I fought Floyd Mayweather, but my toughest opponent was a boxing legend whose punch was so hard it could KO a donkey
Of all the boxers he faced in his 56-fight career, Zab Judah insists Micky Ward was the toughest.
The 45-year-old former two-weight world champion has shared the ring with some of the best in history, including Floyd Mayweather, Amir Khan, Miguel Cotto, Kostas Tszyu, Danny Garcia, and Paulie Malignaggi.
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But it is Ward - the subject of 2010 film The Fighter - who gave him a harder fight than anyone when they met in 1998.
Ward, while portrayed by Mark Wahlberg on the big screen, is best known for his epic trilogy with the late Arturo Gatti.
Judah picked up a unanimous decision victory and stretched his perfect record to 16-0 but says ‘Irish’ gave him all he could handle over 12 rounds.
He told : “Micky Ward was my toughest opponent because I was 15-0, fighting a legend, and he had a body punch that would stop a donkey. He was no joke.
“I never had to use my mind capacity the way I had to use it in the Ward fight. That was hard. I've been fighting my whole life, there's nothing physically hard for me. But I never had to use my brain and mind capacity as I did in the Micky Ward fight.”
‘Super’ picked Ward as his toughest opponent over Mayweather who retired with a 50-0 record and is considered by many as the best boxer of all time.
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However, that may have something to do with the fact Judah managed to drop him – but it didn’t count – in a unanimous decision defeat.
Despite feeling hard done by, Judah insists there are no hard feelings and says he has enjoyed watching Mayweather cash in with lucrative exhibition bouts since he walked away from professional boxing in 2017.
He added: “It was a knockdown, but it doesn't bother me because people know what they saw. I don’t care what the scoreboard or stats say, you cannot fool people’s eyes. The world knew what they saw.
“Floyd was tremendous and is in a great situation in life right now. He can take that perfect Mayweather unbeaten record and run it up with celebrity fights. He’s doing a brilliant job with it.
“Floyd is one of the top guys I've had the opportunity of sharing the ring with; fast, great defence, ring smart and it was a great night, but we showed up that night. Team Judah.”
Judah doesn’t have the same feelings about his fight with Khan who stopped him with a body shot in round five of their light-welterweight unification fight in July 2011.
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He still maintains he was dominating the fight before getting hit with a low blow despite the fact all three judges had Khan up 40-36 after four rounds of boxing.
Judah said: "I feel like the fight was a cheat, I got hit in the balls and I went down.
“I was winning the fight. I think I was cheated out of that fight. Amir Khan acted like a swell gentleman after the fight, he did nothing wrong and performed and behaved as he should.
“He won the fight and moved on. To this day me and Khan are friends and when we see each other there's good energy, from time to time we shout each other out on a call on WhatsApp, there’s nobody I fought who I have a problem with.”
Judah brought his Hall of Fame career to an end in 2019 following a TKO defeat that left him with a bleed on the brain and in need of surgery. Thankfully, though, he made a full recovery and can look back on a fine career.
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