By Jason Kim: Former International Boxing Federation (IBF) light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (27-4, 5 KO’s) will be facing 27-year-old little known Michael Lozada (36-6-1, 29 KO’s) on December 18th at the Pepsi Coliseum, in Quebeck City, Quebec, Canada. Malignaggi, 30, hasn’t fought since being stopped by WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan in the 11th round on May 15th in a one-sided loss.

Lozado has been in with a number of recognizable fighters during his career, losing to Edwin Valero, Jose Armando Santa Cruz, Jorge Luis Teron and Jorge Rodrigo Barrios by knockout defeat. Lozado may have a small chance against Malignaggi because he lacks any real power and Lozado mostly has problems against punchers.

It was Malignaggi’s third loss in his last five fights. Malignaggi recently signed with Golden Boy Promotions, who will likely use Malignaggi for specific bouts against name fighters on some of their cards. There’s talk of Malignaggi possibly fighting EBU welterweight champion Matthew Hatton in the near future. Malignaggi likely would have problems against Hatton, because the younger brother of former Malignaggi conqueror Ricky Hatton can pop a little, especially to the body.

Other than putting Malignaggi in fights to attract attention due to his name recognition value, it’s hard to imagine Malignaggi being a factor at light welterweight or welterweight at this point in time. It’s not that Malignaggi has lost anything since he last held a major title in 2008, it’s that the light welterweight division is so much better now than when Malignaggi was a champion and it’s probably possible for the light hitting Malignaggi to compete with the likes of Marcos Maidana, Khan, Devon Alexander, Victor Ortiz, and Timothy Bradley. The same goes for the welterweight division, although that division hasn’t gotten better but it’s still too tough for the weak punching Malignaggi to compete.