By Dan Ambrose: On March 5th, former two division world champion Zab Judah (40-6, 27 KO’s) will be facing number #1 ranked IBF contender Kaizer Mabuza (23-6-3, 14 KO’s) for the vacant International Boxing Federation light welterweight title at the Prudential Center, in Newark, New Jersey. Judah defeated Lucas Matthysse by a controversial 12 round split decision in his last fight in November 2010. Judah was knocked down in the 10th round and beaten up in the last three rounds.

Judah was pounded on from the 4th round, and did next to nothing but run in the entire second half of the fight. However, Judah was fighting at home and was able to win a decision that proved to be an unpopular one outside of the East Coast. Now Judah is facing the South African Mabuza, who is known for his ability to put a lot of pressure on his opponents and wearing them out. This is the worst possible opponent that Judah could have, because he’s got poor stamina and is really just a four to six round fighter now at this stage in his career.

Judah, 33, has spent the large part of the last six years fighting in the welterweight division and getting mixed results at that weight. After starting off well and winning the IBF/WBA/WBC welterweight titles with a 9th round TKO win over Cory Spinks 4th fight at welterweight, Judah was beaten by Carlos Baldomir, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey. After the loss to Clottey, it was pretty clear that Judah didn’t have the size to compete at welterweight. He then moved back down to light welterweight where he hopes to find the success that he had earlier in his career when he was the IBF and WBO light welterweight champion.

Judah had this to say about Mabuza in a conference all: “He’s an action packed fighter, he’s coming in here, this is a major opportunity for him. He sat around and waited for the opportunity for a long time and I know come March 5th, Kaizer Mabuza is not coming all the way from South Africa to lose.”