By Scott Gilfoid: Former welterweight champions Shane Mosley (44-5, 37 KOs) and Zab Judah (36-5, 25 KOs) go at it on May 31st at the Mandalay Bay Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Both fighters have suffered losses to Miguel Cotto in the past year, and have found themselves in a position where they are each becoming irrelevant tin the welterweight division, especially Judah who has lost three out of his last six bouts. Cotto, 36, still appears to have a little left and could possibly give one of the welterweight champions some problems if he were to get a shot one of the titles.

The problem is Mosley, now 36, is quickly running out of time to make another run at a title and needs to get a shot within a year or so or else finding himself in an almost un-winnable situation. If he is forced to wait much longer, his chances drop considerably due to his advancing age. Judah, who was at his best in the junior welterweight division, is more of an opponent nowadays than an actual welterweight contender. In recent years, Judah has been defeated by Carlos Baldomir, Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Miguel Cotto. There’s no shame in losing to any of the those three fighters mentioned, I’ll be the first to admit, yet it shows that he doesn’t have what it takes to cut it against the very top of the class.

Judah, 30, appears to be just playing out his string, seemingly content with fighting tough opponents and occasionally getting a shot at a title. The title shots, however, may be something that Judah will be getting fewer chances at in the future, especially if he loses to Mosley. That’s a very real possibility for Judah, given the fact that Mosley is still fighting at a high level, although not quite good enough to beat one of the title holders.

Judah still looks like his old self in the early going of his bouts, as his speed and power are still there. However, once he gets beyond the 7th round, he begins to fade badly and becomes very beatable, even by lesser fighters than him. He’s blamed that on his lack of training time before his bouts which have prevented him from getting a full training camp in for bouts against Mayweather and Cotto. Now, however, Judah says that he’s had months of training time in preparation for his bout with Mosley, and for that reason he’ll be beating Mosley. That remains to be seen, though, for Judah has shown stamina problems dating all the way back to his bout with Cory Spinks in 2004, in which Judah seemed to tire out as the fight winded down.

This would seem to suggest that Judah’s problem with fading is more of an issue than he realizes. Perhaps more important, though, is Judah’s lack of size for the weight class. He’s small for welterweight and has to make up for it with speed. Once Judah’s speed gives out – like in his fights with Mayweather and Cotto – then he is vulnerable to losing. Ideally, Judah would be better served to drop down in weight and fight at his old weight class of junior welterweight, where he was previously a champion. However, he has said repeatedly that he wants to stay at welterweight where the money is better due to fighters like Mayweather and Cotto.

Both fighters are still ranked at the top of the WBO and IBF, yet even if they were to get a shot at one of the two champions – Kermit Cintron and Carlos Quintana – I’d have a hard time seeing them beating either fighter. Cintron, who will be facing Antonio Margarito, won’t likely be the champion for long and that sets up an even worse scenario for either Judah or Mosley given Margarito’s size and high volume offense.

I’d give Mosley and Judah and chance at beating Cintron, but not Margarito. Quintana is perhaps even better than Margarito, having both the size and power to present big problems for Mosley or Judah. Perhaps for that reason, I see this as a mini-championship for both of them, like one of the fringe titles. There’s no shame in not getting one of the top premier belts, because they still are both more popular than most of the fighters in the welterweight division, save for Cotto and Mayweather.