:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/692526/GYI0060460402.jpg)
Paulie Malignaggi has been trying for some time to goad WBA welterweight champion Vyachaslev Senchenko into a fight through relentless tweeting. It seems that this strategy worked because, as reported earlier, Union Boxing Promotions won the purse bid with a whopping $1,000,100 offer. After winning the purse bid, Yuri Raban, the president of Union Boxing Promotions, made some comments to Jake Donovan of Boxing Scene.
"For us it was important to beat the opponent's bid so that in the future we can dictate the basic terms of the future battle. We managed to do that, and now the fight for the championship will be held in our territory with our fans' support. The Senchenko-Malignaggi fight will be a real gem of the upcoming tournament in April."
Now it might seem like $1,000,100 is a great deal of money. Yet, this fight will take place at Donbass Arena in Donetsk, Ukraine, a brand-new $400 million stadium with a capacity of over 50,000. This stadium was built for the upcoming European Cup in 2012, the second largest soccer competition in the world behind the World Cup. So this fight won't take place in a backwoods shack, like some people would think.
Even though there is a bunch of nice talk coming from Senchenko's promotional company, it remains to be seen if they are serious or if this is some sort of elaborate bluff. The reason this might be a bluff is that they tried to get American Brad Solomon to the Ukraine at the end of last year but Solomon eventually pulled out of the fight. And right now it seems that Paulie is quite hesitant to pack his bags and go fight in the Ukraine. I would imagine that Paulie is afraid of getting screwed by the judges. He doesn't want to go halfway around the world knowing that he has to KO Senchenko. I hope that Paulie can get a fair shake in Ukraine. This is the country that gave us the Klitschko brothers, they have a boxing history and they should be able to get impartial judges. What do you guys think? Can Paulie get a fair shake in the Ukraine or will he get screwed again?