Tszyu vs Judah 2001: The Right Hand, the Wobbly Legs and the Thrown Stool

On 3 November 2001 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Kostya Tszyu and Zab Judah met to settle who owned the junior welterweight division. Judah, unbeaten and favoured, won the first round with speed. One second before the end of the second, he was on the canvas twice, the fight was over, and the most memorable part of the night was only beginning.

Three Belts, One Ring: How the Unification Was Built

By the summer of 2001 the 140-pound class had two obvious leaders. Kostya Tszyu, the Russian-born puncher who had settled in Australia in the early 1990s, held the WBC and WBA titles. His only professional defeat had come against Vince Phillips in 1997. Zab Judah, a 24-year-old southpaw from Brooklyn, had won the IBF belt in February 2000 and defended it repeatedly, beating Junior Witter in Glasgow and Terron Millett at Mohegan Sun along the way.

The two men cleared the path on the same card on 23 June 2001. Tszyu outpointed Oktay Urkal over twelve rounds, and Judah stopped Allan Vester in the main event for what Wikipedia lists as his fifth defence. Negotiations for a unification bout followed. The fight was first pencilled in for Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, but by late September it had moved to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, with Showtime carrying it in the United States and Sky Sports in Britain.

The stakes were historical as well as financial. Accounts of the fight describe the winner as the division's first undisputed champion since Takeshi Fuji in 1968, and the first to hold all three major belts at once. Tszyu's purse was reported at 1.5 million dollars and Judah's at around one million; an Associated Press report a few days later put the sum withheld from Judah at 885,000 dollars.

"Swiss Cheese": Judah's Confidence and Tszyu's Patience

Judah entered the ring undefeated, listed at 27-0 in most accounts, and the betting made him roughly a 3-to-1 favourite. Tszyu, at 32, was eight years older and carried a reputation as a methodical, heavy-handed boxer rather than a quick one. Judah made it clear he saw that as a weakness. In the build-up, recalled by Boxing News, he dismissed Tszyu's style with a cheese metaphor: "His style is like Swiss cheese – full of holes."

Tszyu answered in calmer terms, saying he had studied Judah and understood what it would take to beat him. The Fight City adds that at the weigh-in he chatted to Judah about the younger man's newborn daughter, a gesture Tszyu later framed as part of the mental side of the sport.

Round One Belongs to Judah

The opening three minutes seemed to confirm the odds. Judah's hand speed gave Tszyu problems from the start, and every source that describes the round gives it to the American. Boxing News and The Fight City both single out a left uppercut that hurt Tszyu and pushed him back towards the ropes. Tszyu responded the way experienced fighters do when they are stung: he held, smothered the follow-up and waited for the bell.

Had the fight continued in that pattern, Judah's prediction would have looked shrewd. Instead the second round showed why Tszyu had been knocking people out for most of a decade.

The Last Seconds of Round Two

Judah boxed more cautiously in the second, moving and keeping Tszyu at the end of his jab. The round was nearly over when Tszyu found the opening he had been waiting for. A right hand landed on Judah's chin; Judah backed off with his hands low, and a second right sent him down. Sources differ slightly on the clock. Wikipedia's account of Judah's career places the first right at around ten seconds left, the article devoted to the fight says eight, and The Fight City says four. All agree on what followed.

Judah sprang up almost immediately, as if to show referee Jay Nady he was fine. His legs said otherwise. He wobbled, tottered across the ring and pitched forward onto the canvas a second time, face first. Nady did not count. He waved the fight off with one second left in the round, and the official time was recorded as 2:59 of round two.

Nady explained afterwards that he believed the punch had left Judah briefly unconscious. "The man was hurt," he said, according to the Wikipedia article on the bout. Judah saw it differently in the moment, complaining that he had not even been given a count.

The Stool, the Referee and the Uproar

What happened next made the fight famous beyond boxing circles. Judah, furious at the stoppage, went after Nady. Accounts describe him pushing his gloved fist into the referee's throat or neck; an AFP report published in Dawn says he struck Nady on the chin with his glove when the result was announced. He also picked up his corner stool and threw it towards the centre of the ring. Some accounts say it was thrown at the referee, others only that it was hurled across the ring.

His father and trainer, Yoel Judah, tried to hold him back, and Judah broke loose at least once. It took his corner, his manager Shelly Finkel, MGM security and Las Vegas police officers to bring the scene under control. In the middle of it, Tszyu had become undisputed champion.

A Withheld Purse, a Fine and a Suspension

Within days the Nevada State Athletic Commission moved. According to the Associated Press report carried by ESPN, executive director Marc Ratner authorised a complaint against Judah and his purse was held back pending a hearing. Tszyu said he did not want Judah jailed but felt he should be punished financially or in the rankings. WBC president Jose Sulaiman expressed disappointment but suggested Judah may still have been affected by the blow he had taken.

The commission ruled about a month after the fight. The contemporary AFP report, Boxing News and the Wikipedia article on the bout all give the penalty as a 75,000-dollar fine and a six-month suspension dating from 3 November. The main Wikipedia biography of Judah gives a different figure, 100,000 dollars and one year, and that version is not supported by the other sources consulted here. Judah apologised for his conduct while still saying he felt cheated, and later described the penalty as fair, explaining that emotion had taken over on what he called the biggest night of his career.

What the Night Meant for Both Men

For Tszyu, the win was the defining moment of his career: three belts, a knockout over a younger and faster favourite, and his status as the best junior welterweight in the world settled in the ring. Asked about a rematch, he pointed back to the pre-fight terms of "winner take all" and showed no interest. His reign ended only when Ricky Hatton beat him in Manchester in 2005.

For Judah, the defeat was his first as a professional, and it fixed an image that followed him for years: a gifted, fast southpaw whose temper could overshadow his talent. Video of the knockout does, however, support Nady's decision, as the Wikipedia article on Tszyu notes, since Judah could barely stay upright. He would go on to become undisputed welterweight champion in 2005, but the picture of him staggering across the MGM Grand ring, and then turning on the referee, stayed with him.

Sources

• Kostya Tszyu vs. Zab Judah, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• Zab Judah, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• Kostya Tszyu, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
• Associated Press report on Judah's Nevada commission complaint, ESPN.com, 6 November 2001
• Champion suspended for antics (AFP), Dawn, 2 December 2001
• On this day: Kostya Tszyu sends Zab Judah into a giddy rage, Matt Christie, Boxing News, 3 November 2019
• Nov. 3, 2001: Tszyu vs Judah, Daniel Attias, The Fight City