By William Mackay: Earlier today, promotional company Main Events, the promoters for Zab Judah (41-7, 28 KO’s), won the purse bid to promote the IBF light welterweight eliminator bout between the 34-year-old Judah and unbeaten Vernon Paris (26-0, 15 KO’s).

Main Events topped the bid from Don King by $70,110 to $50,000. The date and the venue for the Judah-Paris fight is still unknown but it’s likely that the fight will occur on the East Coast where Judah grew up and still has a large fan base.

The winner of the Judah vs. Paris fight will then become the mandatory challenger for the International Boxing Federation light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KO’s).

Judah, ranked #3 IBF, lost his IBF 140lb title in his last fight against WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan last July by a 5th round TKO. Judah had problems with Khan’s hand speed and when he did get in close, Khan often grabbed him by the head and pulled him downwards.

The size difference, Khan’s hand speed and his habit of grabbing Judah’s head all were big factors in the fight. In the 5th round, Khan used his left forearm to shove Judah’s head down and while he was still holding him in place, Khan landed a right hand to the beltline of Judah to score a 5th round TKO. The referee working the fight Vic Drakulitch didn’t see that Khan had pulled Judah’s head down and thus let the knockout win stand. Judah later filed a complaint but it went nowhere.

Paris, 24, recently defeated Tim Coleman by a 7th round TKO in an impressive performance last year in August. Paris’ career has been on the slow track, as he’s not been put in with quality fighters up until late last year with the Coleman fight and now with Judah. Paris doesn’t have much hand speed, but is an excellent body puncher and can take a good shot. He may be able to wear Judah down if he can handle his hand speed.

Judah does well against guys where he has the superior hand speed and he clearly is a lot faster than Paris. But the question mark for Judah is can he take the big shots he’s going to be getting hit with in this fight. Judah looked almost fragile against Khan and didn’t seem to handle getting hit a lot. He wasn’t willing to really go after Khan in the way he needed to in order to win.