By Sean Mcdaniel: Former WBA/WBC/IBF welterweight champion Zab Judah (36-5, 25 KOs) and Joshua Clottey (34-2, 20 KOs) will meet up on Saturday night for the vacant IBF welterweight title up for grabs at the Palms Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The title was left vacant after Antonio Margarito gave it up soon after winning it with a 6th round TKO over Kermit Cintron in April. Rather than having to defend the title against Clottey, whom he beat previously by a 12-round unanimous decision in December 2006, Margarito opted to give up the title and instead fight Miguel Cotto for his WBA welterweight title.
On paper, this would seem like a fight that Judah can’t win. Although he’s perhaps a little faster than Clottey, he doesn’t have the rugged style of fighting that he possesses, nor does he have the chin needed to take the kind of big shots that Clottey will no doubt be dishing out against him throughout the fight. Both Clottey and Judah are roughly the same size, however, but that’s where similarities end. Clottey has excellent power in his left hook, which he often throws in blinding three and four-punch combinations within a fraction of a second.