On the 9th of June in 2007, with the WBA Welterweight title on the line, expecting “a tough fight,” Miguel Cotto entered the ring with Zab Judah. For eleven rounds, the duo battled, the essence of which was best captured by the haiku phrased by Dan Rafael: “A major title bout. Both men bleeding. And the possible fight of the year.”

As soon as the bell rang, the two boxers occupied the centre of the ring and Judah hit Cotto with a left uppercut. Despite getting caught that early, Cotto was able to maintain his composure and subsequently dodged fast shots thrown by Judah in proximity. However, in the 2nd round, Judah caught Cotto with a left hand and hurt him. Despite the adversity, Cotto again remained patient and cornered Judah in the 6th round of the fight. In the 9th round, Judah was exhausted and took “a knee out of nowhere“.

“Well prepared” Miguel Cotto conquered Zab Judah with an 11th-round KO

Like his other fights, Zab Judah started with strength and speed. And like his other fights, he got himself tired after the first 6 rounds of the contest. In a recent interview, he recounted his fight with Floyd Mayweather where he more or less observed the same strategy. Speaking about the difficulty of fighting ‘TBE’, Judah said, “I was getting tired from the 6th round. I’m fatigued“. Similarly, he was “fatigued” against Cotto, and in the 9th round, he just took a knee.

In the 11th round, Cotto hit a wounded Judah with a four-punch combination that ended with a left hook to the head. In the twinkle of an eye, Judah then hit the canvas. Although he got up, Judah barely responded to the later shots Cotto fired at him. As a result, the referee stopped the fight. After the bout, Cotto declared that although Judah landed “some great punches on me,” he was “very well prepared“.

Cotto hit Judah with low blows

While Cotto claimed the low blows were “accidental,” Judah later informed the world that the low blows, especially, the second one “took a lot out of me“. Anyway, Judah was still satisfied with the bout and looked forward to fighting Cotto again in the ring. As per ESPN, besides the pay-per-view profits, while Cotto earned $2.5 Million, Judah gained $1 Million from the memorable fight.

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