By Allan Fox: 34-year-old former two division world champion Zab Judah (41-7, 28 KO’s) takes on undefeated 24-year-old light welterweight contender Vernon Paris (26-0, 15 KO’s) on March 24th in an IBF light welterweight title eliminator bout at the Aviator Sports Complex in Brooklyn, New York.

If this was a fight that had taken place 10 years ago, it would be a cut and dried win for Judah. He’s a lot faster and a much bigger puncher than the slow-handed Paris. However, Judah is now 34, and he’s not quite as quick as he used to be, and he seems a lot less willing to take shots in order to wins like he was earlier in his career. Judah is coming off of a 5th round TKO defeat at the hands of WBA Super World light welterweight champion Amir Khan last July in a fight in which Judah really never even attempted to win.

He let Khan do whatever he wanted and was eventually stopped in the 5th when Khan held Judah down with his left foreman and hit him on the beltline with his right. It looked like holding and hitting by Khan, but the referee missed it and Khan got the win. It didn’t really matter, though, because Judah was going to get stopped anyway and all it did was end his suffering a lot quicker.

Judah could be put out of his misery in this fight unless he’s able to move and throw combinations. He can’t stand in front of Paris because he’s a rough fighter and an excellent body puncher. Judah can also throw well to the body, but he’s less able to take punishment and will have problems if he fights that kind of bout.

This is a winnable fight for Judah, but he’s going to have to really use his speed and feet to win it, because he can’t fight Paris’ fight and win.