito’s war with Miguel Cotto last Saturday—What could?—Zab Judah’s title fight with Joshua Clottey Saturday night at the Palms in Las Vegas will be talked about for days to come.
Clottey of Ghana and the Bronx won the IBF welterweight title when the fight went to the scorecards after being stopped with 1:22 remaining in the ninth round. Ringside physician Dr. James Game stopped the fight after Judah, a Brooklyn native, said he couldn’t see clearly after a nasty cut opened over his right eye. Dr. Game administered three eye tests by holding up fingers and asking Judah how many he saw. He failed at least two of the tests, prompting the doctor to stop the bout.
Referee Robert Byrd earlier had ruled the cut was opened by a head butt in the ninth and by rule the fight went to the scorecards with the ninth round being scored. Clottey won a unanimous decision, 86-85 on two cards and 87-84 on another, to capture his first world title. Replays showed the cut may have been opened by a clean uppercut by Clottey.
Whether Judah was saved from a beating over the final 3½ rounds will never be known. Certainly, the fight was close with Judah, a former undisputed welterweight champion, seemingly absorbing most of the damage in a back-and-forth bout. His nose was bleeding and there were welts on his face while Clottey seemed to get stronger as the fight went on.
Judah, a southpaw, fought in spurts behind a stiff jab. But Clottey pressed forward looking to land crunching hooks to the body and an occasional upper cut. There were times it looked like Cotto-Margarito all over again with Clottey stalking Judah the why Margarito did Cotto.
Of the 122 punches Clottey landed in the fight, 114 of them were power punches. Judah landed just 72 power punches yet was very much in the fight. The margin of victory was a flurry by Clottey in the first half of the ninth, enough to win the abbreviated round and earn a 86-85 decision on my scorecard. It was that close.
Judah, of course, was disappointed. “I sacrificed for this,” he said during the HBO’s Boxing After Dark broadcast. “I did my best. It hurts.”
Clottey now wants to fight WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto to unify the two titles. That would be an intriguing matchup.