Boxing / Editorial

Malignaggi Back on April 27, But Against Who?

Corey Erdman / January 23, 2013 - 11:32am

The boxing world let out a collective groan when a fight between Paulie Malignaggi and Shane Mosley was all but announced for April 27.

It didn't have anything to do with Malignaggi—though he has his fair share of 'haters'—it had to do with Mosley.

The future Hall of Famer hasn't won a fight in four years, and has turned in progressively more dreadful performances ever since beating Antonio Margarito. After a sound thrashing from Canelo Alvarez, Sugar Shane decided to hang 'em up, but it didn't take long before the folks at the gym told him he's "still got it."

What "it" is, exactly, isn't much in the ring, but again—he's a name. Unfortunately, after a litany of bad performances on the most visible of stages, even the public has seemingly lost interest.

They might get their wish, as according to a BoxingScene report, the negotiations have hit a snag.

Now, Malignaggi is talking about having a date set on April 27, but is no longer mentioning Mosley as his challenger for the WBA welterweight strap.

Rumors are swirling that Marcos Maidana may be in the mix for this date, which is a much more desirable fight, and one that Showtime and Golden Boy could market without lying through their teeth to the fans.

"The Magic Man" spoke with BoxingScene yesterday, and basically revealed what we all thought: He wasn't too enthused about the prospect of facing Mosley either.

"I've been asking for Marcos Maidana for months," Malignaggi said. "This made it look like I was avoiding Maidana to fight Mosley. I don't know why Mosley ever got pushed on me to begin with, so it wasn't really the end of the world. It wasn't a fight that everybody was jumping to see, you know?

"I'd rather fight Maidana. Maidana has no fight scheduled and now, supposedly, I have no fight scheduled, so I don't see how they can't make me and Maidana. Maidana wants it, I want it, so let's go."

...

"I want a fight where if I win it, I'll actually get credit for it," Malignaggi said. "Beating Shane Mosley gets me no credit. I want a fight where I'm not doing somebody else a favor. I want a fight that means something to me. If I fight Marcos Maidana, it'll probably be even-money odds or probably Maidana is favored. That's a fight that, if I win, puts me on a different level."

Not that Paulie has ever been a boring fighter—all of his biggest steps up have been pretty exciting—but this less-mobile, welterweight version of Paulie who stands in the pocket a bit more could make for a terrific fight with Maidana.

Maidana isn't the murderous puncher that he was at 140, and Paulie isn't the boxing wizard he was at 140 in his younger days either.

If you're going to match two "aging" fighters together, this is how you do it.

Keep the "Sugar" on the shelf.