By Mark Vester

Former junior welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi says the loss to Ricky Hatton at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas will always bother him, even 50-years from now. The loss is not what bothers him, it's the fact that trainer Buddy McGirt threw in the towel during the eleventh round of the fight. Malignaggi feels the trainer should have let him finish the fight because he wasn't in any serious trouble.

“From the outside I guess it looks different but I love Buddy, I love all my guys and there’s no hard feelings,” Hatton said. “They’re looking out for my best interests, I just don’t think it should have been stopped. It’s on my record now and even in 50 years it will say I got stopped in this fight. That’s always going to stay with me, always going to bother me.”

“I figured I had a round and a half left. I understand I’m behind on the scorecards and I might not have won the fight but it’s a TKO on my record and I shouldn’t be stopped. I’m better than that. I can’t understand this time. I’ve been hit with harder shots and won fights so I feel I should and could have finished the fight.”

Malignaggi says that his condtition was much worse when he fought Miguel Cotto for twelve rounds in 2006. In that fight Malignaggi's face was swollen like a bowling ball and his right hand was broken.

“The disappointment of the whole night, apart from losing, is that I think I’m better than getting stopped,” Malignaggi said. “I was a lot worse in the Miguel Cotto fight. Miguel’s a bigger puncher than Hatton. I’m not saying who’s better now, I’m just saying I felt like I was hurt worse in the Cotto fight.

“I understand nobody wants to get hurt and nobody wants to see anybody get hurt. I’ve had 27 pro fights, I understand the situation. If they had stopped the Miguel Cotto fight two years ago I would have been mad but I would have understood."

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