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Welcome to the theatre of the unexpected.

It was with Antonio Margarito’s upset stoppage win of previously unbeaten Miguel Cotto last weekend in Las Vegas that the stakes have instantly raised in this weekend’s HBO headliner between Zab Judah and Joshua Clottey (Saturday, HBO, 9:30PM ET/PT Primm, Nevada). No longer just a loser’s bracket matchup, what takes place in the ring this weekend can go a long way in further reshaping the welterweight division.

The bout was put together almost as a consolation prize for both fighters, who sought other matchups before agreeing to face one another on HBO’s Boxing After Dark. Judah (36-5, 25KO) was set to face Shane Mosley in a May pay-per-view fight that came with a much higher profile but with considerably less upside for the winner, other than to remain afloat in the division’s top ten.

Plans fell apart when Judah lost a fight with a shower door a few weeks prior, suffering lacerations too severe for the wounds to heal quick enough to preserve the date or even push it back a few weeks later. Judah was willing, but Team Mosley decided to move on from one loser-leaves-town match to another, as he will now face Ricardo Mayorga in the fall.

Considering what would become available then and what is now at stake, it’s probably the best thing that could’ve happened to Judah at this stage of his career.

No longer is he faced with the threat of one more loss functionally ending his days as a threat to any top welterweight. He now has Antonio Margarito to thank for it – not once, but twice.

One of the conditions in Margarito landing the Cotto fight was that he’d have to give up the alphabet title he’d just obtained this past April in his repeat knockout win over Kermit Cintron. He learned his lesson a year ago about prolonging a Cotto showdown for the sake of fulfilling a mandatory obligation. That decision led to what was at the time a career-high payday, but also resulted in his first welterweight loss in over a decade. Plans for a future dance with Cotto were pushed back nearly a year as a result.

This time around, Margarito decided that a summer showdown with Cotto would help advance his career a lot further than a mandatory title defense against Joshua Clottey (34-2, 20KO) in what would’ve been his second consecutive rematch. To the nearest dumpster he took the title, freeing up the opportunity for Clottey to still vie for the crown.

With few standing in line to face the transplanted Ghanaian, Judah decided it would be as good of a time as any to live up to his oft-heard boast of taking on anyone at any time. At the time, he didn’t know what to expect beyond a Clottey fight, other than a win making him a two-time welterweight titlist and keeping his career afloat for at least one more lucrative payday.

Even with a title in tow, it would’ve been tough for Zab to demand a rematch with Cotto had the Puerto Rican proved the odds correct last weekend. The two tangoed in Madison Square Garden a year ago. While Judah had his moments and was able to bust up Cotto’s grill a bit, he was eventually overwhelmed and stopped in eleven rounds in a bout that was entertaining, but fairly one-sided from the third round onward.

A fight with Margarito, though, now becomes a much easier sell should Judah emerge victorious.

Of course, there was a time when Zab’s career wasn’t one step away from becoming an afterthought, but instead one win away from superstardom. The knockout loss to Kostya Tszyu and subsequent suspension for going after referee Jay Nady. The meltdown against Carlos Baldomir in NYC, mere minutes from his old stomping grounds, less than a year after marching into St. Louis and leaving with Cory Spinks’ welterweight crown. Falling apart after an impressive start against Floyd Mayweather, another high profile loss that followed with a Vegas fine and suspension.

All that glitters hasn’t always been gold for Judah throughout his career. But if nothing else, he’s always managed to be in position to where he remains in contention no matter the present state of his career.

Case in point, a win this weekend puts him in the running for a unification match with Margarito later this year, a fight that now comes with far greater stakes (and payday) than if they fought in April as was once planned. The fight fell apart at the negotiating table, leaving Margarito to rematch Cintron and Judah looking at a Mosley bout that never was.

It’s now back on the table, but standing in the way is a fighter Margarito has become all too familiar with recently in Joshua Clottey.

If there’s anyone in the sport who boasts a greater claim to “boxing’s most avoided” label than Margarito, it’s Clottey, born and raised in Ghana but now fighting out of the Bronx. Margarito at least had the backing of a major promoter (Top Rank) and face time on major American networks. Clottey, on the other hand, was forced to ply his trade in virtual anonymity.

