By Eric Thomas: Light welterweight contender Paulie Malignaggi (26-2, 5 KOs) wants a fight with former IBF/WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Diaz (34-2, 17 KOs), according to Boxing Talk.

Malignaggi, 28, a former International Boxing Federation light welterweight champion, finds himself with an open schedule after his opponent Mike Alvarado injured himself while training for their June 27th bout that was to take place in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Malignaggi spoke of a fight with Diaz possibly taking place on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Juan Manuel Marquez bout on July 18th, a card that Malignaggi wants to fight on.

However, if that fight can’t take place on that card, Malignaggi is open to fighting Diaz in his home town of Houston, Texas. Diaz has an August 22nd date available for Houston with no opponent named. The July 18th date would be perfect for Diaz and Malignaggi to fight, giving both Diaz and Malignaggi some much needed air time with a huge worldwide boxing audience.

Both Diaz and Malignaggi have been knocked out in the past year and could use the July 18th date as an opportunity to show the world that they’re still viable contenders in their perspective divisions. Malignaggi, 5’8 1/2″, by going up against the 5’6″ Diaz, would have a rare size advantage over one of his opponents.

Malignaggi has been undersized against powerful fighters like Ricky Hatton, who stopped him in the 11th round last year, and Miguel Cotto to name just a couple of the tougher fighters that Malignaggi has faced in his career.

Malignaggi wants to stay busy and at least be able to get in a fight by the summer if the July 18th date isn’t available for him to fight Diaz. Malignaggi wasn’t happy with the time that he put in training for the fight against Alvarado, and sees it as “wasted time” where Malignaggi spent six months training for nothing.

Malignaggi feels that Alvarado should have been able to fight with the injury, saying that he had fought himself while being injured in the past. As such, Malignaggi isn’t happy with the experience and wants to move forward with a fight with Diaz if it can be arranged. Malignaggi would prefer not to have to fight in Diaz’s home town but if that’s the only choice, he’ll do it if he has to. Malignaggi says that he’s available to fight right away if need be.

This would be a tough fight for Diaz, because Malignaggi has good skills and would have the speed and size advantage in this fight. Diaz is coming off a bad 9th knockout loss to Marquez and might not be at his best after absorbing a lot of punishment from Marquez in that fight.

Malignaggi also took a lot of punishment in his 11th round stoppage loss to Hatton. However, Malignaggi has fought once since then, beating Christopher Fernandez by an eight round decision in April 2009.

A win for Malignaggi would give him a likely boost in the light welterweight rankings and put him in position where he could get a potential title shot at some point in the near future.