Amir Khan vs. Zab Judah: 4 Reasons Why Judah Could Pull off an Upset

As this weekend's Amir Khan vs. Zab Judah Jr. welterweight title fight nears, there are a few ways that Judah can prove the experts wrong and and pull off an upset over Khan.

Because of the recent resurgence in Judah's fighting game—thanks in part to new trainer Pernell Whitaker—there is a a definite reason to give Judah more than a slight chance to win the fight on Saturday night.

Here are the four reasons Judah could pull off the upset in this weekend's fight, and give Khan the second loss of his career in the process.

With almost 15 years of professional boxing experience to his credit, Zab Judah has been in just about every situation a boxer could experience, good or bad.

Sure, the 33-year-old Judah is not quite the same fighter he was back when he was in his prime, but Judah can use the vast knowledge he has built up over his long boxing career, and use it against the less-traveled Amir Khan—who has been boxing professionally since just 2005.

Judah knows how to get himself out of jams, and what to do if a certain style a fighter uses is bothering him. Judah's ability to adapt in the ring has helped him in his career—before his slight meltdown stage between 2006 and 2008—and will help him in this fight if he is the same Judah we saw in his last five fights.

When Zab Judah has confidence in his fighting, he has been one of the better boxers in the ring over the past decade.

He lost that confidence during the rough patch in his career from 2006-2008, resulting in Judah putting out lackluster performances, which almost ended his career.

Now seemingly back on the right track, Judah's confidence has been sky-high as of late.

Judah was known for his trash talking and overall bad sportsmanship before, during and after fights in the past, which was his confidence turning into cockiness. During his recent resurgence he has kept the nonsense outside of the ring to a minimum and focused on his opponent at hand.

His confidence will come in handy, as Amir Khan is known for standing toe-to-toe exchanging punches with fighters, and going in with the mindset that he can beat anyone will help Judah provide Khan with his biggest test in the ring to date.

Two of the major strengths in Zab Judah's boxing repertoire are his speed and his agility, which are both factors Amir Khan usually has an advantage over his opponents in—but not in this fight.

Judah has changed his boxing strategy since pairing up with Pernell Whitaker. Judah has gone from looking for a knockout right out of the gates as the aggressor to a more defensive fighter looking to hit and not get hit.

With Khan being so accustomed to being the faster fighter in the ring, the reality is that Judah's speed could surprise him. If Khan gets surprised, he could get frustrated and knocked off his game plan.

With Khan aggravated, Judah will have a much better chance to be able to deliver effective counter-punches, while not taking as many punches in return. This could lead to an eventual knockout blow for Judah without him having to spend the whole fight looking for it.

A major advantage for Zab Judah in his fight against  Amir Khan will be the fact that he is a southpaw fighter.

In Khan's 26 professional fights, he has only faced a grand total of two southpaw opponents (although he does spar with Manny Pacquiao, a southpaw fighter), none of which were the caliber of fighter Judah is when he is focused and ready, as he should be Saturday night.

In Khan's last fight against southpaw fighter Paul McCloskey, he clearly had some trouble landing effective blows against the unorthodox fighter—but ended up winning the fight on all scorecards after the fight was eventually stopped due to a cut caused by a headbutt.

If these same problems persist to plague Khan in the Judah fight, Judah will have another tactic to discourage Khan and his fight plan, which gives the mental edge to Judah, and will clearly give him the biggest advantage in the fight, as the mental aspect of boxing is just as important as the physical aspect of the fight.