"Tim Bradley, for the skills he possesses and the type of fighter that he is, and he's a very good fighter, the money is not on the table like it should be. I mean, we talked about it. We had preliminary discussions, but I mean, literally, the money is like half as much as it would be with an Amir Khan fight or an Andre Berto fight...I like to challenge myself. When I first started boxing, I had a lot of goals. I'm not going to achieve all of them, but one of them was to be a world champion in at least two weight classes. I'll get my opportunity, if I fight Andre Berto, to win a welterweight title. He's got that WBC title, so I look forward to the challenge against a solid fighter like Andre Berto...I know Berto was in a tough situation with Haiti and my heart goes out to him, but let's make this deal man so we can get it on! April 10th! That's the tentative date," stated former jr. welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi as he talked about a potential move up to welterweight to face WBC champion Andre Berto. Check it out!
BT: What's good Paulie? There's a lot of action coming up and a lot of future fights getting made in the 140-pound division. It seems like you and Tim Bradley are the only two guys who have yet to lock anything down. I know Bradley recently voiced his opinion about being the most feared jr. welter due to his inability to find anyone to step up to the plate. Did they ever approach you for a possible fight?
PM: You know what? There was talks of me possibly getting a title shot. I like Tim Bradley; I really do. I think he's a solid fighter. I think he's earned the reputation as the number one jr. welter on the planet. I feel like I'm the best jr. welterweight, but if people feel like Tim Bradly is the best jr. welterweight in the world, I have no problem with that. I feel he's earned it. I feel like he's beaten a lot of solid fighters and he's beaten them in a very, very good fashion. Having said that, there's only fear in the money he generates, you know what I'm saying? Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather are the best two fighters in the world. Everybody wants to fight them, but why do you think everybody wants to fight them? Because they're so good? No. Everybody wants to fight them because they bring the big bucks to the table. Tim Bradley, for the skills he possesses and the type of fighter that he is, and he's a very good fighter, the money is not on the table like it should be. I mean, we talked about it. We had preliminary discussions, but I mean, literally, the money is like half as much as it would be with an Amir Khan fight or an Andre Berto fight, which were the other fights that were being discussed at the time. Literally, it was about half as much. I mean, he's a good fighter, but he's not bringing anything to the table, you know what I'm saying? People want to get paid. If I can get a certain amount of money, if I can get twice as much money for Amir Khan or Andre Berto...listen, all three of them are good, solid fighters. No disrespect to any of them. I want to go for the one that pays me more. I want to take the tough fight with the guy that's going to put more money in the bank.
BT: Wow. That's the difference between Showtime and HBO I guess (laughing).
PM: I'm not saying it's HBO or Showtime, but...listen, I'm not going to point the finger at anybody man, but I'm saying in the preliminary discussions, that's how it went down. There wasn't enough on the table.
BT: Wow. That's crazy. So what's up with the Berto situation? You already know I was about to get into that. I know you guys had preliminary talks and everything, but how serious is that?
PM: It's pretty serious. I mean, there's an offer on the table. We're trying to discuss it with our team. I don't want to get too far ahead of everything, but Berto's definitely a possibility and he's probably one of the main possibilities at the moment. It's an easy fight to make because we're in the stable, so it's an in-house promotion.
We'll see how everything works out. It's in the process of being discussed, being talked about and being negotiated, so on and so forth. I've got my fingers crossed. I like to challenge myself. When I first started boxing, I had a lot of goals. I'm not going to achieve all of them, but one of them was to be a world champion in at least two weight classes. I'll get my opportunity, if I fight Andre Berto, to win a welterweight title. He's got that WBC title, so I look forward to the challenge against a solid fighter like Andre Berto. Everybody sees him as a star and thinks he's got star potential as far as skills, but I've been there and done that, you know what I mean? I've been in the trenches with a lot of great elite fighters and I've got no problem going up and fighting Andre Berto as well. He's not the biggest of welterweights, which is a good thing for me as well, you know? I'm a jr. welterweight, but I've also been a jr. welterwight for 8 years. For 8 years I've been fighting at 140 pounds, so it'll be a nice way to test out the waters at welterweight and see what's up. I'm not saying I can't make jr. welterweight because I still can obviously, but to get an opportunity to fight for a world title against one of the top stars of the sport and test out the waters that way, why not?
BT: You know, some people might be suprised that you would move up to fight Berto at welterweight, but actually, I think that's a pretty good fight for you. I mean, I know you'd much rather have another crack at Hatton, but...
PM: (Cutting in) Ricky Hatton is the one fight I want more than anything in the world. Realistically, I would fight Ricky Hatton over Manny Pacquiao, over Floyd Mayweather; I don't even care if the fight would bring me less money than those fights, you know what I'm saying? People always think the big thing in this sport is to get paid the most. Yeah, money is nice, but I am so sick about that loss, if I could have one fight I could take in all of boxing, I would take a Ricky Hatton fight. I would take a Ricky Hatton fight in a heartbeat. Like I said, I'm willing to do winner take all. Literally, in the blink of an eye, I would agree to a winner-take-all fight with Ricky Hatton no problem at all. But anyway, with the Berto situation on the table, he's not the biggest welterweight. As a matter of fact, I'm taller than Andre Berto, you know what I mean? He's a strong kid and he does what he has to do, but, you know, I also would enjoy certain advantages in that fight as well as he would enjoy certain advantages of his own. If it gets made, a lot of people will probably bet against me, but I've been suprising people for a long time and I think I'd surprise people again.
BT: That's the thing, you do have certain advantages. Don't get me wrong, it's a tough challenge, but after seeing how successful Collazo was with his movement and counterpunching against Berto, technically speaking, I think you can have some similar success. I'm kind of surprised DiBella is willing to make that fight.
PM: Well, it's an in-house promotion for DBE, so it's a very easy fight to make whenever you have the in-house promotions. A lot of promoters like to do that, you know? I have no problem with it and I have no qualms with it, man. If we can come to an agreement and come to a deal, I know Berto was in a tough situation with Haiti and my heart goes out to him, but let's make this deal man so we can get it on! April 10th! That's the tentative date.
BT: I take you prefer to fight sooner rather than later. I don't think your boy Hatton was talking about coming back until May.
PM: Hey, if I can get Ricky in May, I'll jump on that too. Man, I'd jump on that before I jumped on anything else. That would be my first choice, but I just don't see Ricky coming to the table to fight me. I just don't see it. I do want that fight more than any other fight. I don't think I'll get it, I don't expect to get it, but that's the way I feel about the Ricky Hatton fight. I put my offer out on the table and I've got no problem doing it.
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