By Jim Dower: According to FNF, former lightweight champion Juan Diaz (34-2, 17 KO’s) will be fighting former International Boxing Federation light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (26-2, 5 KO’s) on August 22nd, a fight that will likely take place in Houston, Texas. It’s unknown what weight the fight would occur at, but perhaps 140, which is the weight that Malignaggi fights at.

Diaz, 25, has lost two out of his last four fights getting beaten by Nate Campbell and then Juan Manuel Marquez. Despite the losses, Diaz appears to have a little more left in the tank in comparison to Malignaggi, who didn’t look at all good in being stopped by Ricky Hatton in the 11th round in November 2008.

Malignaggi was hoping to use his speed and boxing skills on the slower Hatton by working him over on the outside with jabs and combinations. However, as it turned out, it was Hatton who gave Malignaggi the boxing lesson, beating him at every facet of the game and looking like the much more skill fighter of the two.

Malignaggi looked nothing like his prime form of two years earlier when he gave Miguel Cotto all he could handle for 12 rounds, losing by a unanimous decision.

A Diaz-Malignaggi fight is great news, because it gives fans an interesting fight to speculate on. Some boxing fans see Malignaggi as being a shot fighter since the Hatton bout, whereas others just see the Hatton fight as an anomaly and not an indication that Malignaggi is past it as a fighter.