By Dan Ambrose: Newly crowned IBF light welterweight champion Zab Judah (41-6, 28 KO’s) is on the hunt for a big money fight after stopping Kaizer Mabuza in the 7th round to grab the vacant IBF belt. The win rejuvenated the 33-year-old Judah’s career and put him in the position where he possibly will be getting a good paying fight in the future if he can lure one of the big names like Juan Manuel Marquez, Timothy Bradley, Devon Alexander, Marcos Maidana or Amir Khan into fighting him.

Judah is now saying he wants to fight Marquez in the summer, saying this would be a good pay-per-view fight for boxing fans. However, Marquez is likely going to be facing Manny Pacquiao next. Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, has been mentioning Marquez as one of the leading candidates to fight Pacquiao after his May 7th bout with Shane Mosley, unless Floyd Mayweather Jr. is available. Marquez isn’t going to mess things up by taking on Judah in a fight that probably won’t be that big of a fight.

At one time, Judah was a fairly popular fighter but after years of losing to guys like Cory Spinks, Miguel Cotto, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Joshua Clottey, and Carlos Baldomir, coupled with fighting only rarely, Judah’s popularity has plummeted. Marquez really stand to gain too much by facing the bigger Judah, and Marquez isn’t about to risk losing out on his third fight with Pacquiao by facing Judah.

There just isn’t a big enough upside for Marquez to waste time fighting Judah. Marquez is better off either waiting for the Pacquiao fight or taking on a minor tune-up. Judah needs to go after one of the top light welterweights and hope he doesn’t get stopped again. He beat Mabuza but he sure looked bad in his gift decision over Lucas Matthysse last year. Judah should try and give Matthysse a rematch but in a neutral venue this time with a different set of judges.