Welterweight Paulie Malignaggi in Line for Title Shot?

You can love him or hate him, but you can’t deny that Paulie Malignaggi is one of the most colorful and entertaining boxers around. 

Today, as he promised yesterday to his more than 16,000 twitter followers, former IBF light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (30-4) had to vent some of his recent frustrations.

Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) took to his favorite social medium, Twitter, today to call out current WBA welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko (32-0).

Malignaggi was recently named as the mandatory challenger by the WBA for Vyacheslav Senchenko’s title, but apparently Senchenko is not showing a lot of interest in facing Malignaggi.  The real problem seems to be that Senchenko has no desire to fight outside of Russia or his home country Ukraine.

On his Twitter account, Malignaggi took a few digs at Senchenko: “Your not Bin Ladin, no need to fight in your cave…come to the USA! You beat [me] you’ll become a star! But thats not happening.” (Visit twitter.com/paulmalignaggi to see all comments.)

If you have never heard of Vyacheslav Senchenko, don’t worry—you’re not the only one.  Senchenko is an unknown in the U.S. because he has never fought outside of Russia or Ukraine. 

Senchenko is a talented fighter, but has never been tested.  If Senchenko ever wants to make a name for himself, he has to take his talents on the road.  Fighting Paulie Malignaggi in the U.S. would be a good start.

Malignaggi’s last title shot came against Amir Khan in 2010, which resulted in an 11th-round TKO loss for Malignaggi.

I know that Malignaggi is ready, willing and hungry for another shot at a major title. We’ll see if Vyacheslav Senchenko is ready to take a step up in competition and see the world.