By Scott Gilfoid: The International Boxing Federation (IBF) has given IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (23-0-1, 14 KO’s) an exception to take on former two division world champion Paulie Malignaggi (33-5, 7 KO’s) in an optional title defense with the stipulation that the winner of the Porter-Malignaggi fight must face #1 IBF Kell Brook (31-0, 21 KO’s) by this Summer, according to Fightnews.
Porter, 26, was supposed to be fighting Brook next, but he got permission from the IBF to take the fight against #2 WBA, #3 WBC, #4 WBO, #5 IBF, Malignaggi next. However, the fight must be staged by April 19th at the latest, otherwise Porter will have to fight Brook next, and not Malignaggi.
It may seem like the IBF is doing Porter and Malignaggi a big favor by letting them make this fight, but in reality they’re not doing them a great service because with the April 19th deadline, neither Porter or Malignaggi will have a lot of time to train for this fight. We’re basically talking about a month here, and that’s not enough time for these guys to get in top shape in order to make the fight. Porter, the younger guy, won’t be as affected as the 33-year-old Malignaggi, because he stays in shape year round and doesn’t puff up the way that Malignaggi does in between fights.
I don’t see how Malignaggi will be able to get in the kind of shape he’ll need to be in for him to beat a fighter like Porter. I mean, this isn’t Zab Judah we’re talking about here. Malignaggi recently beat Judah by a 12 round unanimous decision last December in a fight where Judah stopped throwing punches almost entirely after dropping Malignaggi early in the fight. Malignaggi would have lost the fight had Judah simply thrown punches. Porter isn’t going to do Malignaggi any favors and not throw punches.
“The IBF wrote to me last week to confirm that IBF champion Shawn Porter had asked for an exception to fight Paul Malignaggi on April 19. 12 days outside of the restricted period,” Hearn said via Fightnews. “We asked that if the exception be granted then it should be accompanied by certain requirements, the most important of those being that both fighters in the proposed April 19 bout must agree in writing to face Kell within 90 days or by July 19.”
So the Porter-Malignaggi winner will need to face Brook within 3 months of their fight, and that’s plenty of time for the winner to get ready to face Brook.
Brook faces Alvarao Robles (17-2, 15 KO’s) this Saturday night at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK. This is another one of Brook’s soft tune-up fights that he likes to take, and so there’s no chance of him bungling it and losing the fight. It’s too much of a mismatch for Brook to lose. Now if this was a decent opponent like Keith Thurman, I think Brook would be knocked out by the 6th round, but obviously he’s not going to break his routine and fight someone good like that, especially with a title shot staring him in the face by this Summer.
Porter will no doubt beat Malignaggi, and then I can see him beating Brook as well depending on where the fight is staged.
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