UPDATE: Malignaggi-Senchenko is on

**GrantZilla** Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:19 pm

Paulie Malignaggi Likely Won't Fight Senchenko After Golden Boy Loses Purse Bid

Paulie Malignaggi apparently won't be fighting WBA welterweight titlist Vyacheslav Senchenko after today's purse bid, which saw Senchenko's promoters win with a $1 million bid, according to Malignaggi via his Twitter page. Here's the rundown of Paulie's reaction:

"I am up! and in a very pissed off mood. I have bad news. I feel like I let my fans down. Senchenko and Ukraine have won the purse bid for 1 million dollars!!! I have so much to say but I have to hold it in. First time I won't be in full blast mode. I'll keep the world posted on what's happening, hopefully something can happen and I get back in the ring."

Malignaggi did tweet that the fight wouldn't be happening, but took those down.

The fight was announced as going to purse bid on January 17, and it turned out about the same way that Senchenko's last purse bid fight, to face Brad Solomon, turned out. Senchenko vs Solomon didn't happen either after Senchenko's team won with a big bid.

Malignaggi simply isn't going to Ukraine for what he probably would feel is low money, fighting on Senchenko's soil as a big underdog because of assumed hometown bias. If he negotiates any further, it's likely Senchenko's team will try to lowball him as much as they can, knowing that he won't travel for relative peanuts.

Senchenko (32-0, 21 KO) is one of boxing's least-regarded "champions," because he's been a hide-a-belt guy facing what may be generously called fringe contenders during his nearly three-year reign with the WBA belt.

The fight is almost certainly not going to happen after this, which was pretty much expected. Golden Boy wasn't likely to match the high bid, because there's no reason for them to spend a million dollars on this fight as nobody in the States knows who Senchenko is, and in the end, it's pretty much pointless to have even held the purse bid or appointed Malignaggi to the status of mandatory challenger.

http://tinyurl.com/7uwlwk6

**UBeeg9cats** Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:27 pm

I don't blame him nor am I surprised but this is just another example of a fighter more concerned with $. Senchenko is the only beltholder Paulie not only has a chance of landing but of beating also. Looks like Brook or the interim holder Massoudi (anybody even know ANYTHING about him?) will get Senchenko.

powerpuncher Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:28 pm

too bad. would have probably been fight of the year lol!

Guest Fri Jan 27, 2012 4:31 am

lol at Paulie thinking he's above going to Ukraine.

**GrantZilla** Fri Jan 27, 2012 5:17 am

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:lol at Paulie thinking he's above going to Ukraine.

Not that. Just there is no point. He's not going to get paid much, and since he can't crack an egg, no way he's going to get a decision.

Senchenko's promoter done this song and dance before. They bring in a huge purse bid to force any legit opponent to come to Ukraine. None will, so Senchenko can continue defending his trinkets against bums.

The million dollar purse bid is pure bullshit. No way in fuck the fight would recoup that kind of money, even in the Ukraine.

Guest Fri Jan 27, 2012 5:45 am

GrantZilla wrote:
Hagler's Bald Head wrote:lol at Paulie thinking he's above going to Ukraine.

Not that. Just there is no point. He's not going to get paid much, and since he can't crack an egg, no way he's going to get a decision.

Senchenko's promoter done this song and dance before. They bring in a huge purse bid to force any legit opponent to come to Ukraine. None will, so Senchenko can continue defending his trinkets against bums.

The million dollar purse bid is pure bullshit. No way in fuck the fight would recoup that kind of money, even in the Ukraine.

You're going to shit on the promoters for winning a purse bid Rolling Eyes

Malignaggi's career is on life support, he should just go and give it a shot, not like anyone will care if he loses because virtually no one will be able to see it.

**GrantZilla** Fri Jan 27, 2012 6:30 am

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:You're going to shit on the promoters for winning a purse bid

Malignaggi's career is on life support, he should just go and give it a shot, not like anyone will care if he loses because virtually no one will be able to see it.

Senchenko has not faced a single manditory because of this tactic. They make absurd purse bids and lowball money to detour any threat, so Senchenko can continue defending his trinket against bums.

No fucking way Malignaggi or anyine going to win in Ukraine on the scorecards. Not when they are investing that much in a purse bid

Guest Fri Jan 27, 2012 6:47 am

GrantZilla wrote:
Hagler's Bald Head wrote:You're going to shit on the promoters for winning a purse bid

Malignaggi's career is on life support, he should just go and give it a shot, not like anyone will care if he loses because virtually no one will be able to see it.

Senchenko has not faced a single manditory because of this tactic. They make absurd purse bids and lowball money to detour any threat, so Senchenko can continue defending his trinket against bums.

