By Dan Ambrose: Former IBF light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (29-4, 6 KO’s) will be fighting on the undercard of the Bernard Hopkins vs. Chad Dawson fight on October 15th against little known fighter Orlando Lora (28-1-1, 19 KO’s) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

This is another fairly safe fight for the 30-year-old Malingaggi. It looks like his promoter isn’t going to take any chances of putting him in with a live body before Malignaggi gets a title shot – and gets destroyed – by one of the champions. Since moving up to the welterweight division in 2010, Malignaggi has fought twice, beating Michael Lozada and Jose Miguel Cotto.

Lora is more like Lozada. Actually, Lora is a couple steps down from Cotto. Malignaggi, ranked #9 WBO, #11 IBF, #3 WBA, #11 WBC, defeated Cotto in his last fight by a wide 10 round decision. Malignaggi took a lot of head shots early on in the fight but after Cotto tired out, Malignaggi was able to dominate the remainder of the fight.

Lora, 30, has fought mostly guys with losing records during his career, which would explain his impressive 28-1 record. When Lora did finally step it up last year in a fight against David Estrada, Lora was badly beaten and stopped in the 8th round of a one-sided fight.

Given that outcome, it’s kind of sad that Malignaggi is being put in with Lora. You would think that with the experience that Malignaggi has he’d be matched against someone that could make a fight of it. However, don’t expect Malignaggi to be matched against anyone with a pulse before he gets a title shots. He’ll lose, of course, but at least he’ll get another title shot.