Zabdiel Judah

Zabdiel Judah is an American professional boxer who was born on October 27, 1977 in Brooklyn, New York. He is a former WBO junior welterweight and the former undisputed welterweight and IBF champion. He became interested in boxing at the age of six. He wanted to represented the United States at the 1996 US Olympics however, he did not qualify after he lost to David Diaz.

In September 1996, he turned professional and fought Michael Johnson in Miami, Florida where he defeated Johnson by a technical knockout. In 1997, he won bouts against Cesar Castro, James Salava and Ricardo Vasquez by first-round knockouts.

Judah first won the IBF Junior Welterweight title in February 2000, defeating Jan Piet Bergman. He defended the title five times until he was defeated by Kostya Tszuy. Judah didn’t agree with the decision made by the referee Jay Nady, and threw a stool across the ring and stick his fist glove at the referee. He was fined with $75,000 and got suspended for six months. After his forced break, he made a comeback on July 2003 and defeated DeMarcus Corley and won the WBO Junior Welterweight title.

In the following year, April 2004, he challenged Cory Spinks, but was defeated by a unanimous decision. Judah then faced Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in April 2006 and lost. He threw a low blow to Mayweather in the tenth round that nearly caused a riot. He was fined with $250,000 and suspended his boxing license for 1 year. By August 2007, he lost a fight against Miguel Cotto for the WBA Welterweight title. He then fought against Joshua Clottey and lost for the IBF Welterweight title.