As fate would have it, Clottey would first become familiar to stateside audiences on a February 2005 ESPN2 undercard headlined by Antonio Margarito. The night was meant to build up anticipation for a pending showdown between Margarito and Cintron, only for the latter to be forced off of the show after suffering an injury. Some last-minute reshuffling led to Clottey being elevated to co-feature, only for his night to end before it started; an inadvertent 2nd round headbutt left opponent Steve Martinez with a gash deemed too severe too continue.

Clottey spent the rest of the year complaining to anyone who’d listen about the lack of opportunities being offered his way. He eventually split from promoter Lou DiBella, before landing with Top Rank in mid ’06.

The career realignment led to three straight fights carried by HBO and Showtime. First came a close decision win over Richard Gutierrez in July 2006, which led to the December date with Margarito in his Showtime debut. Top Rank spent all year claiming that Margarito was being shamefully avoided by every welterweight on the planet, but for four rounds looked like their night would end with egg on their face. Clottey dominated the action early on, but what was announced as a hand injury instead proved to be a psychological breakdown. Clottey fell apart as Margarito caught up, pulled ahead and never looked back in taking a 12-round decision, marking Joshua's first loss in seven years. 

It was a bitter pill to swallow for Clottey, who believed that he won the fight, as did several members of the media on hand that night. But rather than complain about lemons, Clottey decided to make lemonade. He hasn’t lost since, in fact hasn’t even come close.

The recent four-fight win streak began with a dominant performance in what would be the final bout of the career for the late Diego “Chico” Corrales. Clottey twice dropped Corrales, who was dropped twice and beaten like a man who was moving up two weight classes to face a physically imposing welterweight.

Three more impressive showings came in less-publicized bouts on VERSUS, including a 5th round TKO of Jose Luis Cruz this past April in what was his first stoppage in nearly three years.

What the win was supposed to provide was a shot at a welterweight title. Technically, it has, though perhaps not the preferred method of travel for Clottey, who’s spent most of 2008 campaign for a showdown with any of the top welterweights.

A bout that probably would’ve boosted his profile more than a win over Jose Cruz was an ordered eliminator with another Brooklyn southpaw, Luis Collazo. Top Rank won the right to promote the fight, but their winning bid of $35,000 was less than enticing for the heavily tattooed Nuyorican to accept, with the $17,500 payday providing the very definition of high-risk, low-reward, even if it meant a crack at Kermit Cintron or whoever would be holding that title by the time the Clottey-Collazo winner would’ve been ready to contend for it.

Instead, Collazo remains stuck awaiting a separate eliminator against Nelson Linares. The belief earlier in the year was that it would lead to an all-Boricua showdown with Cotto. That’s gone, or at least loses its luster for the moment. With Arum insisting that it’s nothing but big fights for Margarito from here on out, it’s entirely possible that a Collazo win only gets him as far as an interim title fight with undefeated but unheralded Ukranian welterweight Yuriy Nuzhnenko – and that’s if the rumored eliminator ever materializes.

Clottey’s immediate future offers a much more direct path – win this weekend, and plead your case for a Margarito rematch, one worth far more than had he received it at any other point prior to last weekend.

Even a loss could leave him in line for a separate loser’s bracket match against Cotto later this year or early next. After all, Cotto has to come back against somebody, preferably a top ten welterweight he’s yet to face and, for the sake of minimizing politics, one already in the Top Rank stable.

The latter reflects the beauty of this weekend’s fight, one that wasn’t even in the original script. Not unlike what Judah’s future would’ve been had Cotto won last weekend, a loss for Clottey would’ve had his chances of remaining relevant at welterweight looking bleak. Little interest would’ve come in a Margarito-Clottey rematch if they were both coming off of losses.

Right now, it’s no worse than the second most significant welterweight fight that could be made should Joshua conquer his Brooklyn rival, and the easiest unification match to put together.

The same can be said with a Judah win. Not only does he climb one place closer toward regaining past glory, but both he and Margarito see a major increase in pay and significance for a head-on collision than would’ve been the case earlier this year.

A loss is no longer a death sentence; Zab’s been in less desirable loser-leaves-town matches than would be the case with a Cotto rematch should he have to secure one.

The only given heading into last weekend’s bout was that the welterweight division – and the sport of boxing - would be given a much-needed shot in the arm.

It not only accomplished that but now also provides hope rather than desperation for both winner and loser this weekend. Those are far greater odds than Zab Judah and Joshua Clottey expected when first accepting the fight - and far greater stakes than most could’ve expected even a few days ago.