By William Mackay: After dusting off #4 IBF light welterweight contender Vernon Paris last Saturday in an easy 9th round TKO victory in Brooklyn, New York, the 34-year-old Zab Judah (42-7, 29 KO’s), #3 IBF, is the now the mandatory challenger for the May 19th winner of the Amir Khan vs. Lamont Peterson rematch at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This is good and bad depending on who wins the Khan vs. Peterson rematch, because we already saw Khan easily beat Judah by a 5th round TKO win last July, and unless there was a drastic change for a rematch, such as a referee that would keep Khan from shoving and pulling down on Judah’s head over and over again like he did last July, then I can’t see the outcome being any different. Khan completely dominated Judah in that fight and each time he did try and get something going, Khan would nullify his offense using a variety of strategies. A Judah vs. Peterson fight would be a lot more interesting because Peterson doesn’t pull down on his opponent’s heads and doesn’t shove them. Judah would have a reasonable chance of winning the fight if he can handle Peterson’s pressure and fierce body attack.

Judah really clowned Paris last night in Brooklyn. As Judah said after the fight to RingTV, “He [Paris] was tailor made for me.”

He was. Paris had no hand speed to speak of and no real game plan to fall back on when things started going seriously wrong starting in the 2nd round. Paris couldn’t cope with Judah’s hand speed and then couldn’t make the adjustments needed. Judah flurried on him from time to time and had things all his own way.

Khan will likely vacate the IBF title to move up in weight to the welterweight division if he beats Peterson, so there’s little chance of a Khan-Judah rematch. No matter how closely Khan beats Peterson, there won’t be another fight. There was for Khan because he lost but I can’t see him returning the favor to Peterson. If Khan vacates the title, then Judah and Peterson can fight for it.