After reading that WBA Welterweight champion Paul Malignaggi said that he wants Marcos Maidana in his next defense of the belt next April 27th, former champ Maidana jumped at the occasion. Malignaggi was going to face Shane Mosley on the April date, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York - but the fight fell apart for financial reasons.

“I’m glad that there is still some old school fighters that have some balls and duck no one like Paul Malignaggi. He wants to fight me and I say let’s do it. There are no excuses for the fight to be made so I think Golden Boy Promotions will get it done,” Maidana said.

“I never understood why they would pick Shane Mosley in the first place as I had earned my title shot in a WBA eliminator last September so I was the one who was supposed to get Malignaggi. Now the Mosley fight fell through and Paulie and me don’t have fights scheduled so I want that fight,” El Chino continued.

“I’ve instructed my advisor to immediately get in contact with Richard Schaefer and try to reach an agreement. I want the fight and I’m the WBA mandatory, Paulie wants the fight, the fans want the fight and I’m sure TV networks would buy the fight so unless there is a reason that we don’t know the fight needs to be done,”, Maidana added.

Maidana’s advisor Sebastian Contursi explained that “actually we were expecting a phone call from Golden Boy in order to see what big fight they have in store for Marcos until suddenly we’ve read the news about Paulie. A world champion calling out for a dangerous opponent - that’s healthy for boxing! Paulie was Maidana’s first candidate in the list and now it seems that we have the opportunity to get it done.”

“What it really concerns me is that right after Maliganggi challenged Marcos I read that Richard (Schaefer) mentioned Andre Berto as a possible rival for Paulie. I just don’t get it. We don’t want to be bypassed again on this WBA world title so we will let Richard know that Team Maidana badly wants Malignaggi,” Contursi added.