No fucking way Malignaggi or anyine going to win in Ukraine on the scorecards. Not when they are investing that much in a purse bid

I am sorry but trashing promoters for doing their jobs is ridiculous.

**captainanddew** Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:08 pm

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:
GrantZilla wrote:
Hagler's Bald Head wrote:You're going to shit on the promoters for winning a purse bid

Malignaggi's career is on life support, he should just go and give it a shot, not like anyone will care if he loses because virtually no one will be able to see it.

Senchenko has not faced a single manditory because of this tactic. They make absurd purse bids and lowball money to detour any threat, so Senchenko can continue defending his trinket against bums.

No fucking way Malignaggi or anyine going to win in Ukraine on the scorecards. Not when they are investing that much in a purse bid

I am sorry but trashing promoters for doing their jobs is ridiculous.

Paulie M's best move is to go to the Ukraine and outbox this guy. If he legitimately wins the fight, but loses because of a hometown decision, it won't preclude him from getting a fight with a decent payday later in the year in the US.

Of the 1,000,000 made on the purse bid, what portion would go to Paulie M? It was a purse bid and as the challenger he gets a certain %, but I don't know how much.

Paulie M. has done some analyst work on the side. He has made alot of good paydays-Cotto, Hatton, Khan, Diaz, Diaz. And he had some televised PPV undercards where he didn't make peanuts, such as Cotto's brother, Lora, etc...

If Paulie M. has not spent his money, another couple decent paydays will pad his retirement account and he can try to get into being a boxing analyst full-time.

Diego408 Fri Jan 27, 2012 2:31 pm

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:lol at Paulie thinking he's above going to Ukraine.

+1 how is he so sure he would get low balled in the first place? And calling it off after the champions team won the purse bid without even getting an offer yet? Seems he's just afraid and the writer of this article is completely biased.

Guest Fri Jan 27, 2012 3:18 pm

Paulie turned down 300k, that's the type of amount he's entitled to IMO.

Diego408 Fri Jan 27, 2012 3:19 pm

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:Paulie turned down 300k, that's the type of amount he's entitled to IMO.

That's a lot more than he should be getting. This fag is such a diva.

Guest Fri Jan 27, 2012 3:28 pm

Diego408 wrote:
Hagler's Bald Head wrote:Paulie turned down 300k, that's the type of amount he's entitled to IMO.
That's a lot more than he should be getting. This fag is such a diva.

Yup.

Paulie should offer to replace Vinny on Jersey Shore.

**GrantZilla** Fri Jan 27, 2012 6:20 pm

Hagler's Bald Head wrote:I am sorry but trashing promoters for doing their jobs is ridiculous.

You trash Arum and other promoters all the time for doing their job. Arum is a master of doing his job, yet you say Pac should override Arum to get the Mayweather fight made.

No different here. I don't give a fuck about Pauley. My point is if guys like Senchenko want to be more than nobody trinket holders, they need to take a risk and do what it takes to fight better compeition.

But they don't want to. They'd rather fight bums in front of their easy to please clueless fanbase in their countries. Which is fine as long as they own up to that.

**UBeeg9cats** Sat Jan 28, 2012 11:57 am

No one else is paying Paulie 250002.50 for a fight. He should take this if Senchenko really sucks this much.

Guest Sat Jan 28, 2012 12:20 pm

Paulie is a joke. Another delusional fighter. I guess he can maybe get Zab or Alfonso Gomez on NBC Sports Net for a 50 grand purse instead.

**dmar5143** Sat Jan 28, 2012 12:37 pm

the fight should of never went to a purse bid.paulie should of taken the 300 grand.its a given paulie losses a descion there but he could lose fairly..if he does get robbed so what.the boxing community will know it and it gives paulie credibilty now as a legit top 10 welter opened to a few more decent paydays.
the comment on paulie going to jersey shore isnt funny.its genuis.hes a natural plus its probably better money then fighting.
id get al haymon who is a master negotiater not only in boxing but in the entertainment field to sell that to the show.it would be like selling apple pie to someone with a sweet tooth.

**GrantZilla** Wed Feb 08, 2012 2:31 am

Malignaggi Responds and Takes Team Senchenko To Task

Former champion Paulie Malignaggi (30-4, 6KOs) is ready, willing and able to fight WBA welterweight king Vyacheslav Senchenko (32-0, 21KOs) at the Donbass-Arena in Ukraine - but the champion's promoter, Union Boxing Promotion, must come up with a satisfactory purse.

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.

On Tuesday, Union Boxing issued an official statement, outlining their anger at Malignaggi for refusing to accept their offer for an April fight.

