Another potential fight has entered the conversation for the October 15 Hopkins vs Dawson HBO pay-per-view undercard, as Rick Reeno reports that Paulie Malignaggi could be in action to open the show.
Part of the undercard is set, as Kendall Holt and Danny Garcia will fight an IBF junior welterweight eliminator, and Jorge Linares will face Antonio DeMarco for the vacant WBC lightweight belt. But the opening fight has not yet been decided. A bantamweight title bout between Anselmo Moreno and Eric Morel has been rumored, but isn't yet set.
Malignaggi (29-4, 6 KO) would face Orlando Lora (28-1-1, 19 KO). Lora, 30, has already agreed to the bout, and is promoted by Gary Shaw, who also promotes Dawson, Holt, and DeMarco. A Malingaggi vs Lora fight would make the show a full co-promotion between Golden Boy and Gary Shaw Productions, instead of Moreno vs Morel, which would be an all-GBP fight.
Malignaggi is looking to come back from some fairly minor (for him) injuries suffered in a win over Jose Miguel Cotto on April 9. He has had a press war with Devon Alexander, but that fight isn't going to happen this year if it happens at all.
As for Lora, well, we saw him against David Estrada in April 2010, and Estrada completely tore him apart in an RTD-8 win. It was just a pure beatdown. Malignaggi doesn't have Estrada's firepower, but he's still probably a class above Lora, and it's just not that great of a fight, to be completely honest.