By Eric Thomas: According to news reports, Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is saying the mega fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao is dead in the water because of the failure of the two parties over the Olympic style drug tests that Mayweather’s team wants. Instead, Pacquiao will go in a different direction and fight Paulie Malignaggi on March 13th. This is a huge letdown to say the least. Malignaggi isn’t anywhere close to being as good as Mayweather, and was stopped last year in the 11th round by Ricky Hatton.
Malignaggi may just be a temporary name used by Pacquiao’s team to make it seem as if Pacquiao has other options. It’s strange, I got to admit, that they used Malignaggi’s name as a replacement opponent rather than, say, Timothy Bradley. At least Bradley is the World Boxing Organization light welterweight champion and is considered to be the best fighter in the division by many people. Malignaggi is just a former champion who is more of a gatekeeper than a real threat to any of the current champions.
Malignaggi has little punching power and is more of a pure boxer that likes to frustrate his opponents with movement and pot shots. Malignaggi was beaten by Miguel Cotto by a 12 round decision in 2006, and last year, Paulie was stopped by Hatton in a one-sided fight. What makes Malignaggi more appealing that arguably better fighters than him is his popularity on the East coast of the United States. He’s well liked there and has a huge following. He has wins over Lovemore N’dou, Herman Ngoudjo, Edner Cherry, and Diaz. That’s pretty much the extent of Malignaggi’s wins over 1st tier opposition. However, it’s hard to see Malignaggi beating the stronger more powerful light welterweight contenders today like Kendall Holt, Ricardo Torres, Devon Alexander, Victor Ortiz, Marcos Maidana, Amir Khan, Juan Urango, Bradley, Nate Campbell, and Lamont Peterson.
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