Paul Malignaggi, Nate Campbell Likely for Maidana-Morales Card

Paulie Malignaggi and Nate Campbell are likely to be headed to Las Vegas for the April 9 card on HBO PPV, main evented by Erik Morales and Marcos "Mother F'ing" Maidana in a junior welterweight contest.

Malignaggi (28-4, 6 KO) would face Jose Miguel Cotto (32-2-1, 24 KO) in a welterweight bout. BoxingScene.com's Rick Reeno reported on March 17 that the contracts were yet to be signed at that point, but the bout was agreed to in principle. It's a good little storyline fight, as Malignaggi's most memorable fight was the 12-round beating he took in 2006 from Jose's younger brother, Miguel. And really, it's not a bad fight. Paulie is still trying to get his feet wet at 147, where he debuted in December by stopping Michael Lozada in Quebec City, and Cotto showed last May that while he's not a great fighter, he's got something left in the tank as a good test in his loss to Saul Alvarez.

Another likely bout looks to be Nate Campbell coming out of a very short retirement to face prospect Danny Garcia on the same card. 15rounds.com says that Campbell confirmed he's signed a contract for the fight. Campbell (33-7-1, 25 KO) looked like absolute toast in two 2010 losses, the first coming to Victor Ortiz, which was no shock or shame, but the second coming to journeyman Walter Estrada in November, which just shouldn't have happened. Campbell announced his retirement after that fight, and I hoped that he would stick with it, but it doesn't look like that's going to be the case. We're still only a couple of years and realistically a few fights removed from Campbell filing for bankruptcy in 2008, so this might just be a necessity. Nate's a fighter, so he'll fight for his living. I still think he has a future in the broadcast booth or any other number of boxing-related jobs, but those just might not be there at the moment. I said recently regarding Ricardo Mayorga that no good comes of a fighter going on in the ring once he admits it's time to hang it up, and I really believe that. Campbell is one of the most honest guys in boxing and was very sincere in November when he admitted it was time to retire. All you can really do here is hope for the best.

Garcia (20-0, 14 KO) is a Philly prospect who was nearly upset by Ashley Theophane in February 2010 on ESPN2, but since then has scored four straight stoppage wins. Campbell's not really a junior welterweight and he's just turned 39, so I really expect Garcia to basically pick the bones of a veteran battler if this fight really happens. It's just a boxing reality. It happens every weekend, somewhere in the world.

That makes the card look like this right now, or at least these are all the rumors:

Junior Welterweights: Marcos Maidana (29-2, 27 KO) v. Erik Morales (51-6, 35 KO)

Lightweights: Robert Guerrero (28-1-1, 18 KO) v. Michael Katsidis (27-3, 22 KO)

Welterweights: Paulie Malignaggi (28-4, 6 KO) v. Jose Miguel Cotto (32-2-1, 24 KO)

Junior Welterweights: Danny Garcia (20-0, 14 KO) v. Nate Campbell (33-7-1, 25 KO)

Middleweights: James Kirkland (27-0, 24 KO) v. TBA

Is that a good enough show for you to shell out PPV money? There's nothing else on American TV that night besides the far worse Adamek-McBride show, which is also PPV.