"Level" has to do with skill. Paulie is just as skilled if not more, he just might not be the better all around fighter, especially now that he's faded a bit.
Some of Paulie's losses are better than all of Broner's wins. Broner is still unproven in my book. What is his claim to p4p supremacy? Gavin Rees, Eloy Perez, and Antonio Demarco. He's been over-protected, and I hope Paulie exposes him. If not Paulie, there are too many threats at 140 lbs for Broner to get exposed by.
Cheerypicking. Hes following in the steps of his idol. Now if he stays at welter and defends against Thurman. Then he deserves some credit but i doubt he does that.
Paulie's actually a good fighter. His utter lack of power is what creates difficult situations for him. It'll remain to be seen how Broner handles a guy similar in size to him.
This fight will not be a walk in the park for Broner like so many are saying. First Broner isn't PBF or anyhwere close to his level. He can't move like PBF nor does he have as good of defense. He's more offensively focused and is a harder puncher. Paulie can present problems for Broner here. He can give Broner fits with his movement and jab alone. Paulie is also a tough and smart fighter. People don't respect him because of his power but the guy can box. Not to mention Broner will be moving up 2 weightclasses to fight him. With all the bad blood and the interesting styles clash this fight is becoming more interesting to me.
This may be closer than we expect. Yes Malignaggi has lost to everyone but he has experience fighting Cotto, Hatton, and a couple other big names. Broner hasn't fought anyone at that level yet
He's not very skilled at all. A decent jab and an extremely mediocre right hand. He was being outboxed for long stretches against Cano. He hasn't come close to beating a single world class fighter(Diaz had been KO'd by Marquez and up in weight) Everytime he stepped up to B level, he's lost. He got outboxed by Ricky Hatton in his prime.
Broner hasn't fought anyone on that level, but Paulie isn't on that level. He's maybe a half step up from DeMarco.