By Kevin Chittenden: WBA World welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi may not be facing Shane Mosley on April 27th, according to fightnews.com. There’s been a snag in the negotiations between Malignaggi and Mosley, and the fight might not happen now. Paulie says he’s interested in facing #2 WBA Marcos Maidana, according to Steve Kim.
Whether Malignaggi is honestly interested in facing Maidana or just using his name to help out in the Mosley negotiations is unclear, but it’s hard to imagine that Malignaggi would be interested in facing a slugger like Maidana. There’s a lot of risk for Malignaggi in a fight with Maidana, and not much of a payoff compared to if Malignaggi were to fight Mosley, who hasn’t won a fight in ages. Malignaggi stands a much better chance of beating Mosley than he does Maidana, even though Malignaggi has said in the past that Maidana has a style that he feels he would do really well against.
That may have been a younger version of Malignaggi but the one that struggled to beat 23-year-old Pablo Cesar Cano last October would lose to Maidana. Malignaggi was knocked down by Cano in the 11th round and barely won the fight. Maidana can do everything that that Cano but a lot better. He’s a better version of Cano, and Malignaggi would be in a world of hurt if he were to take that fight. That’s why I see this as a bluff move by Malignaggi. I think he wants the Mosley fight because Malignaggi was already looking at fighting an older fighter in Ricky Hatton before that. He’s dialed in towards facing a certain type of opponent – read: older fighter with a name – and that’s not likely going to change.
To be sure, Malignaggi would win more respect from the hardcore boxing fans if he were to take the fight with Maidana, but I don’t know that this would be enough for him to bypass an easier and possibly larger payday against a fading Mosley. A Malignaggi-Mosley fight might bring in good ratings for Showtime due to casual boxing fans recognizing Mosley’s name and tuning in thinking he’s still a good fighter.