By Michael Lieberman: IBF welterweight champion Jan Zaveck (30-1, 17 KO’s) has decided to play it safe by defending his title on Friday night against his #15 ranked IBF contender Paul Degado (25-9, 4 KO’s) at the Sportpark Arena, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Zaveck, 34, will be making his third title defense of his International Boxing Federation belt that he won in 2009 when he defeated Isaac Hlatshwayo by a 3rd round knockout.

It looks like Zaveck isn’t taking any chances that he’ll get beaten and lose his IBF title. By facing the number #15 ranked Degado, Zaveck ensures that he’ll be able to hold onto his title for a little while longer. He hasn’t looked impressive thus far in beating Rodolfo Ezequiel Martinez and Rafal Jackiewicz in his last two fights. Zaveck is a good pressure fighter, but lacks power and defensive ability. In his bout against Jackiewicz in September 2010, it was alarming how easily Jackiewicz was able to land shots against Zaveck. It was almost as if Zaveck was walking forward with his hands down because he was unable to block anything all night long.

Zaveck is considered a paper champion by many boxing fans. He could change that if he were to take more chances by taking on a top #5 contender instead of looking to take the easy route by going after the lowest possible ranked opponent he could find. This kind of reminds me of how WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm has selected opponents during the years that he’s been the World Boxing Association champ. I’d much prefer to see Zaveck against someone like Mike Jones or Randall Bailey than to see Zaveck reaching from the bottom of the IBF to find the weak-punching Degado.

Degado has faced a number of good fighters during his 13-year pro career. The problem is he’s been beaten each time he’s faced someone good. Degado has lost two Pauli Malignaggi (twice), Vitaliy Demyanenko, Derrick Samuels, Dmitriy Salita and Said Ouali. I suppose you’ll be able to add Zaveck’s name to that list on Friday.

Hopefully, Zaveck starts stepping it up in the future and taking on recognizable opponents because it would be sad if his time as a IBF paper champion were to be one in which he fought the lesser known welterweight contenders and dodged dangerous opponents.