(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) By Allan Fox: Paulie Malignaggi (33-5, 7 KO’s) did his job in winning the war of Brooklyn last night in defeating the old warrior Zab Judah (42-9, 29 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision to win the vacant NABF welterweight title at the Barclays Center
Moments after the fight, Malignaggi immediately said that he wants to fight the winner of next Saturday’s bout between WBA welterweight champion Adrien Broner and Marcos Maidana. If Malignaggi can’t get that fight, then he says he wants the biggest fight he can get.
Malignaggi said “This big win puts me in the right spot to fight in the talented welterweight division.” When asked who he would fight if he can’t get the winner of the Broner-Maidana fight, Malignaggi said “Whoever brings the most money.”
There’s really not a lot of big money fighters in the welterweight division for Malignaggi to fight unfortunately. It’s not likely that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will choose to fight Malignaggi he’s not even in the same class as Amir Khan, who easily beat Malignaggi back in 2010 by an 11th round stoppage.
If Malignaggi can’t get the Broner-Malignaggi winner, then he might be able to go after newly crowned IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter. That would be a decent fight. I don’t think Malignaggi would win, but it would be a good fight for Malignaggi to get a big payday.
Malignaggi has been pretty selective in the opposition he’s faced since his loss to Khan in 2010. He’s really only fought one decent opponent during the past three years in Adrien Broner, and he was beaten by him. Zab Judah is a light welterweight, and he’s past his prime. Judah moved out of the welterweight division back in 2008 when he was no longer finding success at welterweight. If Malignaggi is going to fight a top guy, then you can bet it’s going to be either for a world title or a safe choice against someone that he feels can beat if it’s a non-title fight.
You can’t match Malignaggi up against guys like Amir Khan, Keith Thurman, Alexander and probably even Kell Brook because they would likely beat him and he wouldn’t get a lot of money fighting them. So if Malignaggi can’t get a big money fight for his next fight then he’ll likely face someone that fits in with the type of fighters that he’s been facing since his loss to Khan. Since that fight, Malignaggi has beaten the following guys: Judah, Pablo Cesar Cano, Vyacheslav Senchenko, Orlando Lora, Jose Miguel Cotto, and Michael Lozada. Malignaggi has been matched against guys that he knows he can beat pretty much. There hasn’t been a real tough guy among the bunch. Even Broner, he came from the lightweight division to fight Malignaggi. He wasn’t a real welterweight like Keith Thurman or other fighters that would be dangerous for the light hitting Malignaggi.
At the end of the day, Broner or Maidana will likely fight Malignaggi next, because it’s a safer title defense than it would be for one of them to fight the WBA interim welterweight champion Keith Thurman. Malignaggi is better known than Thurman and it might attract some interest among fans.
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