Chris Algieri admits it was hard to watch his ProBox TV broadcast partner, Paulie Malignaggi, have his recent BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing fight.
Malignaggi won a bloodbath against Tyler Goodjohn in Leeds, England. It came at a cost, as the former two-division boxing champion suffered bad damage to his right eye. He was subsequently forced to wear an eye patch and then sunglasses.
Algieri reports that the damage is, thankfully, not too serious.
“I thought he showed grit,” said Algieri of the fight. “He showed balls. He showed everything that Paulie Malignaggi is known for. I'd rather not be watching my friend, at this point, fight in fights anymore because it's bare knuckle and it's brutal. I didn't get to watch it live, I got to watch the next day, which is much better for my heart as I was watching. I'd have had a heart attack but it was okay because I knew who won.
“But listen, I say this about all fighters, what you do with your body and your career is entirely up to you. I'm not telling anybody what they should do with their careers. But I'm happy that he got the win. I'm happy with the way he performed. And I think a lot of people have talked trash about Paulie over the years and you can't not look at that and be like, ‘All right, this guy's tough and deserves the accolades that he's achieved.’”
Algieri has shared a daily talk show with his fellow New Yorker and former world champion for the past couple of years. He is proud to reveal that his outspoken broadcast partner was now on the mend.
“He's been wearing sunglasses, but he can see, he could see the whole time. He always could see,” said Algieri of the Brooklynite. “It’s just a healing process. Those eye pokes are rough. It's funny because during the buildup to the fight, I was helping him train. He was coming to my house. I was holding pads for him. He was wearing those open-hand, open-fingered gloves and we were doing some light work, whatever.
“And he poked me in my eye when we were doing drills. He cut me under my eye and everything. I was like, ‘Man, they got to do something with these open fingers.’ That's a real issue.’ Then, in the fight, he gets hit with a finger in the eye.”
Malignaggi said in the build-up he craved becoming a two-sport world champion, adding bare knuckle accomplishments to go alongside the boxing ones.
That is something Algieri can relate to, as he was also a world champion in kickboxing.
“Absolutely,” Algieri admitted, asked whether he still had the urge to compete. “Especially because I am a two sport world champion. Even kickboxing, I've thought about taking kickboxing fights or doing other things like that ‘cos I do miss that. I still train kicks. I can still kick as probably as good as I ever did ‘cos I've always consistently trained and I do miss doing drills and working with guys and sparring. The problem is if I start sparring consistently, I'm going to fight. I think that's how fighters are.
“And I think Bernard Hopkins said – because he had that in and out retirement kind of thing for a long time – and he said, ‘The problem is you go in the gym and you feel good. And then you start sparring and you start beating on young guys and you’re like, ‘Oh.’
“So if you're still going to the gym you're going to end up still fighting. I'm not that way because I'm a fitness guy. I love to train, but in terms of sparring, if I started feeling too good doing that, then that's when I'm gonna have to be like, ‘Alright, chill out.’ That's when I step away and be like, ‘Alright, you don't need to get back in the ring.’”
Algieri is busy.
As well as working for ProBox TV, Algieri has a significant role for PPV.com for major fight nights. He’s also been working behind the scenes on a movie this year.
“The itch will never not be there,” he added. “I've had the itch to spar and I'm like, man, so if I spar and then take another fight, like I missed a bunch of years and it’s because of that… It's been four years.
“So, if I were to come back now, it would be like, ‘Damn, I missed four good years. Probably I could have been fighting that time.’”
Algieri, now 41, was 24-5 (9 KOs) as a pro. He fought the likes of Ruslan Provodnikov, Manny Pacquiao, Errol Spence, Amir Khan, and Mike Arnaoutis before calling it a career after his December 2021 clash with Conor Benn in Liverpool, England.
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, a BWAA award winner, and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
