By Allan Fox: With no real nibbles in the way of high caliber opponents since capturing the World Boxing Association 147 pound title last April with a win over champion Vyacheslav Senchenko, WBA World welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (31-4, 7 KO’s) has expressed interest in defending his title against newly crowned Josesito Lopez (30-4, 18 KO’s).

Unfortunately for Malignaggi, this may be as good as it gets for him. Many boxing fans see him as a paper champion, and thus far the big stars in boxing Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto haven’t shown any desire to fight Malignaggi.

Steve Kim said on his twitter “Got off the horn with Paulie Malignaggi; said he loved to put his belt on the line vs. Josesito Lopez in next bout.”

Lopez, 27, defeated Victor Ortiz in a surprise upset recently by stopping him in the 9th round after Ortiz couldn’t continue fighting due to a badly broken jaw. Lopez was hanging tough in the fight but was well behind on the scorecards at the time Ortiz quit. The chances of Lopez winning the fight by a decision would have been quite low had the bout gone the full 12. But it doesn’t matter how he won the fight as long as he won it, and Malignaggi would be a decent fight for him.

Lopez would obviously be more interested in facing the big names in the division or even at junior middleweight. Lopez already expressed interest in stepping up in weight to fight WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez on September 15th, but since Lopez already moved up a class for the Ortiz fight, he’s not likely going to be given serious consideration by Golden Boy Promotions for the Alvarez fight.

If neither Malignaggi or Lopez can get anything better then they might as well face each other. It’s ideal for Malignaggi, because Lopez doesn’t have huge power, he’s easy to hit, and he tends to fight in spurts. Malignaggi would have a good chance of out-boxing or out-working Lopez. Malignaggi might be better of facing Lopez than fighting #2 WBA Kell Brook or #3 Thomas Dulorme.

Those guys are both unbeaten and they can really punch. It would a tough ask for Malignaggi to beat either of them. At least by facing Lopez, Malignaggi might be able to get one title milking fight before he’s chopped down by Dulorme or Brook.