By Mark Vester

Former welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (27-4, 5KOs) has announced that he signed a promotional contract with Golden Boy Promotions. Malignaggi had met with Golden Boy two weeks ago in Los Angeles to discuss a possible deal.

For the better part of Malignaggi's career, he was promoted by New York-based Lou DiBella. Malignaggi bought himself out of the promotional contract with DiBella a few months ago. He was planning to move up to the welterweight division and had plans to make a run in Europe with a goal of eventually landing an overseas fight with European champion Matthew Hatton.

Malignaggi was last seen in the ring in the month of May, taking a bad TKO loss to WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan, who is also promoted by Golden Boy.