By Allan Fox: The word is WBA World welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (31-4, 7 KO’s) may take a really soft first defense of his trap by taking on 2nd tier 147 pound challenger Dmitri Salita (33-1-1, 17 KO’s) in what would be an all Brooklyn showdown.

The fight, if it takes place, would be aimed at attracting fans on the East Coast to show up for the fight and – if it gets televised by Showtime or HBO – to watch it on television. I don’t know how the fight can be made given that Salita isn’t ranked in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies despite having an impressive looking record. There are no wins over 1st tier opposition on Salita’s resume, and that’s likely what is keeping him from receiving a top 15 ranking.

Salita told ESPN “I deserve the fight. We came up at the same time. Since we became pro there was talk of us fighting each other, but the timing didn’t work out.”

It’s pretty obvious what got in the way of a Salita-Malignaggi fight getting made in the past, and that’s Salita’s 1st round blowout loss to Amir Khan in December 2009. That was the first and only time that Salita stepped up against a 1st tier opponent. Since that loss, Salita has beaten a couple of lesser fighters.

Malignaggi recently captured the WBA title over champion Vyacheslav Senchenko last April in a surprise 9th round TKO win. It was a great performance because Malignaggi hadn’t faced a good fighter since he was stopped by Khan in May 2010.

I don’t think HBO or SHowtime will have even a slight amount of interest in televising a fight between Malignaggi and Salita. Hopefully Malignaggi looks in another direction for his next fight instead of going soft like this. Salita lacks hand speed and power. It would be too easy for Malignaggi.