By Scott Gilfoid: WBA World welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KO’s) says he expects to be facing WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner (26-0, 22 KO’s) next, according to Steve Kim. The fight will take place on June 22nd at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer told Dan Rafael of ESPN “Paulie told me he is interested, and HBO likes that fight. People will like that fight. Paulie did tell me he would take it. He’s not sure if Broner would take it. I put it to Al Haymon [Broner’s manager] to talk to Adrien. I think it would be a very interesting fight.”
Schaefer is definitely right about it being a very interesting fight. Both guys are amazing talents and it’s really hard to accurately pick a winner in this fight. I mean, if Malignaggi and Broner were both fighting in the same division, then I would have to say Broner would win, but Malignaggi is a bigger guy, and has been fighting at 140 and 147 against much bigger guys that Broner.
Malignaggi will be a much tougher guy given his size and experience against larger fighters than Broner. Malignaggi also is a guy with a lot of speed and movement in his game. He’s not going to stand in front of Broner like Gavin Rees and Antonio DeMarco did against him. Malignaggi will use his jab and head movement to keep Broner from connecting with his own shots.
If this is going to be the start of Broner’s new entry into the welterweight division then I think this is a great thing for him and for boxing. However, if Broner plans on moving back down to 135 after the Malignaggi fight, then that’s less impressive because it’s academic at this point that there just isn’t anyone to fight at lightweight anymore.
The only real interesting opponent, Ricky Burns, won’t fight Broner, so it’s pointless for him to move back down to lightweight once he faces Malignaggi.
Broner will be showing a lot of courage if he moves up two divisions to face Malignaggi, but if Robert Guerrero was able to do this with great success then Broner should be able to as well. Guerrero’s risky move has paid off well for him big time with him landing a big money fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 4th. Broner might not need Mayweather to get his own big paydays if he’s able to quickly establish himself as a star at 147.
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