It was a crazy buildup, a crazy fight, and the expected result.

On April 8, 2006, Floyd Mayweather won a 12-round unanimous decision over Zab Judah and picked up the IBF welterweight title at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The official scores were 119-109, 117-111 and 116-112.

Talk of a Mayweather-Judah clash grew when the latter scored a revenge win over Cory Spinks to lay claim to the undisputed welterweight championship in February 2005. The Brooklyn-born Judah was spectacular in his maiden defense; a third-round stoppage of Cosme Rivera, but he was then outpointed by Carlos Baldomir in what was later named The Ring’s Upset of the Year.

Mayweather-Judah looked dead in the water. However, some political punch and counterpunch saved the day.

When Judah faced Baldomir, only the Ring and WBC titles were at stake. The Argentinian pressure-fighter had refused to pay sanctioning fees to both the IBF and the WBA. When Judah lost that fight, the WBA upgraded Luis Collazo to full champion, but the IBF continued to recognize Judah.

Confused? So was everyone else.

On fight night, Judah got off to a great start. A quick right hook counter forced Mayweather to touch down in Round 2, but referee Richard Steele missed it and no knockdown was scored. In the fourth, Judah nailed Mayweather with a sharp left hand and followed up with a furious two-fisted assault. But the attack soon faded.

From the fifth round on, the brilliantly versatile Mayweather changed up his game plan. Gloves high, he walked Judah down, pounding the body to set up head shots. Judah seemed perplexed by the change in strategy and had very little success in the second half.

The main drama occurred in the closing seconds of Round 10, when a frustrated and beaten up Judah slammed a left hand into his opponent’s cup and followed with a right-hand rabbit punch. It was intentional and dreadful fouling. The moment so incensed trainer Roger Mayweather that he entered the ring, placing his nephew at risk of disqualification, and a free brawl erupted between both camps. It took four minutes for order to be restored, but normal service resumed with Mayweather dominating the exchanges for the remainder of the bout.

This was Mayweather’s first welterweight title win.

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