By Sean McDaniel: Former International Boxing Federation (IBF) light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (30-4, 6 KO’s) is in negotiations to fight WBA welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko (32-0, 21 KO’s) in early 2012 if the fight can be successfully negotiated. Malignaggi, ranked #3 WBA, is about the safest bet for Sencheko as far as him being matched against a well-known opponent that he can likely beat.

Malignaggi said this to Ringtv “We’re still in the middle of ongoing negotiations. We’re sort of at a stand-still in the negotiations and may have to go to a purse bid is a deal isn’t struck.”

At this point they’re not sure where the fight will take place. If Malignaggi’s promoters at Golden Boy win the purse bid then the fight will take place in the United States some place, likely in the New York area where the 31-year-old Malignaggi lives and has a large following. If Golden Boy doesn’t win the purse big, then Malignaggi will likely have to travel to Ukraine and fight in Senchenko’s home country. Malignaggi will have problems wither way with Sencheko because he’s taller than Malignaggi, has a better jab and better power.

This is going to be a tough ask for Malignaggi to beat this guy even though Senchenko is considered a paper champion in the minds of a lot of boxing fans.

Malignaggi moved up to the welterweight division last year after getting stopped in the 11th round by Amir Khan. Malignaggi has since won his last three fights against Michael Lozada, Jose Miguel Cotto and Orlando Lora. The World Boxing Association has been kind to Malignaggi by giving him a #3 ranking despite his reluctance to take on a top tier opponent in the division.

Malignaggi has a weird outlook on the fight and his approach to taking fights, saying “I’m not going to put my head on a platter for people and just take a beating, you know what I mean?”

In other words, Malignaggi is going to be very careful with what fights he takes. I think he needs to be careful because there are likely a lot of fighters in the division that could beat Malignaggi if given the chance. At light welterweight Malignaggi wasn’t much of a puncher, but at welterweight it’s even more pronounced.