By William Mackay: IBF light welterweight champion Zab Judah (41-6, 28 KO’s) is looking really muscular and cut up for his July 23rd fight against WBA World light welterweight champion Amir Khan (25-1, 17 KO’s) for their fight at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. In fact, this is the best I’ve ever seen Judah looking. He’s put on a lot of muscles in his arms and he’s fighting with a lot of power.

Unlike Khan, who put on muscle are around his arms which has slowed him down, Judah is still punching with the same lighting speed that he’s always had in the past. It’s scary how fast and powerful he’s punching now. It’s like watching Paul McCloskey at super speed.

Khan struggled badly against McCloskey in his last fight in April. Can you imagine how bad Khan is going to look against someone that has much faster hands and way more power than McCloskey? It’s going to be bad for Khan. You can bet that Khan’s Plan A, crafted by trainer Freddie Roach, will involve Khan running for the hills to keep as far away as possible from Judah’s power shots and especially his huge uppercuts.

Judah has used that uppercut to knockout guys like Kaizer Mabuza and Jose Armando Santa Cruz in two of his recent fights. Judah nailed Lucas Matthysse with a couple of really powerful uppercuts that had the steel-chinned Matthysse showing admiration for Judah’s power. It’s no secret what Roach will have Khan doing in this fight. The first plan will run him to keep from getting hit.

The second part of the plan, known as Plan B, will be to try and wait Judah out until the second half of the fight, hoping that he’ll fade enough for him to lose his power. Khan will then try and move in to land his shots. However, Khan may never get to Plan B if Judah cuts off the ring and forces the fleeing Khan to fight. In that case, we could see an early knockout win for Judah.

Even if it goes into the second half of the fight, I think Roach has severely misjudged Judah’s stamina. They’re counting on him running out of gas, but I don’t think he will. Khan may be moving in at that time into his own massacre, much like he did in his 1st round knockout loss against Breidis Prescott.