By Rick Reeno

Former champion Paulie Malignaggi (30-4, 6KOs) has advised BoxingScene.com that a "deal is close" to take on WBA welterweight king Vyacheslav Senchenko (32-0, 21KOs) on April 29th at the Donbass-Arena in Ukraine.

Union Boxing dropped down a big number at last month's purse bid. They placed in a bid of $1,000,100, which was four times higher than Golden Boy Promotions' bid of $250,000.

Malignaggi was not satisfied with the monetary figure and looked to fight Robert Guerrero on the Floyd Mayweather-Miguel Cotto undercard on May 5th. Guerrero turned the fight down and then Union Boxing came back with a slightly better deal.

The true motivation for Malignaggi is not circulated around money, he wants to headline Golden Boy's first event at the upcoming series of shows at the new Barclays Center, located in Malignaggi's hometown of Brooklyn, New York.

"The deal is not done, but it's close. It's a lot closer than it's ever been and I think it's going to get done. The deal is not much different than the original deal. I wanted to fight Robert Guerrero on May 5th, and I would have rather did that, but he turned the fight. I really want to headline the first show at the Barclays Center, but I need that big win. I don't want the first show to take place at the Barclays Center without me being in the main event. This is a title fight and the opportunity to get that big win and then headline at the Barclays Center. The thing with Guerrero, that was just business and I wish him the best with whatever he wants to do," Malignaggi told BoxingScene.com.