If a fight with Shane Mosley is off, Paulie Malignaggi says he'd like to defend the WBA welterweight title against Marcos Maidana, telling BoxingScene.com that it's the fight he wanted in the first place:

"I've wanted to fight Maidana for 100 years. Ever since he called me out on Twitter. He wants to fight me and I want to fight him. ... I always wanted the fight. I was just made to understand it wasn't possible to make it. Well now I will come out and publicly say it, I want Marcos Maidana! The fans want it and I'm sure Marcos wants it. Let's do it!"

Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KO) and Maidana (33-3, 30 KO) aren't exactly elite welterweights, but they are contenders, and there's really no doubt that Maidana deserves the fight more than the 41-year-old Mosley, and I can't imagine many boxing fans wouldn't prefer Malignaggi-Maidana to the Mosley fight.

Maidana, 29, last fought in September, beating Jesus Soto Karass in a great brawl, where he looked far more comfortable at 147 pounds than he had earlier in the year in a loss to Devon Alexander. Malignaggi, 32, was last seen in October, getting past Pablo Cesar Cano in the debut show at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.