A clash between Salita, 30 and the ‘Magic Man’ has been highly touted since Malignaggi picked up the title from Vyacheslav Senchenko in April, although the re-emergence of Hatton means that the Jewish fighter must be patient to stake his case.
A victory for Hatton, ironically against Senchenko this coming weekend in Manchester, would see Malignaggi defend his belt in a rematch against the former world champion sometime in the spring. That leaves Salita out in the cold for the next few months and the one-time WBA 140lb title challenger told WBN that Bracero is the next best option for him to score a big fight in his hometown.
“We are working on a fight with Gabriel Bracero, but I am still very interested in a match with Paulie or with Hatton but it seems that they are going to fight each other,” Salita told World Boxing News.
“I want to remain active and have a significant fight. Gabriel is from New York and is a very good fighter with some solid fights on his record.”
Salita v Bracero is currently being talked about for the undercard of Danny Garcia’s light-welterweight title defence against multi-time world champion Zab Judah on February 9 at the Barclays Center.
