By Rahil Sheikh: New York’s Paulie Malignaggi survived a scare in the first round to go on to claim a unanimous decision victory against Jose Cotto, on the Morales – Maidana undercard, at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas.

Jose Cotto the older brother of WBA light middleweight champion Miguel Cotto, who had previously given Malignaggi a beating back in 2006, struggled to keep up with the speed and movement of Malignaggi throughout the fight.

Cotto (32-3-1, 24 KOs) had an impressive first round, landing big shots and wobbling Malignaggi with a hard right hand.

‘Magic Man’ Malignaggi recovered well for the start of the second round, as he imposed his superior speed and movement to frustrate Cotto round after round. Cotto found himself walking on to a left jab every time he came forward.

The middle rounds saw Malignaggi show more aggression as he threw combinations to an increasingly static Cotto.

Although Cotto was managing to land some hard shots, his lack of work-rate really cost him against the much more active Malignaggi.

“I feel great. It was good to get 10 rounds in against a good fighter,” Malignaggi said after the fight.

He continued, “I wanted to make a statement. I wanted to control him in the beginning and stop him at the end, but my hands started hurting.”

Paulie Malignaggi improves to a record of 29-4, 6 KOs and this victory could put him on course for a possible showdown against IBF welterweight champion Jan Zaveck of Slovenia.

For Jose Cotto it is difficult to see where he can go from here after a 15-year career where he has failed to capture a major world title.