Paulie Malignaggi Biography
Paulie Malignaggi Biography
Boxing career
On June 16, 2007, Malignaggi defeated Lovemore N’dou via a 12 unanimous decision to win the IBF World Junior Welterweight Championship at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. 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”. After this win and the victory over Edner Cherry earlier in the year Malignaggi was awarded the Ring Magazine comeback of the year award at the end of 2007.
On January 5, 2008, Malignaggi defended his title against Herman Ngoudjo in a highly competitive match held at Bally’s Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 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 at the City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England. Malignaggi was in control for the first half of the fight, boxing behind his faster and crisper jab. 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. Malignaggi vacated his title on September 19, 2008.
On November 22, 2008 in the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, 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 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, Texas. Malignaggi fought former lightweight titlist Juan Diaz for the vacant WBO NABO light welterweight title at a catch-weight of 138 1/2 pounds. 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. He also stated that the only reason he is continuing to fight is because of the good pay day.
A rematch with Juan Diaz occurred on December 12, 2009 in Chicago on HBO. This rematch went in Malignaggi’s favor, when he defeated Juan Diaz by unanimous decision. All three judges scored the fight 116-111 in favor of Malignaggi. In the fight, Malignaggi threw more punches but only landed 21% of them while Diaz landed 28% of his, but threw less.
Malignaggi has expressed interest in fighting WBA light-welterweight champion of the world, Amir Khan, after Khan’s 76 second knockout of his mandatory defense, Dmitry Salita. Since Khan has signed with Golden Boy Promotions on January 17th, 2010, the fight is looking more and more certain.
Paulie Malignaggi will fight Amir Khan in Madison Square Garden in New York on May 15. The Press Conference took place on March 12th.
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 reliable, however it proved to be tougher in staving off tough fighters like Miguel Cotto and Ricky Hatton.
Acting and Other Media
Malignaggi has done print clothing ads that have been featured in magazines such as Esquire magazine, Playboy magazine, and Frank 151 magazine. 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”. Japanese video game company Nintendo used him as the model for their character Little Mac in the new sequel Punch-Out!! for the Wii, and also featured him in the commercials as well. Malignaggi is a featured fighter in EA Sports’ Fight Night Round 4 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
