Devon Alexander-Zab Judah possible for July

BoxingScene.com's Rick Reeno reports that Zab Judah is the "frontrunner" for a July fight with WBC and IBF 140-pound titlist Devon Alexander. Mr. Reeno spoke with Alexander's trainer, Kevin Cunningham, who confirmed that the talk is very real.

Judah (38-6, 26 KO) hasn't fought at 140 pounds since December 2003, moving up to welterweight after that for an up-and-down career. At 147, he's gone just 8-5 (4 KO) and hasn't won a major fight since his 2005 defeat of Cory Spinks.

That rematch between Spinks and Judah took place in St. Louis, where Alexander and Cunningham want Zab to fight them. It also means Judah is very well-known in the Gateway City, and with the way Alexander's career is starting to take off, that fight could do good business. Judah has also worked in the past with Don King, who now promotes Alexander.

Alexander (20-0, 13 KO) is coming off of a pretty fantastic performance from this past Saturday, when he knocked out Juan Urango in eight rounds to unify his WBC title with Urango's IBF belt.

Cunningham also says that after they beat Judah, they want to go after Timothy Bradley before the year is out.

Rick Reeno shares the same thought I do about the weight, which is to say neither of us are convinced that Judah's constant talking actually means he can make 140 pounds anymore. If he did, I'd half-expect him to be so drained that Alexander would have a pretty easy night. Like I said the other day, yeah he's fought down at about 143-145, but 143 is not 140. Judah has yapped about going back to his old division and reclaiming the throne, but instead has taken easy fights with the likes of Ubaldo Hernandez, Ernest Johnson, Edwin Vazquez and Ryan Davis, and for the latter two, he didn't even have the welterweight limit to worry about, coming in a quarter-pound over 150 to fight Davis.

And at 32, Judah isn't getting any younger. Going down in weight in your 30s is not easy. Zab doesn't "let himself go" in the tradition of Ricky Hatton or Cristobal Arreola, but he's never been accused of being a Mayweather-esque fitness freak, either.

But if he can make 140 comfortably, it's still a good fight. Zab still has plenty of ability and would be the best all-around boxer Alexander has faced to date. My gut is telling me that this won't happen any more than Judah's aborted fight last year with Matthew Hatton, which was far less imposing. But there's also the chance that Zab is now being forced to face the fact that he's far less than a hot commodity, that TV networks aren't interested in paying for his mismatches, and that he's bordering on pure irrelevance.