Like most boxing experts, Paulie Malignaggi expects Gervonta Davis to beat Leo Santa Cruz.

If nothing else, Malignaggi thinks their fight will at least motivate Davis more than the types of opponents he has fought since he knocked out Jose Pedraza three years ago to become a world champion at the age of 22. The Showtime analyst broke down Davis-Santa Cruz and discussed Davis’ lack of motivation for some of his fights during a recent interview with BoxingScene.com.

“I think Davis is a very big favorite in the fight,” Malignaggi said. “Davis has not been getting up for some of these fights because he hasn’t fought the highest level of opposition all the time. So, I think he has kind of gotten bored with what he has been fighting. But I think Santa Cruz is at least, on paper, a name fighter who has accomplished a lot. So, I think there’s a level of intrigue for Davis.

“He knows a win over a guy like that, with that kind of name reputation, will kind of catapult him into a higher level of stardom. So, I can see Davis kind of finding a reason to be motivated for this guy. Because I’m starting to notice that Davis fights down to levels of opposition. That sometimes happens with talented fighters.”

The 31-year-old Santa Cruz (37-1-1, 19 KOs) has won world titles in four weight classes throughout the course of his 13-year pro career.

The Rosemead, California, native has fought just once at the 130-pound limit, the weight at which Santa Cruz wants to face the 25-year-old Davis. Santa Cruz out-boxed Houston’s Miguel Flores (24-3, 12 KOs) and won a 12-round unanimous decision in that 12-round, 130-pound championship match November 23 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) struggled to make the 135-pound maximum for his lightweight debut – a 12th-round stoppage of Yuriorkis Gamboa on December 28 in Atlanta. The Baltimore native has said, though, that he would come back down to the junior lightweight limit to box Santa Cruz.

Stephen Espinoza, Showtime’s president of sports and event programming, told BoxingScene.com recently that he expects Davis-Santa Cruz to headline a Showtime Pay-Per-View event at some point when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and fans can attend boxing shows again in the United States. Malignaggi, who will call that fight for Showtime, admires Santa Cruz’s ambition, but the retired two-division champion wonders whether this will be too dangerous of an assignment for the WBA “super” 130-pound champion.

“I think Santa Cruz has a great chin, but now you’re going into weight classes where you don’t belong and you’re fighting punchers in weight classes where you don’t belong,” Malignaggi said. “I think normally Santa Cruz’s chin is excellent, actually, and he’s always in the middle of the fire. But weight classes do exist for a reason. And I think going up to 130, where he’s barely a 130-pounder and Davis is a monster 130-pounder, whereas Santa Cruz is basically capping out at 130, could become complicated. And then at 130, Davis is a puncher that can hurt basically any 130-pounder in the world badly. And Santa Cruz has never been a great defensive fighter. So, I do think that he can hurt Santa Cruz, but we’ll see.” 

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.