The Battle of the Zab (Arabic: معركة الزاب) took place on the banks of the Great Zab river in what is now Iraq on January 25, 750. It spelled the end of the Umayyad Caliphate and the rise of the Abbasids, a dynasty that would last (under various influences and with varying power) until the 13th century.

In 747 a major rebellion broke out against the Umayyad Caliphate which ruled most of the Middle East from 661 to 750. The principal cause of the rebellion was the increasing gap between the outlying peoples of the Caliphate and the Damascus-based Umayyad government. The Umayyad-appointed governors of the Caliphate's various provinces were corrupt and interested only with personal gains. Additionally, the Umayyads claimed no direct descent from Muhammad, while the Abbasids did (they descended from Muhammad's uncle Abbas)—a fact the latter used greatly during the revolution.

In 750, the army of the Umayyad caliph Marwan II fought a combined force of Persians, Shia and Abbasid soldiers at the Zab. Marwan's army was, on paper at least, far larger and more formidable than that of his opponents, as it contained many veterans of the Ummayyads' earlier campaigns against the Byzantine Empire, but its support for the caliph was only lukewarm. It is fair to say their morale had been damaged — whereas the Abbasid's armies had been increased — by the series of defeats inflicted on the Umayyads earlier in the rebellion.

Zabdiel "Zab" Judah (born October 27, 1977) is an American professional boxer. Judah has won five world titles between the light welterweight and welterweight divisions and is a former Undisputed World Welterweight Champion.

Judah began boxing at the age of six and compiled an amateur record of 110–5. He was a two-time US national champion and three-time New York Golden Gloves Champion. He also won the 1996 PAL National Championship. Judah attempted to earn a spot on the 1996 US Olympic boxing team. After defeating Ishe Smith and Hector Camacho, Jr., Judah lost to David Díaz in the finals, preventing Judah from qualifying for the Olympic boxing team.

Judah made his professional debut as an 18 year old on September 20, 1996, in Miami, Florida and defeated Michael Johnson by technical knockout in the second round. After winning bouts over George Crain and Omar Vasquez in May and June 1997 respectively, Judah closed the year with first-round knockouts over Cesar Castro, James Salava and Ricardo Vasquez. Judah began 1998 by knocking out Steve Valdez in the first round in January. Valdez, who had never been stopped in his career, went down four times in the fight. In March, Judah and his opponent, Esteban Flores, accidentally clashed heads in the second round, causing a cut to open above Flores' eye and the bout was stopped in round three as Flores could not continue because of the cut. The bout went into the books as a technical draw, but the result was changed to a no contest in May 1998. On April 14, 1998, Judah battered two-time Dominican Republic champion Angel Beltre, stopping him in the second round.

Roger Mayweather (born April 24, 1961) is a retired professional boxer. He won two major world titles in two different weight classes. Throughout his career, Mayweather fought against many other boxing champions of the 1980s and 1990s. He is a part of the Mayweather boxing family; his brothers are former welterweight contender Floyd Mayweather Sr. and former IBO super featherweight champion Jeff Mayweather, and his nephew is five-division world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. Roger eventually became Mayweather Jr.'s trainer.

Mayweather who was 64-4 as an amateur made his pro boxing debut on July 29, 1981 against Andrew Ruiz. Mayweather won by TKO in round 1. In his thirteenth fight, Mayweather beat Ruben Muñoz Jr. for the USBA lightweight (135 lb) title.

After improving his record to 14-0, Mayweather earned a titleshot on January 19, 1983 against WBA super featherweight (130 lb) champion Samuel Serrano. Serrano entered the bout with a record of 49-3-1 and had lost only once since first winning the title in 1976. Nonetheless, Mayweather led on all three judges' scorecards before he beat Serrano by TKO in round 8 and effectively ended Serrano's career.

Floyd Mayweather, Sr. (born October 19, 1950) is an American boxing trainer and a welterweight contender during the 1970s and 1980s. Floyd Sr. is known for his defensive ability and overall knowledge of boxing strategy. He is the father and former trainer of five-division boxing champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr.. He is credited for teaching his son the defensive skills that made him a winner.

Floyd Mayweather is the senior member of the Mayweather clan. Younger brother Roger was WBC super featherweight and super lightweight champion and was known for his offensive skills. The youngest brother, Jeff, held the IBO super featherweight title. Floyd Mayweather Sr. is known for his outspokenness. He frequently recites poetry about his opponent and still does today for his fighter's opponent. Some refer to him as the "poet laureate of boxing." He is a flamboyant dresser who wears colorful suits, ties and shoes to news conferences.

Mayweather Sr.'s boxing record was 28–6–1 (18 KOs), and he won the U.S. Championship Tournament in 1977 against Miguel Barreto. He once stepped into the ring with Hall of Fame Boxer Sugar Ray Leonard. Mayweather Sr. suffers from the lung disease sarcoidosis. Floyd Mayweather Sr. taught Mayweather Jr. to punch when he was still a toddler in The Place, Michigan. When Mayweather Jr. was a year old, his maternal uncle shot Floyd Sr. in the leg. Prior to his breakup with his son Floyd Mayweather Jr., he served as his manager.

Erislandy Lara Santoya (born April 11, 1983) is a Cuban boxer. The southpaw was the 2005 amateur world champion at welterweight.

In 2003 and 2004 Lara lost four times against double world champ Lorenzo Aragon.

In 2005 after Aragon stepped down Lara bested his countryman Yudel Jhonson Cedeno repeatedly and was sent to the world championships. There he avenged an earlier loss to Russian Andrey Balanov, beat American Boyd Melson, upset top favorite and Olympic champion Bakhtiyar Artayev (31–22) and won Gold against Magomed Nurutdinov (BLR).

Lara has lost twice to another Kazakh: Bakhyt Sarsekbayev. In their only meeting he beat American world champ Demetrius Andrade 9:4.

In 2007, Erislandy Lara, together with superstar Guillermo Rigondeaux, defected from Cuba before the PanAm games. Some weeks later he was caught by Brazilian authorities and was returned to Cuba, where he was banned from practicing boxing indefinitely.

In 2008 he made a second defection attempt, this time on a speed boat to Mexico, and succeeded. He has since made his way to Hamburg, Germany, where he joined former Olympic champions Odlanier Solis, Yan Barthelemy and Yuriorkis Gamboa in the Arena Box-Promotion stable.