Malignaggi has no issue with Union Boxing, or with a possible title fight in Ukraine, but he refuses to sign a contract for what he considers to be "short money."

"I saw that they've overpaid certain bum guys that they've brought there, because lets be straight - he’s fought strictly bums. Senchenko has not fought one legitimate contender in his entire career. They pay these half ass contenders pretty good money, so I figured they would realize that they would have to come with money to fight a fighter with my resume. I'm not Floyd Mayweather but I come with a much better resume than anyone that he’s fought before. I figured that they would understand that. I wasn't trying to break the bank. I was looking for about half a million dollars to go to Ukraine," Malignaggi said.

"The offer I got was substantially less than that....the offer I got pre-purse bid. You're not talking to that last guy he fought, whoever he is, or that guy that he fought out of Japan. You're not dealing with a guy who's never had a payday in his life. I made over a million dollars when I fought Ricky Hatton. I made over half a million dollars when I fought Amir Khan. I held the world championship. I’ve fought the best. I’ve been in with fighters, who Senchenko couldn’t shine their shoes let alone get in the ring with them."

"So I know what these fights are worth, especially since I'm traveling to his backyard. Senchenko to me is pretty worthless as a fighter, but he holds a prestigious world title. If they wanted a fighter like Paulie Malignaggi or any fighter with a halfway decent resume, they should have put their money where their mouth is - and not offered a quarter of a million dollars. That's a quarter of a million dollars before any expenses. I haven’t fought for a quarter million since the [Miguel] Cotto fight [in 2006]. Nobody is going to make me take this fight for short money."

Malignaggi explained that Golden Boy wasn't willing to break the bank at the purse bid, because none of the American cable networks are interested in Senchenko.

"He's unknown in the United States. It's not my fault that nobody knows him in the United States, so the American market wants nothing to do with him. He did nothing to make himself hyped up. Let's take Amir Khan for example, he fought some pretty good names like Marco Antonio Barrera and Andreas Kotelnik even before he came to America. Senchenko holds a major title but he won it on paper. Shane Mosley vacated the title to fight Mayweather," Malignaggi said.

"This has nothing with Senchenko or the way that UPB treated me. They are getting offended because I'm being a business man. Do I think Senchenko is much of a fighter? Absolutely not. Like I said before, I've fought guys who he couldn’t even shine their shoes. But that doesn’t mean that I have any disrespect for the WBA or Union Boxing or for what anyone has done for me here. But business is business and it has to be handled accordingly."

http://tinyurl.com/7hompdx

flapanther2001 Wed Feb 08, 2012 5:43 am

LOL at the WBA's Welterweight Rankings.....
1. ISMAEL EL MASSOUDI (INT. CHAMP.) FRA
2. PAUL MALIGNAGGI USA
3. THOMAS DULORME USA
4. DIEGO CHAVEZ ARG
5. SOULEYMANE M´BAYE FRA
6. KELL BROOK (WBA I/C) U.K.
7. DEVON ALEXANDER USA
8. MATTHEW HATTON U.K.
9. LEONARD BUNDU ITA
10. YOSHIRO KAMEGAI JPN
11. RAVSHAN HUDAYNAZAROV (LAC) UZB
12. ED PAREDES USA
13. KEVIN BIZIER (NABA) CAN
14. SEBASTIAN LUJAN ARG
15. DMITRIY SALITA USA

Guest Wed Feb 08, 2012 12:45 pm

Kevin Bizier is the future.

**GrantZilla** Tue Feb 14, 2012 7:00 pm

"I wasn't going to fly 10 hours in coach the week of the fight. I didn't think that was right," Malignaggi said. "And there were some other things I wanted. The Senchenko people said no, so I said we should take our chances in the purse bid. So you saw what the purse bid was. I didn't turn down [what could have been] $300,000 to take $250,000 and still be stuck paying Ukrainian taxes, be stuck in coach and not get anything for training expenses. So it is what it is.

"I have no hard feelings to anyone. It's whatever. At the end of the day, I didn't anticipate a deal to be made. I wanted $500,000, so I wasn't going to take $250,000. If we could have worked out those few things, I would have taken the fight for $300,000, but we didn't. This was [Union Boxing's] chance to get the biggest name on Senchenko's résumé. They had their chance to take me to Ukraine and rob me of the fight on a decision. I prefer to fight because I love the rush of boxing at the high level, but I won't take a deal that I don't like. I'm done with that."

http://tinyurl.com/8336w44

Diego408 Tue Feb 14, 2012 8:04 pm

I just like how Paulie believes he'll get any fight over 250k or 300k again lol Paulie is a stepping stone guy at this point. No one will miss out on anything for not making a fight with him.

