Undefeated Ukrainian WBA welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko (32-0, 21 KOs) will face former junior welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (30-4, 6 KOs) of Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A on Sunday, April 12 at the Donboss Arena in Donetsk, Ukraine.
Senchenko and Malignaggi both trained out of the Wild Card Boxing gym in Hollywood, California, but under different trainers, Senchenko worked with Freddie Roach who is now in the Philippines helping Amir Khan and Manny Pacquiao prepare for their upcoming fights and won’t be in his corner for Sunday’s fight, Malignaggi works with Eric Brown.
For this fight Malignaggi decided to train on the East coast to avoid any awkward situations or revealing any game plans with Senchenko and his team since the two would be fighting in April. Malignaggi has the cards stacked against him because he is fighting at 147 pounds against a bigger opponent, and fighting in Senchenko’s hometown of Donetsk, Ukraine. Malignaggi is not known as a power puncher, so he will have to fight the perfect fight against Senchenko and hope that the judges don’t get swayed by the hometown crowd in order to pull off the upset victory.
Watch Vyacheslav Senchenko vs. Paulie Malignaggi Live Sunday, April 29, 2012 at 1:00 PM ET/PT on Integrated Sports Pay-Per-View ($29.95).