By Ryan Burton
BoxingScenne.com spoke to former junior welterweight champion Paulie "The Magic Man" Malignaggi about his upcomiong return to the ring. Malignaggi takes on Michael Lozada (36-6) on the undercard to Bernard Hopkins-Jean Pascal on December 18th in Quebec City, Canada.
This will be Malignaggi's first fight since his May loss to Amir Khan. When asked about his upcoming fight Malignaggi told BoxingScene, "I don't know much about Lozada but I'm excited to be making my welterweight debut and to get the ball rolling in my first fight with Golden Boy."
Malignaggi said Golden Boy Promotions has been a first class organization and that Eric Brown has been a perfect fit as his new trainer. "Golden Boy has been great to me so far and I intend to show that their belief in me will pay dividends for both me and them. I feel good training at Wild Card Gym with Eric Brown."
Malignaggi made the switch at trainer after the Khan loss. The Brooklyn native can already see the changes Brown has made and wants to put them on display on the 18th. He also enjoys training at Freddie Roach's Wild Card Gym.
"We are working on some good things in the short time I've worked with him. I look forward to future training camps at Wild Card and continue to make improvements daily. I wish I would have came out here to train sooner in my career but I'm grateful for all the good things I got going on now. Like they say it is better late than never."
Malignaggi turned 30 last month and views this as his last chance to make a run at getting another world title. The outspoken Italian American told BoxingScene, "I'm happy for the chance to better myself and make one last good run at a title at this point in my career."
We finished up our conversation by talking about possible future opponents and Malignaggi had a couple names in mind. "I talked to Oscar (De La Hoya) yesterday and he likes either Mathew Hatton next or Jan Zaveck for his IBF (welterweight) title next for me."
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