By Ryan Burton

Earlier this month former junior welterweight champions Devon Alexander and Paulie Malignaggi engaged in a war of words on BoxingScene.com.

Alexander's manager and trainer Kevin Cunningham spoke on Alexander's behalf and told BoxingScene that Alexander had been fighting at 140 pounds since he was 15 and that it was getting tougher to make weight. He went on to say that they would like Malignaggi to be their first opponent at the heavier weight.

Cunningham felt the fight would was a natural because of disparaging remarks that Malignaggi had made about Alexander after his loss to Tim Bradley.

Malignaggi fired back saying that he would love the fight and also said that slammed Alexander when he said the St. Louis fighter was given gift hometown decisions in victories over Andriy Kotelnik and Lucas Matthysse.

BoxingScene spoke with Golden Boy Promotions matchmaker Eric Gomez, to gauge his interest in the fight. "Are we interested? Absolutely. I think its a good fight," Gomez said.

While Gomez said that he is interested, he also said that HBO doesn't have any more dates available this year and doesn't think Showtime has the budget left for the fight either.

"The problem is there aren't any dates left on HBO and after the Super Six finals I don't think Showtime would have the budget for the fight either.  Both of these guys will want to get paid. That is the type of fight that we would probably have to wait till early next year to make." 

Gomez also revealed that they are working on bringing Malignaggi back in a fight before bring the year is over. The Italian American is currently recovering from an injured right hand hand that he suffered in his April victory over Jose Cotto.

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