Mayweather vs. Cotto: Malignaggi Writes Guerrero a Letter About Undercard

Floyd Mayweather vs. Miguel Cotto promises to be one of the biggest (if not the biggest) HBO pay-per-view events of the year on May 5 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Paulie Malignaggi vs. Robert Guerrero was being offered as co-feature on the undercard of the major event, but 28-year-old former lightweight (135 lbs.) contender Guerrero has apparently turned down the fight.

Malignaggi struck back with a scathing open letter on Ring Magazine's official website. Malignaggi claims he signed the contract within the first two hours of receiving it.

Here's a snippet of the letter where Malignaggi criticizes Guerrero for rejecting the fight:

"

This news was absolutely shocking to me because I have seen you transform yourself from a cute, soft spoken, California kid to well…someone like me. I give you props for trying to wake up the old boxing farts with sound bites like telling Mayweather to 'Step Up Punk' or telling Victor Ortiz 3 days ago that 'if you’re really a true warrior, you’ll step in the ring with me.' But take it from an older and wiser Magic Man that has never needed to hide behind a publicist and has always backed up his words by stepping in with the best fighters in the world….if you start talking the way you have been talking…you better be ready to accept whatever challenges come your way.

"

The full letter goes into detail about Guerrero's resume, which Malignaggi doesn't think is good enough to face the likes of Mayweather, Victor Ortiz or Amir Khan.

Whether Malignaggi's letter will bring him closer to landing the match with Guerrero is unknown at this time, but it brings great awareness to this deal that isn't being widely reported elsewhere.

The last widely reported news of Malignaggi was his ill-fated negotiations with WBA welterweight world champ Viacheslav Senchenko. Malignaggi vs. Guerrero could be interesting match if it comes to past.