By Jason Kim: With former International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (27-4, 5 KO’s) signing with Golden Boy Promotions and saying that he intends on fighting at welterweight (147 lbs), you have to wonder who Malignaggi is capable of beating at that weight. Given how weak of a puncher that the 29-year-old Malignaggi was at light welterweight (140 lbs), you can’t figure that he’ll be any stronger at welterweight.

It wasn’t as if Malignaggi was melting down muscle in order to get to 140 each time he fought. I figure Golden Boy has signed Malignaggi in order to have him as an opponent for one of their young lions like Saul Alvarez. It would give Alvarez a fighter with a name to fight but without the power to be a threat to him. But once Alvarez destroys Malignaggi, how much more use will Golden Boy be able to get out of Malignaggi?

I think he would be in serious danger of being beaten by most of the fighters in the top 15 of the welterweight division no matter how careful they are in matching Malignaggi. I think Malignaggi will find success if Golden Boy continuously matches him against 2nd tier opposition, but what’s the point of doing that? The boxing public will likely see through that and wonder why Malignaggi, an established professional, is being matched against B level fighters at this point in his career.

Normally, after a fighter has established himself, they fight top level fighters until their career goes to pieces and then they become fodder for the better fighters. I don’t what Malignaggi can be at this point by fighting in the welterweight division. At least if Malignaggi fought at light welterweight, he would actually be a genuine contender who was capable of beating many of the top fights, if not the very top ones.

But at welterweight, he just seems too weak to do anything other than take beatings against the stronger fighters. As of now, Malignaggi doesn’t have an opponent picked out for his next fight, but it’s going to be interesting to see who Golden Boy will be matching him up against once he does fight again. My guess is it won’t be anyone too good until he finally takes on the young kid Alvarez. At that point, look for Malignaggi got get torn apart in six rounds or less.