When Zab Judah looks back on his boxing career, he sees every missed opportunity in sharp detail. Although the Brooklyn native has won several title belts and made plenty of money, he shares his critics' perception that he's a good fighter who's never been great. "I look back, and I just feel I cheated myself," Judah said. "Sometimes I didn't prepare the way I should. People have always told me, 'Zab, if you were just in a little better shape, nobody could beat you.' I cheated myself a lot. I didn't get myself in great shape, like I should have been, but now I'm here."
Perhaps turning 30 late last year changed his attitude, and perhaps moving to Las Vegas steeled his resolve. Judah claims he's determined to seize what might be his last chance at the greatness he's missed when he fights Joshua Clottey for the IBF welterweight title at The Palms on Saturday night.
"I keep getting chances," Judah said. "I see a lot of great fighters in this game that only got one opportunity, and you worry about that. I know there's not too many more opportunities, so the one that I've got, I'm going to capitalize off of it."
Judah (36-5, 25 KOs) is distinctive for his hairless skull and gold teeth, yet he's even more notable for having far more spectacular failures than victories on his resume - a rarity in a sport where one bad loss can end a career.
Judah's history of failing began in his first career defeat in 2001, when Kostya Tszyu knocked out the overconfident 140-pound champion in the second round. Judah recovered to win another title, but lost to Cory Spinks three years later in a fight for three welterweight belts.
Shortly after avenging that loss by knocking out Spinks in early 2005 in Judah's greatest moment, he lost back-to-back fights to Carlos Baldomir and Floyd Mayweather Jr. He also started an ugly, entourage-versus-entourage melee in the ring by hitting Mayweather below the belt, earning himself a lengthy ban from fighting in Nevada.
Poor conditioning played a part in most of Judah's losses, as it apparently did in his tough loss to Miguel Cotto last year after a strong start. Yet in a sport filled with midlevel fighters who spend years waiting for a title shot, Judah somehow lands one chance after another.
"Not a lot of people get this many opportunities," Judah acknowledged. "I call myself Lucky Lefty. No matter what happens, I somehow come back and find myself at the top again."
Most recently, Judah landed a fight against Sugar Shane Mosley in late May, but had to back out when he injured himself by putting his hand through a glass shower door, reportedly during a temper tantrum. Judah needed several dozen stitches, and the bout was canceled - but thanks to his spot in the IBF rankings when Antonio Margarito vacated the belt recently, he received a title shot against Clottey instead.
"Not to downplay Joshua Clottey, but I feel like I've been in the ring with more of the elite fighters, more of the best fighters," Judah said. "He's a methodical fighter, very one-dimensional. He's never fought somebody like me."
Clottey (34-2, 20 KOs), who lives in the Bronx, is exactly the kind of boxer who should be green-eyed with jealousy at Judah's good fortune. Clottey has received just two title shots, and he lost both - a bizarre disqualification against Baldomir in 1999, and a unanimous decision to Margarito two years ago after Clottey broke both of his hands in a fight he was controlling early.
"I wait and wait for this fight, and finally I have it," Clottey said. "It's my time to be a champion. It's not Zab's time anymore."
Thanks to a long-simmering grudge with Judah, the Ghana native is taking their fight awfully personally.
Judah claims he sparred with Clottey at the famed Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn several years ago, but Clottey insists it was his brother, Emmanuel, who worked out with Judah. Joshua Clottey also says Judah offered him $2,500 to spar four years ago, but he angrily turned it down in a dispute that spilled into the streets outside Gleason's, leaving Clottey with more than a standard boxer's dislike for Judah.
"He pushed my trainer down," Clottey said. "That means we have some score to settle. He tried to fight me on the streets. ... It's not about the title. It's about Zab. I want to fight him. If Zab beats me, I will retire for one year. No way he beats me."
