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Malignaggi: The magic is back


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Paulie Malignaggi (28-4 6KO) made his debut at welterweight and with his new Golden Boy promoters a successful one with a stoppage of former world title challenger Michael Lozado (36-7-1 29KO) at 2:33 of the sixth round on Saturday night. It was hard to figure at times what the game plan was at times for Malignaggi who faced a weaker caliber opponent than what he is usually is accustomed to. “It took me a little bit to figure that I’m at a higher level than this type of opponent,” said the Brooklyn fighter who scored his first stoppage since 2003.

 

At times he was the slick boxer we’ve been accustomed to but other times the “magic” was delivered in the form of a solid right hand, with Malignaggi stepping on the accelerator and dominating the fight. By the sixth round it was clear that Lozado no longer wanted to fight, continually turning away from the action, complaining to the referee and lifting the leg of his opponent, a move that cost him a point, the end coming with referee Jean Guy Brosseau stopping the action with Lozado in trouble the corner absorbing shots from an aggressive Malignaggi.

 

“It feels good,” said Malignaggi of the knockout. “I don’t get a lot of knockouts but I’ve been to world championship level without a knockout, so it speaks volumes about my boxing skills and boxing abilities. A lot of times over the years I was injured but you reach a certain level of fighter that become a lot harder to knockout. Now we’ve stepped back a little bit since we lost to Amir Khan, this guy had a good record but he wasn’t world class. This kind of guy I’m going to get a knockout, early in my career against this level of fighter I was hurting my hand so I just ended up out-boxing them. Michael Lozado, he come tough, but he just wasn’t on that level. I think against this level I will always get the knockout.

 

“My natural instinct is to be a boxer and counter puncher, it took me a couple of rounds to realize I didn’t have to do that with this guy. He not really that dangerous, he has 29 knockouts in 36 wins, but against my level, after a couple of rounds, I said, I don’t have to be a counter puncher, I can be aggressive against this guy.

 

“After a while, he was just surviving, if he had of been trying for real, chances are he would have been stopped earlier. From round four on, he was just trying to survive. He was looking towards the referee in clenches. I told the referee, he’s bleeding, he’s not punching back, the fans want to see the main event anyway. End the fight because it’s just not competitive anymore.”

 

On moving up

 

“You see my body and that’s after eating and you can see I’m still in very good shape. It wasn’t a case that I couldn’t compete at 140 or I wasn’t good enough or that I wanted to try something new or that I’m going to become lazy. I really just couldn’t make the weight anymore. I fought at 140 from 2002 till 2010 and I’m 29 years old. It felt really good to make weight yesterday and not be totally dried out….totally depleted. A lot of the Amir Khan fight had to do with me leaving my speed and my legs in the gym. It got to the point where making junior welterweight was taking all my energy so I wasn’t fast or strong anyway.

 

“It was a little statement tonight, but I want to fight against opposition. I think I’m ready, I think I got my little tune-up fight. So I hope I get a bigger fight next fight.”

 

Where he sees himself in welterweight division.

 

I’m not going to tell you I can beat this guy or that guy, but I’ll tell you I belong in the ring with any welterweight in the world. I don’t belong in the ring with kind of opposition. This kind of opposition I’ll dominate 100 out 100 times. World class opposition is where I belong. I’ve been a world champion and still got a lot left to give.

http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/malignaggi-the-magic-is-back-70849

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How about Brook vs Malignaggi if Warren wants to throw him in against someone who will challenge him?

 

Malignaggi looked a bit bigger than he usually does in that fight, but he's never going to be a puncher.

He would have made a good lightweight, but it's clear he can't make the weight and is only moving up because of that.

I'd be interested to see how Brook fares against a faster fighter who can box...

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Re: Malignaggi: The magic is back

 

It's the same old pattern with Malignaggi isn't it? Talk a good game,get your arse handed to you decisively by a superior fighter,switch trainers and then make excuses for your previous loss.

 

goodp// That sums up the situation to perfection.

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To be fair he said he shouldn't be fighting at this level and thats true. But you need a comeback fight.

 

I quite like Malignaggi - you get what its says on the tin. Nice skills, big mouth and no power. He beat Juan Diaz so he's not a bad fighter. He'll be a good opponent to people like Saul Alvarez and maybe even Andre Berto.

 

Fighting Kell Brook would be ideal from Brooks development. Can't keep feeding Brook nobodies like Jennings and Kotey.

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