By Carlos Boogs
Former two-division world champion Paulie Malignaggi is a little confused with the recent outcry from fans who are requesting a dream-match between WBC/WBO/WBA welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and WBA/IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.
Mayweather, who turned pro at super featherweight, has captured titles in five weight divisions. Golovkin is wiling to drop down to the junior middleweight limit of 154-pounds to make the fight. The last time Mayweather, who holds the WBC/WBA titles at 154, fought at the full division limit was in 2012 against Miguel Cotto. A fight with Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, in 2013, was at a catch-weight of 152. Both Canelo and Cotto are smaller fighters when compared to Golovkin.
Malignaggi wonders why people are making demands for Mayweather to move up - when Golovkin can move up a single weight class to face WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward.
"With Golovkin, he's a guy who fought in the Olympics at 165. Mayweather turned pro at 130-pounds. So you're asking Mayweather to move up to his fifth or sixth weight class. Why are we not asking Golovkin to move up one weight class? You are asking this guy [Mayweather] to test himself in so many weight classes, but you're not asking Golovkin to move up just one to fight Andre Ward?," Malignaggi said.
"Golovkin has to move up just one to fight Andre Ward - and it already has them stuttering and thinking about it. But then they want Mayweather to move up his fifth or sixth. Regardless of how many which ways you flip it, it's still his fifth or sixth weight class. He's one away from it now, but it's still in the grand body of work his fifth or sixth weight class. Why don't we have Golovkin fight Andre Ward? It's much more of a makeable fight. It's a fight people would love to see anyway. Lets ask Golovkin to move up just one instead of asking Floyd to move up five or six."
While Golovkin's team have said the fight is not big enough, Malignaggi believes the fight will eventually happen.
"Going down the history of boxing - any time a fighter doesn't want to fight another fighter they belittle him. They said he's not a big enough name. That's been going on for decades. It's the same situation there. I don't know if they want to avoid the fight. I think they just want to build it up a little more. I think eventually the inevitable will happen," Malignaggi said.