By Team LeftJab: With the new year right around the corner, talk of future bouts for next spring will start to heat up soon. Paulie Malignaggi won impressively by unanimous decision over Zab Judah in his most impressive display since he won the WBA title from Senchenko in April 2012. Malignaggi has not had a bad night in the ring since May 2010 against Amir Khan.
Since that fight he has gone 6-1 with the only loss coming in a fight a lot of people felt he won..against Adrien Broner. Malignaggi is in the hunt for a big fight again as he was promised by Al Haymon after the win over Judah. There are a number of fights that Paulie could get and they all are very interesting match-ups.
The rematch with Adrien Broner is out the window for now. There is nothing for Malignaggi to win by taking that fight now. Broner no longer has the WBA belt after losing it to Marcos Maidana and Broner will likely be talked into going down to 140 anyway. What could have been a huge buzz for a rematch between the two would likely just become a fight with the storyline being “Let’s see how Broner responds after losing badly to Maidana”. Malignaggi doesn’t need that.
Danny Garcia is a fight that would be very big at The Barclay’s Center. Since it opened, Garcia has fought their twice and even though he is from Philly, it is his home away from home since it’s within range of his fan base. The way Malignaggi sells tickets and draws attention to his fights, it would make a lot of sense to make this fight. Garcia would be moving up to 147 and it would be a very competitive fight. Malignaggi is definitely faster and has the chin that can take the hook that Garcia has ended numerous fights with. This fight gets a big thumbs up with the winner really getting a push towards Mayweather possibly.
Another fight that makes sense is Shawn Porter for Malignaggi. It would be a IBF world title fight and it could give Malignaggi a third world title which he is always interested in. As far as the fight goes, Malignaggi may be able to school the younger champ who seems to rough up his opponents to win like he did against Devon Alexander. Don’t see Malignaggi letting Porter lead in with the shots he connected with on Alexander all night.
Good fight though and anytime there’s a world title on the line it elevates the fight. But the big one most fans of Malignaggi would vote to see is Marcos Maidana. This fight makes the most sense. It would be for the WBA belt Paulie felt he never lost to Broner. It would be the classic boxer vs brawler fight that usually makes for an exciting bout. Malignaggi is much faster and could be a step ahead of Maidana all night but the danger of a big shot from Maidana looms all twelve rounds. But Malignaggi has a great chin..would it hold up to Maidana’s power? Plus the two fighters tried to set this fight up a time or two two years ago but it never happened. This would be the perfect time to do it. As much as Maidana wants Mayweather, most likely Amir Khan will get the fight. Mayweather wants to fight Khan next especially after all the media attention the proposed fight already has had. He can’t risk Khan getting picked off again because then the fight will really have a backlash.More than it’s getting now.
So in conclusion, the fight Malignaggi should get is Marcos Maidana. Second choice would be a tie between Danny Garcia and IBF champ Shawn Porter. Probably an edge to Garcia in most fans eyes but the third world title would add to Malignaggi’s resume. There are other fights out there like Keith Thurman and Kell Brook but they pale in comparison to the ones mentioned. Hopefully Al Haymon will get this fight made.
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