Malignaggi mad at everyone except Diaz

It doesn't take a lot to get former junior welterweight titlist Paulie Malignaggi riled up, so the mere mention of his next fight is like taking a match to a firecracker.

Malignaggi will face former lightweight titlist Juan Diaz at the Toyota Center in Diaz's hometown of Houston on Saturday (9:45 p.m. ET/PT, HBO) in a 12-rounder that headlines a "Boxing After Dark" tripleheader.

Also on the stacked card: Junior lightweight titleholder Malcolm Klassen (24-4-2, 15 KOs) of South Africa makes his American debut (and the first defense of his second title reign) against former two-time featherweight beltholder Robert Guerrero (24-1-1, 17 KOs), and red-hot middleweight prospect Daniel Jacobs (17-0, 15 KOs) takes a major step up in competition against the more experienced Ishe Smith (21-3, 9 KOs) in a scheduled 10-rounder. It will be the HBO debut for the 22-year-old Jacobs.

Malignaggi (26-2, 5 KOs) and Diaz (34-2, 17 KOs) are both in dire need of a notable victory. Lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez knocked out Diaz at the Toyota Center in February in the ninth round of a brutal slugfest. Although Malignaggi scored a decision win against Chris Fernandez in a low-profile April fight, most fans remember the fight before that -- when then-junior welterweight champ Ricky Hatton dominated him en route to an 11th-round TKO.

Malignaggi had hoped to return in June to face prospect Mike Alvarado on a Top Rank pay-per-view card, but Alvarado wound up in prison and the fight was called off, leaving Malignaggi to accept an offer to face Diaz, who will be fighting for the first time since earning his college degree earlier this year.

AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Paulie Malignaggi, left, took a one-sided beating against Ricky Hatton in November.

However, Malignaggi said he took the fight, for which he will earn $187,500, with a couple of conditions. He relented and agreed to fight in Diaz's hometown and to come down to 138½ pounds, which he says will be a great struggle. But he also said he and his promoter, Lou DiBella, got Diaz promoter Golden Boy to agree that the bout would have neutral judges and a neutral referee.

When Malignaggi found out there would be a Texas referee (Laurence Cole) and a judging panel of Gale Van Hoye (Texas), David Sutherland (Oklahoma) and Raul Caiz Sr. (California), he hit the roof. Malignaggi was upset with the appointment of Cole and Van Hoye as well as Caiz, because he doesn't feel it is appropriate for Caiz, a Mexican-American, to be considered a neutral judge in a fight involving Diaz, who is also Mexican-American.

"I feel like I am just being stepped on," said Malignaggi, who is also upset that they will be fighting in an 18-foot ring instead of the 20-foot ring he wanted. "We know I'm going to Texas. We know I agreed to 138½ pounds. We've agreed to the 18-foot ring. We agreed to one Texas judge and a Texas referee, even though I didn't want that. We agreed and bent on all of that. And now they tell me one of the neutral judges is Raul Caiz, who is Mexican? Are they joking me? I at least like to be treated like a man. They're doing everything to raise Juan's hand before we even fight. I don't want to sit on the shelf and not fight, so I am going to fight because I like to test myself against good fighters. But to see who's better, do we have to give him every single advantage? Come on, man.

"Golden Boy likes to talk about how they're saving boxing, but they do the same [expletive] every other promoter does. It's one thing to protect your fighter, but they're going way overboard and stepping all over me."

Most expect the fight to go to the scorecards because neither Diaz, 25, nor Malignaggi, 28, is a big puncher, which is why the judging panel could prove critical.

"Lou is aggravated, but there is nothing anyone can do," Malignaggi said. "It's take it or leave it. They said neutral officials. It just sucks. The politics of the game dictate that if Diaz loses, he'll get another chance because he's with Golden Boy, who has all the dates on HBO. If I get beat, where do I go? I understand the risks of going to the guy's hometown, but they're making it impossible. It's not a knock on Caiz, but I would rather not have a Mexican in a fight against a Mexican where he's supposed to be a neutral judge. It's a must-win situation for me, but it's frustrating. If I get robbed, will anyone fix boxing? It's a joke."

Malignaggi claims Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer flip-flopped about the neutral officials.

"Schaefer promised one thing and did another," he said. "So I plan on winning the fight and beating the [expletive] out of Juan Diaz. People act corrupt. They promise one thing and that's how people get hurt. I'm fighting Juan Diaz and he's the only one I don't have a beef with. I have one with Schaefer ... [and Golden Boy's] Dave Itskowitch and [Diaz manager] Willie Savannah. So I feel like I have to knock Diaz's ass out.

"I feel like they put my back to the wall and I have nowhere to back up. I have to come forward and try to knock his ass out. At some point, I will have to make a decision to go for it. Even if I feel I am comfortably ahead, I still have to take that chance. I can't coast."

