By Jason Kim: 33-year-old former two division world champion Zab Judah (41-6, 28 KO’s) pulled out a stunning 7th round stoppage last weekend against South African Kaizer Mabuza (23-7-3, 14 KO’s) to win the vacant IBF light welterweight title. The win has rejuvenated Judah’s career, giving him his first title victory in six years. But the win won’t likely result in Judah getting a shot against WBA Super World light welterweight champion Amir Khan, even if Khan beats his next two opponents Paul McCloskey and Timothy Bradley.

Khan wants to move up in weight after the Bradley fight to the 147 pound division to try and get a big money fight against either Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Shane Mosley. Unfortunately for Judah, he’s not popular enough nowadays, perhaps due to all the losses he’s wracked up in the past six years, for him to be seriously considered for a bout with Khan. Judah will have to settle for taking on guys like Devon Alexander, Lucas Matthysse, Bradley, Victor Ortiz, Brandon Rios, Marcos Maidana or Lamont Peterson.

Those fights won’t bring the same kind of attention to Judah as a Khan fight, but that’s what Judah is looking at. He might have problems beating any of those fighters, though, because they all have good chins and won’t be taken out with an uppercut the way that Mabuza was. Judah already fought Matthysse last year and escaped with a controversial win. Matthysse is the last guy that Judah wants to fight right now. Rios would be a great fight for Judah right now because of the attention that Rios has received from his recent stoppage of Miguel Acosta.

That’s another tough fight for Judah, because Rios will be able to take Judah’s shots and outwork him the way that Matthysse and Mabuza did. If Judah is smart, he’ll milk his title for awhile and look to take on some lower ranked opposition and then try and get someone like Maidana in the ring. Judah might be able to box his way to a decision against Maidana if he can avoid getting hit too much. Again, Judah won’t have any chance of knocking Maidana out because he can take a shot. If Judah tries to trade with him, he’ll get beaten up. Judah will likely lose anyway but at least he’ll have a small chance at beating Maidana if he run all night.