When Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather, Zab Judah and a tiger shared a couch

Mike Tyson knew Floyd Mayweather and Zab Judah would fight when the young hopefuls were only teenagers.

Tyson predicted that the future champions would make such significant money as pros that they would have to put any friendship on hold.

They eventually fought in 2006, more than a decade after Tyson had called it.

Judah, also from Brooklyn – like Tyson – has known Tyson since Zab was a child because his father, Yoel, and Tyson have always been friendly.

Judah recalls early trips to Vegas to spend time with Tyson.

“We were still amateur. Me, Floyd, we were all friends. We get to go to Mike Tyson’s house,” said Judah.

“He had the big house over there. I mean, he still has a big house. But he had a huge house. So we get to go over to his house and bug out with him. And we're sitting there. He's got the tiger on the couch playing. Me and Floyd sitting there. This is – now, I can't remember the year, but this is way before we turned professional – Mike Tyson looked at us and said, ‘You two are great. Y'all going to fight.’ And we said, ‘What? This is my brother. Mike’s crazy. We ain't fighting each other.’ He said, ‘You know what? Y'all going to fight. Because y'all going to be the two greatest in the world. They’re going to want to see y'all fight and they're going to have money that y'all not going to be able to deny. This is – before we even turned pro, Mike Tyson told us this. Me and Floyd sitting there on the couch. Real talk. Floyd will tell you this. And we said, ‘No, we ain't going to fight. That's my brother.’ Mike said, ‘All right, watch.

“The world going to make y'all fight. The money y’all going… y’all going to be the ones to do this. So fast forward, Mike Tyson was the one that told us years ago that we were going to be the one to do it. And why? Because we were the two greatest and the money was going to be there. And fast forward, 100 per cent, it happened.”

Judah, now 48, started to get to know the former heavyweight champion when he was an eight-year-old. Later on, Judah appeared on several Tyson fight cards.

“He was right there, guiding me, talking to me, training,” recalled Judah. 

They worked out at the Golden Gloves Gym in Vegas where Judah recalls seeing Tyson routinely flatten 300lbs heavyweights.

“He was more of like a big brother figure because my father was always right there,” said Judah. “I met Mike Tyson through my father. My father was a three-time kickboxing world champion from Brooklyn; him and Mike was around. My dad was a little older than Mike so they had a relationship. At eight years old, my dad woke us up one morning, and we had to come in the kitchen. We thought we was in trouble. Mike Tyson was standing right there in the kitchen and my dad was like, ‘Look, guys, here's Tyson.’ 

“I used to stutter, like, really bad. I still stutter. I stutter really bad. And I was trying to tell him, I'm going to be champion of the world. And Mike looked at me and was like, ‘Calm down, calm down.’ You know, remember, it's three in the morning. He's like, ‘Calm down, calm down. Keep working hard, kid, and one day you can accomplish that.’”

The Judahs and Tyson had been near neighbors in New York but it was as a fighter that Judah looked up to Tyson most. At a similar time, Judah was working with another ‘80s great in Pernell Whitaker. Judah tried to blend the best of both stars. 

“I'm trying to do the same shit I just seen him do,” Judah said of Tyson. “I think that's where a lot of my killer instinct came from. If you remember, I turned professional with Pernell Whitaker. Pernell had a different mentality. He had a mentality of be slick, don't get hit, you don't get your shot in, you don't get nothing off. Be slick, you pat him out. Mike was like, take it to him and rip his fucking head off. It was a ying and a yang. But somehow, I was able to finesse all of it together. I finessed the Whitaker defense with the aggressive Mike Tyson style and created the opportunity.”

And some 20 years on, Judah said he and Floyd get on just fine, even though there was acrimony in the fight when both corners flew into the ring and an ugly brawl began.

“Me and Floyd is cool,” said Judah. “Actually, we might have something great coming up here and in the near future, in 2026, you guys might see something very special coming on.”

Mayweather and Tyson are said to be involved in some kind of 2026 contest, but that has gone incredibly quiet.

“I have zero ideas to the mechanics of how it's going to happen, I just know that they're two great fighters, two great fighters in the timeline of history,” said Judah.

“Mike Tyson had his era of dominancy of when he captivated the world of boxing and Floyd Mayweather had his timeline of when he captivated the world of boxing. And I think that to see these guys in 2026 get in the ring, just to be a part of each other and swing boxing gloves at each other, I think that's enough for the world to see. From eight years old, everybody knows Mike Tyson has been my big brother. He's like my big brother. Floyd Mayweather coming up, he's like my brother. And actually, Floyd is older than me. He's like a couple of months older than me. So Floyd is my brother. Mike is my big brother. I love both of those guys and I wish them both well. It's an exhibition. It's not going to count on nobody's record. It doesn't go against anybody's status.”

When Judah was on the rise, he was the one tipped to have the type of career Mayweather went on to have and he doesn’t feel at all that Mayweather did what he should have.

“My career was my career. I did it my way,” said Judah.

“Floyd and myself, we're brothers, but we have two different paths and roles and two different mindsets. He had a different mindset than I had. You know what I'm saying? So he went ahead and did his career the way he envisioned it, I went ahead and did my career the way I envisioned it, and that's what happened. So, no, there's no success that he's ever gained that I ever felt that was mine, no, or vice versa. He accomplished what he was supposed to accomplish. I accomplished everything that I was supposed to accomplish, 100 per cent.”

Does Judah feel like he’s done enough to one day be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame?

“With the grace of God, hopefully I'll make it in,” he said.

“I mean, I don't see why not. I don't see why not. I don't think that there's another six-time champion of the world out of Brooklyn, New York. I don't think that there's another fighter that's done and fought and had heart the way that I did. I mean, I haven't seen him yet. 

There's no fighter coming out of New York that's ever accomplished more world titles than that either. Show me. There's nobody.”

But southpaw Judah – whose career record is 44-10 (30 KOs) – also knows that life extends far beyond the prize ring and there are other accomplishments he has that won’t be decided by ballot voters.

“I do a lot, man,” said Judah. “God has blessed me with a tremendous, great lifestyle. I'm a father. I'm a husband. I'm a son and I'm a brother.”