By James Slater: Currently making the rounds on a number of internet sites, is the story that “Magic Man” Paulie Malignaggi could be facing Miguel Cotto’s older brother Jose Miguel on the April 9th Marcos Maidana-Erik Morales card in Las Vegas. The fight, which would take place at welterweight, is up as happening on Boxrec.com.
An intriguing fight to be sure; not least because Malignaggi suffered his very first pro loss at the hands of Miguel Cotto – the prospective April clash could well be built up as a “revenge” fight for the New Yorker. If the former IBF 140-pound champ – who will be having his second fight under new promotional outfit Golden Boy – were to win, he would perhaps feel a little satisfaction to have beaten a guy named Cotto. The storyline is there, anyway.
But the 33-year-old Cotto, 32-2-1(24) is no bad fighter in his own right; even if he is not as naturally gifted as his younger brother. In his biggest fight to date, the Puerto Rican faced Mexican star Saul Alvarez, and Cotto did pretty well in the May, 2010 fight; especially early on. Stunning “Canelo” quite badly in the opening round, Cotto arguably gave the 20-year-old his toughest fight to date. Cotto faded and was TKO’d in the 9th, but he proved he can be dangerous. This loss marked the only time Cotto had lost inside the distance.
Like the 30-year-old Malignaggi, Cotto has come up in weight. A former two-time WBA lightweight title challenger (a points loss to Juan Diaz and a draw with Prawet Singwancha, respectively), Cotto has had just two fights at welterweight: both wins. Last time out, in November, Cotto halted the experienced journeyman Christopher Henry inside four-rounds, and now he seemingly has this big-profile chance against the man his brother out-pointed down at 140 back in June of 2006.
Malignaggi remains slick and fast of hand and last time out, in his welterweight and Golden Boy debut, he scored a rare stoppage win; his first since 2003. Hoping for a shot at a piece of the welterweight crown (Paulie has called out current IBF champ Jan Zaveck of Slovenia a number of times), Malignaggi, 28-4(6) will be in no mood to come unstuck against Cotto.
On paper, unless his tough career has caught up with him, Malignaggi should win. The two have a common opponent in Juan Diaz, who out-pointed Cotto in 2006 and won (a controversial) decision over Malignaggi before losing the return on points, both fights taking place in 2009. And going by their respective showings there, Malignaggi looks the favourite.
Neither guy is a big welterweight, but Cotto, like most of Malignaggi’s opponents, holds a distinctive edge in punching power. Unless he gets caught by anything early on, however, the flashy skills of Malignaggi should be able to get the job done via the score-cards. It could be exciting at times, and “The Magic Man” will help his chances of getting a 147-pound title shot with a fairly wide points win.