By Jake Donovan
The evidence remains long after the fight he was forced to leave behind. Paul Malignaggi was looking forward to a May 29 showdown with Danny O’Connor in what would have served as a rust-shaking performance, his first fight in more than 13 months.
A cut over his left eye forced the former two-division titlist to withdraw from the fight date, which meant missing out on an opportunity to fight in his old stomping grounds in Brooklyn, New York. It also meant having nothing to show for his time spent training while also juggling his various broadcasting responsibilities.
“It was disappointing,” Malignaggi admits of the fight falling through. “I was proud of myself that I was able to make time to train. The fact that I was doing it, it was satisfying. So it was disappointing that it didn’t happen.”
The canceled fight means Malignaggi remains inactive since a 4th round knockout loss to Shawn Porter last April. It turned out that the training camp wasn’t all for naught. The consolation prize, in fact, exceeds the original plan, as Malignaggi re-enters training camp for an August 1 showdown with Danny Garcia.
The bout takes place at Barclays Center, exactly where he would have landed in May. This time, the stakes are much higher, as their bout headlines in what will mark the second installment of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on ESPN.
There exists among onlookers the concern of overtraining, but the comebacking 34-year old looks at it from a different perspective.
“I’m starting training camp in very good shape. I can go straight into working on sharpness, as opposed to having to get into fighting shape and then working on sharpness.”
Garcia is coming off of a debatable decision win over Lamont Peterson at the very same arena in April. The August 1 showdown will take place at the full welterweight limit, marking Garcia’s official exit as the World lineal junior welterweight champion.
Malignaggi has previously held titles at junior welterweight and welterweight.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox