Paulie Malignaggi
(born November 23, 1980) is an Italian American professional boxer from Brooklyn, New York. He is a former IBF junior welterweight champion.
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Biography
Malignaggi was born in
Brooklyn,
New York, USA. He moved to
Syracuse, Sicily and then to
Palazzolo Acreide, Sicily when he was a few months old, and lived there until he was six years of age.
On June 26 1997 as a 16 year old Malignaggi began boxing in the legendary [gleasons gym]. "I ended up loving the gym and have been there ever since," Malignaggi said. "I still remember my first day there. I remember training with my old trainer, Willie Badillo. He was teaching me a jab and right hand in front of the mirror, but throwing them really slowly to get the form down correctly. I started with a good foundation. I wrapped my hands and thought it looked so cool."
Fight career
During Malignaggi's amateur career, he trained at Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn. As an amateur, he won the 1998 and 2001
New York Golden Gloves Amateur Championship, as well as the 2001
United States National Amateur Championship.
Malignaggi also won the 2001 Everlast U.S. Championships on March 13-17, 2001 in Colorado Springs, Colo by beating Van Oscar Penovaroff, Antonio Davis, and Luis Merced, all by decision. His record was 40-9.
The "Magic Man" made his professional debut at age 20 on
July 7,
2001, and scored a first-round knockout over
Thadeus Parker in Brooklyn. He won four more professional fights before his rookie campaign came to an end, including two by knockout. In 2002, Malignaggi went seven-for-seven in the ring, including a second-round TKO over
Anthony Simpkins on Aug. 30 in New York City.
"I learned when I sit down on my punches, I do have some power there," Malignaggi said after the fight. "I just have to keep doing that. I have a tendency sometimes to use my legs a little too much. I kind of stayed calm against Simpkins."
Prior to his fight against
Miguel Cotto, Malignaggi's fight record was 21-0-0.
World title bouts
On June 10, 2006, Paul Malignaggi faced undefeated 25-year-old Miguel Cotto in Madison Square Garden for the WBO light welterweight title. Malignaggi was down in the 2nd round and lost in a gruelling 12 round contest by a unanimous decision. He was left with a broken right cheek bone, a bleeding nose, and a cut around the left eye caused by a headbutt in round 1. Malignaggi handled his first loss well. He was asked if there was to be a rematch with Cotto, and he stated that he would fight him again after he had had a few more matches if Cotto didn't go up in the weight. To this day Malignaggi says Miguel Cotto is the best fighter he faced in his career.
On June 16, 2007, Malignaggi defeated
Lovemore N'dou via a 12 unanimous decision to win the IBF World Junior Welterweight Championship. The bout was one sided with one judge awarding the bout a 120-106. Lennox Lewis who was commentating at ringside for HBO described Malignaggi's performance as a "boxing clinic".
On January 5, 2008, Malignaggi was the winner against
Herman Ngoudjo in a highly competitive match. Malignaggi controlled the fight with his jab until he was stunned in the 7th round, but Ngoudjo failed to finish the job. After the seventh, Ngoudjo became ineffective with his aggression and came up short and lost a wide unanimous decision, which although fair, did not reflect the competitiveness of the fight.
On May 24, 2008, Malignaggi beat Lovemore N'Dou in a rematch by split decision to retain his IBF title. Malignaggi was in control for the first half of the fight, boxing behind his faster and crisper jab.
[1] Prior to the fight, Malignaggi was sporting hair extensions which proved to be a problem throughout the fight until his trainer Buddy McGirt cut them off in his corner between rounds eight and nine. Malignaggi appeared sloppy in the second half of the fight as N'Dou came back to make the fight close. In the end, Malignaggi pulled out a close victory and also suffered a fractured right hand in the fight.
[2] Malignaggi vacated his title on September 19, 2008.
On November 22, 2008 in the MGM Grand Garden Arena in
Las Vegas, Malignaggi fought the
Ring Magazine and
IBO Light Welterweight World Champion
Ricky Hatton. It was billed as the boxer against the brawler, and it was Hatton with his superior weight advantage who dominated and won every round bar the first. Hatton rocked Malignaggi in the 2nd and several other times during the fight, leaving Paulie to hold on, doing exactly what he publicly said Hatton does. With Malignaggi way behind on points, his trainer
Buddy McGirt threw in the towel during the 11th round.
On August 22, 2009 at the Toyota Center in
Houston, Malignaggi fought former lightweight titlist
Juan Diaz for the vacant WBO NABO light welterweight title at a catch-weight of 138 1/2 pounds. In a competitive and exciting fight that saw both men cut before the 3rd round, Malignaggi's superior strength in the later rounds appeared to carry the fight (article writers opinion). Unofficial HBO scorer
Harold Lederman scored the fight 115-113 for Malignaggi, but none of the three judges saw the fight this way. Gale Van Hoy had it by an 118-110, Raul Caiz had it 115-113 and the other Judge, Dave Sutherland scored it 116-112, all in favor of Juan Diaz. In the post fight interview of the Juan Diaz fight (interviewed by Max Kellerman, HBO boxing analyst) Paulie was furious stating that "boxing is full of shit" and suspecting Golden Boy Promotions on having influence on judge Raul Caiz. HBO boxing analyst Harold Leaderman had the fight scored 115-113 for Malignaggi on his unnofficial scorcard. He also stated that the only reason he is continuing to fight is because of the good pay day. After even losing this fight Paulie Malignaggi has established himself as a world class fighter and HBO is still shown interest in broadcasting his fights.
[3]
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Boxing style
Inside the ring, Malignaggi can best be described as a slickster. He adopts the "Hitman" stance popularized by
Thomas Hearns, his left arm is kept beside his waist and he keeps his right hand at the chest level, leaving his head completely exposed. Consequently, he punches from his hips, something few boxers can pull off unless they have exceptional handspeed. Malignaggi moves around the ring well and counter-punches effectively against aggressive opponents. In spite of having very little power, he is able to land clean shots while his opponents come forward. This resulted in a knockdown against Lovemore N'dou and proved to be a reliable, but ultimately useless, weapon in staving off tough fighters like
Miguel Cotto and
Ricky Hatton
Acting and Other Media
Malignaggi has also been very active outside the ring having done print clothing ads that have been featured in magazines such as Esquire, Playboy, and Frank 151. He also had a small role in the movie "Undefeated" featuring John Leguizamo, and had a feature documentary on his life leading into his fight with Miguel Cotto titled "Magic Man".
Nintendo used him as the model for their character Little Mac in the new sequel Punch-Out
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Wii, and also featured him in the commercials as well. Remaining on the video game track, he was also one of the featured fighters in EA Sports'
Fight Night Round 4
for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
[5]
References
- Hatton delights his 56,000 fans!
- Paul Malignaggi Update!
- http://www.talkingboxing.com/articles/2009/gonzalezaugust24.html
- http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/columns/story?columnist=rafael_dan&id=4417138
- Paulie Punch Out!