Schaefer disputes that any promises were made to Malignaggi. Schaefer said Golden Boy asked for neutral officials but "I can't assign judges and referees. I would never promise a fighter neutral judges because I am not the commission. I can only promise what is in my control.

"What we said is we would do our best to have them appoint neutral judges, but it's up to the commission. We talked to the commission but they said it's their call. They said if they don't appoint Texas officials, it looks like something is wrong with their officials. We said we just want to make sure it's a level playing field. They said, 'Are you implying it's not?'"

DiBella appreciates where Malignaggi is coming from and is supportive, but he said there is nothing that can be done.

"You do the best you can do, but it is what it is," DiBella said. "If [Texas commission head] Dickie Cole says these are the officials and you don't like them, don't take the fight, but I told Paulie there aren't a lot of alternatives. If he wants to pull out, pull out. I understand his frustration. My company and I fought very hard for him. We know everything is being stacked against him when you go to the other guy's hometown as the B side. I don't blame him for being upset. I'm honest with my fighters, and I tell them sometimes you have leverage and sometimes you don't. He had to entice Diaz to make this fight, so we gave away a lot. It's certainly an advantage to Juan to have a Texas referee, a Texas judge and a Mexican-American judge.

"But I also believe people's eyes are Paulie's best protection. Go out and perform. If he puts on a great performance, he's won. If he performs so the result is controversial, win, lose or draw, he's already won."

Top Rank re-signs Lopez

Junior featherweight titlist Juan Manuel Lopez (26-0, 24 KOs) extended his promotional agreement with Top Rank, the company announced. Lopez, 26, is 5-0 in title bouts, winning each by knockout, and is one of the rising stars of boxing.

Top Rank has promoted Lopez since he turned professional after representing Puerto Rico in the 2004 Olympics.

Chris Farina/Top Rank

Juan Manuel Lopez is shaping up to be the next great Puerto Rican fighter.

"There is a great lineage of Puerto Rico superstars -- Wilfredo Gomez, Tito Trinidad and Miguel Cotto," Top Rank president Todd duBoef said. "It is a pleasure that that Juanma and Top Rank will work together to get him to become one of the greatest of all-time on the island. Juanma has had a meteoric rise in his first five years. We believe Juanma's future is very bright for him and for the sport of boxing on the island."

Lopez headlines Top Rank's "Latin Fury 12" pay-per-view at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York on Oct. 10. He will defend against Rogers Mtagwa (26-12-2, 18 KOs).

Also on the card: Yuriorkis Gamboa, who is being steered toward an eventual showdown with Lopez, defends his featherweight belt against Whyber Garcia; unbeaten heavyweights Odlanier Solis and Kevin Johnson meet; and 2004 U.S. Olympian Vanes Martirosyan faces an opponent to be determined in a junior middleweight bout.

In an untelevised bout, 2008 Russian Olympic middleweight Matvey Korobov (7-0, 6 KOs) will box in his first fight with trainer Robert Garcia in his corner. Korobov, who trained briefly with Dan Birmingham, will relocate from Lantana, Fla., to Las Vegas to train with Garcia, manager Cameron Dunkin said.

Jones headed down under

First, cruiserweight Danny Green of Australia easily dismissed Julio Cesar Dominguez with a one-sided fifth-round knockout last Saturday night. In the next bout, Roy Jones looked as good as he has looked in years in the main event as he took apart former super middleweight titlist Jeff Lacy in a one-sided 10th-round TKO in their light heavyweight fight.

With Jones (54-5, 40 KOs) and Green (27-3, 24 KOs) both taking care of business, it is likely they will fight each other Nov. 21 in Australia with Green's minor cruiserweight belt at stake.

Scott Foster/FightWireImages.com

Danny Green, left, is being considered as Roy Jones' next opponent.

It would be Jones' first fight outside the United States since the 1988 Olympic final in South Korea, where Jones suffered one of the worst robberies in boxing history -- a result that stands even though it was later proven that judges were bribed.

"I would fight Green because it would be for [a minor] world cruiserweight title and I have never won the cruiserweight title. And I would probably be the biggest known fighter to ever fight in Australia in a major fight," Jones said. "Those are the two reasons why I would even accept the notion."

Said Green, "I want to fight Roy Jones in a huge promotion in Australia."

Green landed on the Jones undercard as a way to build up their potential match. Although they don't have a contract for the fight yet, John Wirt, the CEO of Jones' Square Ring Promotions, said that's the match they are working on.

"There's nothing in place, but we had Danny on the card because we knew one of the real possibilities was for Roy to fight Danny in November," Wirt said. "We're planning on continuing the discussions. We've had general parameters of the deal and now we have to get into the details of the deal. Right now the plan is to do it in Australia unless someone steps up to do it in the U.S. and says, 'We'll pay you a lot of money.' What each side will do now is do their homework and figure out where we can make the most money."

Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.