**GrantZilla** Wed Feb 15, 2012 6:02 pm

Malignaggi-Senchenko Agreement is Very Close For April

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.

http://tinyurl.com/6rpstpg

Guest Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:34 pm

Former junior welterweight titlist Paulie Malignaggi has had a change of heart and Wednesday decided to accept a April 29 fight with welterweight titleholder Vyacheslav Senchenko, for which he will have to travel to Senchenko's home country of Ukraine.

"I'm making this a real-life 'Rocky' story, I'm going to the Ukraine to bring that title back to the United States of America," Malignaggi said on his Twitter account. "This fight is for the people who have supported me from day one. I'm bringing the belt back to New York."

Malignaggi, who is from Brooklyn, is the mandatory challenger for Senchenko, but he was unhappy with the terms of the recent purse bid won by Union Boxing Promotions, Senchenko's promoter.

Malignaggi previously told ESPN.com that there were several aspects of the deal he was unhappy with -- the purse and travel accommodations among them -- and that he was not going to accept the fight.

Union Boxing Promotions bid $1,000,010 on the fight, while Malignaggi's promoter, Golden Boy, bid only $250,000, and no television outlet was interested in buying it. Under the bid terms, Malignaggi is due 25 percent, with the rest going to Senchenko (32-0, 21 KOs), who will be making his fourth title defense.

"Once again I am going into enemy territory, but that's life," Malignaggi said. "Gotta do what you gotta do."

Golden Boy's Richard Schaefer, Malignaggi's promoter, told ESPN.com that the deal was done.

"We have a signed contract, so he is going to Ukraine," Schaefer said. "We worked everything out and now we have a fight. Paulie has a hell of a chance to become a world champion again. We like our chances and we are fully supportive of Paulie. A lot of credit goes to Paulie for taking this fight and going to Ukraine and we are convinced he will come back with a world title."

Golden Boy is entitled to a percentage of Malignaggi's earnings, but Schaefer said the company was not going to take any money on the fight.

"We gave up our percentage to help get this deal done. That is how much we believe in Paulie," Schaefer said.

Golden Boy has a deal to promote fights at the under-construction Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The arena, which will be the home of the New Jersey Nets, is due to open in the fall.

Schaefer said Golden Boy will open the building for boxing on Oct. 20, and that if Malignaggi defeats Senchenko, he envisions Malignaggi making his first defense that night in front of his hometown fans.

Malignaggi (30-4, 6 KOs), one of boxing's brashest and most outspoken fighters, tried to lure various name opponents into a fight, most recently Golden Boy stablemate Robert Guerrero. But he was unsuccessful.

Golden Boy offered to put Malignaggi-Guerrero on the pay-per-view undercard of the May 5 fight between junior middleweight titlist Miguel Cotto and Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Malignaggi accepted the fight for $150,0000, but Guerrero turned down the fight.

At that point, Malignaggi changed his mind about going overseas to fight Senchenko.

"I did pay my dues, but no one wants to fight me here," Malignaggi said. "I gotta do what I gotta do and fight this dude in the Ukraine. No one wants to throw Paulie Malignaggi a bone, but they throw bones left and right to cheaters. So now I have to go bone-collecting in the Ukraine. I am making a ballsy decision by going to the Ukraine, but life is a risk. Take a risk or sit back and watch someone else take that risk.

"My whole life, nothing was handed to me. I had to go out in the world and get it. So going to the Ukraine is nothing new."

The fight will take place in Senchenko's hometown of Donetsk. Senchenko has had 30 of his 32 fights in Ukraine -- mostly in Donetsk -- with one taking place in Russia and one in Monaco.

In his last defense, he knocked out Marco Antonio Avendano in the sixth round in August.

Malignaggi, 31, has won three fights in a row since Amir Khan knocked him out in the 11th round of a May 2010 junior welterweight title defense, after which Malignaggi moved up to the welterweight division.

He is coming off a lopsided unanimous 10-round decision against Orlando Lora on Oct. 15 in a fight that was on the pay-per-view undercard of Bernard Hopkins' light heavyweight title defense against Chad Dawson.

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/7579422/paulie-malignaggi-fight-vyacheslav-senchenko-title-ukraine

He may be brash and fruity but I respect the kid.

**UBeeg9cats** Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:55 pm

Paulie taking this fight shows he is one of the few fighters that understand delayed gratification. Take a smaller or road fight so that a bigger fight can be made later. Of course, I am picturing Devon Alexander WBC & WBA unified champ with this news Twisted Evil

Devon will beat Maidana, Aydin, and Paulie Laughing

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