Roger Mayweather unrepentant as Commission meets

http://www.secondsout.com/USA/news.cfm?ccs=229&cs=19167

By Ant Evans: Today (April 12) the Nevada Athletic Commission's disciplinary board will hold a hearing to resolve issues pertaining to last Saturday's Floyd Mayweather v Zab Judah IBF welterweight title fight. Both fighters' purses were withheld after Mayweather's dominant performance in Las Vegas Saturday night after Mayweather's uncle and trainer Roger - reacted furiously to two illegal blows by Judah - stormed the ring and sparked a near riot.

The ensuing fracas saw Roger Mayweather throttling Judah amongst some pretty embarrassing scenes also involving Judah's father/train Yoel and as many as two dozen hotheads. The Mayweather who was actually scheduled to fight has had his $5million purse withheld but footage shows the pound-for-pounder didn't actually do anything wrong and merely retreated to a corner while the chaos ensued.

However, there's an outside chance that the Pretty Boy will lose his IBF welterweight belt because, although time had been called after he was hit low blow, Uncle Roger did enter the ring before the 3:00 minutes of round 10 had expired.

That is grounds for disqualification and, indeed, fighters like Marco Antonio Barrera (v Junior Jones in 1996) have lost big fights in the past in exactly this type of scenario. That fight, which went into the record books as Barrera's first ever loss, was in Tampa but heavyweight Peter McNeeley's 'premature evacuation' v Mike Tyson in August 1996 was in Nevada and the outgunned Irishman was thrown out of the mismatch the instant his trainer, Vinnie Vecchione, stepped through the ropes.

There is a groundswell of opinion that Mayweather's unbeaten record should have gone last weekend.

IBF President Marian Muhammad will be present at today's hearing and is understood to vehemently believes Mayweather should have been disqualified, and therefore Judah should remain the IBF belt warmer. Fair enough, but it was also the IBF who also allowed Judah to remain 'champion' despite Carlos Baldomir one-sided beating of the New Yorker in January. It strikes one as unfair that Judah gets his behind kicked twice in three months but remains champion.

Mayweather is unlikely to be retroactively disqualified, though. Not in Nevada, the most likely site of the looming mega-money Mayweather showdowns with Oscar De La Hoya or Ricky Hattton, not at a time where Nevada's once glowing reputation for being the best regulatory body in the US is on the wane and especially not as they have a perfect excuse not to make big waves.

Under Nevada rules, "The referee may, in his discretion, stop a contest or exhibition if an unauthorized person enters the ring or fenced area during a round."

And the referee in question Saturday, Richard Steele, elected not to stop the contest but rather to resume after police and security had calmed the situation down. That would seem to close Mayweather the younger, but Uncle Roger, photographed with his hands around Judah's throat, could be in trouble. Most are expecting the trainer to get a fine and some sort of suspension.

However, the 45-year-old former world champion remains unrepentant, insisting he did nothing wrong.

The Black Mamba told SecondsOut: "Number one, I never threw a punch at Zab. He swung at me. Number two he got into a cussin' match with me because he wanted to get disqualified. That was what he was doing hitting Floyd low in the first place. He was getting his ass whupped good and wanted out, just like Tyson (in the second 'bite fight') with Holyfield. He fouled to get his ass outta there and when that didn't work he got into it with me."

According to Mayweather, it was Judah who initiated the handbags at dawn brawl.

He said: "When I entered the ring I thought the round had ended. Even though it hadn't, the clock had been stopped and trainers get up into the ring all the time (when time is called) to tape gloves and so on. So no way was it a disqualification, that rule is to protect fighters when action is going on and there was no action going on when I stepped in the ring.

"And it was Zab who started all that shit. I said to him 'Why did you hit him low? You can't take your ass-whupping?' and he said to me: 'Fuck you going to do?'. I am a former world champion, and if I wanted to fight him I'd have punched him in the fucking face. But instead I said 'Shit, you're not going to do nuthin' to me' and that's when he started hitting on me.

"Yeah I choked on him but he swung at me first. All I did was hold him around the neck because he was hitting on me. I may have choked the motherfucker but it was self-defense and if he was so hurt by it, why did he keep fighting? Then someone pulled me or something and I was thrown to the floor.

If what I did to him was so bad, Judah should have said he wasn't fighting no more. He wanted out of that fight bad anyway, that's what the low blow was for. He wanted to get disqualified so he could get his ass outta there."

Mayweather senior was flippant about the embarrassment he and the other brawler had brought to the sport, quipping that the fans got to see two fights for the price of one.

He may not be in a such joking mood this time tomorrow.

All tha videos...all tha crying...all tha rigga-marole...Judah still lost...in the ring & out.

Don't anyone cry for Judah because in the end...he woulda lost anyways...that being said...Roger's attitude is dispicable.

Mayweather win upheld!

Thursday, April 13 2006

http://www.fightnews.com/fightnews_2...AwgUDCimK.html

Mayweather's purse released; Judah's purse still withheld; Roger Mayweather fined $200,000 plus license revoked for one year

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has just upheld IBF welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather's victory over Zab Judah. Mayweather's $5 million purse has been released. Floyd was not in attendance at today's hearing held in Las Vegas. Floyd's trainer Roger Mayweather was fined $200,000 and had his trainer's license revoked for one year as punishment for entering the ring before the end of round ten, prompting a wild melee. Roger, who was in attendance at today's hearing, said he "was terribly upset" about the low blow and punch to the back of Floyd's neck made by Judah and that he had thought the round had ended before he came in the ring. That was the only fine handed out today.


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Zab Judah, Yoel Judah, promoter Don King, and attorney Arnold Joseph were present. King made a fifteen-minute speech in an effort to persuade the commission to disqualify Mayweather for his trainer's actions, but the commission said Mayweather's win stands because referee Richard Steele made a decision the fight would continue and the rules clearly state "if an unauthorized person enters the ring, the referee **may** stop the fight."
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Judah's purse is still being withheld and he was asked to attend a disciplinary hearing to be scheduled. The commission will now hire an expert to break down the melee frame-by-frame to identify all the people in the ring and review exactly what took place. They also plan to further address the rabbit punch thrown by Judah, as well as Zab's involvement in the melee which included pushing two inspectors and striking at least one person.