Impressive Clottey Beats Judah for Vacant Title

Zab Judah fought with as much heart and purpose as he has at any point in his career ... and it still wasn't enough. Joshua Clottey - doing his best Antonio Margarito impersonation - walked through everything Judah had to offer and appeared to grow stronger as the fight wore on. By the middle rounds, Judah's face was beginning to swell and there was blood trickling from his nose, but he remained competitive. In the ninth round, Clottey caught Judah with a left uppercut-right cross combination and opened a wide cut over Judah's eye.

Referee Robert Byrd had ring doctor James Game examine the cut and he was initially prepared to allow the fight to continue. Judah, however, indicated that he couldn't see out of his right eye - even after the blood had been wiped away - so Dr. Game had no choice but to advise that the fight be stopped. The official time was 1:22 of the ninth round. The cut was incorrectly ruled the result of an accidental clash of heads so the fight went to the scorecards. Fortunately for Clottey, the incorrect ruling didn't cost him the victory as the judges awarded him a unanimous decision: 87-84 and 86-85 twice.

Nevada rules require that judges score the unfinished round when a fight goes to the cards. In this case, it was the unfinished ninth that gave Clottey the win. All three judges correctly scored the round for Clottey. If Judah had won the ninth, or if scores had been tabulated for only the eight completed rounds, the fight would have ended as a majority decision draw.

The win may earn Clottey a rematch with Margarito. When they met in Dec. 2006, Margarito successfully defended his WBO belt by unanimous decision (118-109 and 116-112 twice) but Clottey suffered a hand injury in the early rounds and the fight was more competitive than the scores indicate.

After the fight, a disappointed Judah - seemingly much older than 30 - tried to rally the crowd as if he had been just been robbed. He wasn't robbed ... he was beaten.