Victor Ortiz and Paulie Malignaggi to headline BKB 62 in Los Angeles
The former boxing world champions, who never met with gloves on, will fight over five rounds at super welterweight in BKB's three-sided Trigon on 5 December, Low Kick MMA reported.
Victor Ortiz and Paulie Malignaggi will headline BKB 62 at The Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday 5 December, Low Kick MMA reported. The super welterweight contest is scheduled for five rounds inside the promotion's three-sided Trigon, on BKB's second-to-last card of 2026.
The booking settles a matchup that was discussed while both men were boxing for world titles but never made it to the ring. Malignaggi said: “Myself and Victor was a fight that was constantly talked about, about 20 years ago, 15 years ago.” The two arrive from opposite directions in bare-knuckle competition. Ortiz is unbeaten at 1-0 after outpointing Dominic Salcido by unanimous decision at BKB 56 in Los Angeles on 18 July. Malignaggi has fought three times without gloves, winning once, and was stopped in the second round by Rolando Dy when he challenged for the BKB super welterweight title in Manchester in May.
Malignaggi's message for Ortiz was blunt: “Be ready, Vic. December 5th, I’m coming to your hometown, and I’m taking you out.” Ortiz said: “Paulie is a former world champion with a lot of experience, but this is bare knuckle boxing and I’m coming in prepared to fight.” With gloves, Ortiz went 33-7-3 with 25 knockouts and won the WBC welterweight title by beating Andre Berto in April 2011. His opponents also included Floyd Mayweather Jr., Marcos Maidana and Robert Guerrero. Malignaggi finished 36-8 with seven knockouts, taking the IBF junior welterweight title in 2007 and the WBA welterweight belt in 2012. His opponents included Ricky Hatton, Amir Khan, Miguel Cotto, Adrien Broner, Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia.
Every UK fight result and what's next, every Friday. Get the free UK fight briefing
More MMA from Combat Sports UK
- Erick Visconde outpoints Ilias Bulaid in Contender Series Week 10 main event
- Chihiro Sawada to face unbeaten Anastasia Nikolakakos for vacant ONE atomweight title
- Brendan Allen submits Christian Leroy Duncan in fifth round at UFC Vegas 122
- Alice Pereira enters bantamweight rankings aged 20 as Brendan Allen climbs to fourth
The UK fight briefing
The stories, results and upcoming fights worth knowing. Every Friday.