Referee Kenny Bayless has highlighted one particular Floyd Mayweather fight where, strictly speaking, the American should have suffered his first professional defeat.<\/p>\n
The Hall of Famer ended his career with a flawless record of 50-0 (27 KOs)<\/a>, beating the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya before hanging up his gloves in 2017.<\/p>\n During his prolific campaign, the pound-for-pound legend had a few close calls \u2013 including his first encounters with Jose Luis Castillo and Marcos Maidana \u2013 where many felt he was fortunate to emerge victorious.<\/p>\n But while those points decisions could have easily gone against him, the closest Mayweather came to tasting defeat was arguably against Zab Judah in 2006.<\/p>\n Back then, Judah was making the second defence of his IBF world welterweight title after losing his WBC strap in a huge upset against Carlos Manuel Baldomir.<\/p>\n Mayweather, meanwhile, was entering his second outing at 147lbs after jumping up in weight following his sixth-round stoppage victory over Arturo Gatti<\/a>.<\/p>\n By the end of their showdown, which resulted in a unanimous decision victory for Mayweather, there was no real uproar over who deserved to have his hand raised.<\/p>\n Instead, the controversy stemmed from an ugly incident that developed in round 10, where Judah landed a blatant low blow \u2013 followed by a punch to the back of the head \u2013 and caused a chaotic ring invasion to ensue.<\/p>\n In a joint discussion with ALL THE SMOKE FIGHT and Ring Champs with Ak & Barak<\/a>, referee Bayless explains that the drama, if going by the book, should have resulted in a disqualification loss for Mayweather.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the round that Zab Judah hit [Mayweather with] a low blow and then [landed] the rabbit punch, Roger Mayweather, Floyd\u2019s uncle [and trainer], jumped up onto the ring apron.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you know what the rules say in that case? Disqualification. But, in that situation, [referee Richard Steele] had to use judgement.<\/p>\n \u201cIf he would have stopped that fight, that place would\u2019ve [erupted]. It would have been a nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n Judah shared the clip on social media.<\/p>\n 20 years later now the truth!! #JudahMayweather<\/a>pic.twitter.com\/Pc9jN3SLx9<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 ZAB JUDAH 6x Champ! (@SUPERJUDAH) January 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n In his following outing, Mayweather unified the welterweight division by outpointing Baldomir and eventually became a five-weight world champion.<\/p>\n