By Thomas Gerbasi
The family and friends of Paulie Malignaggi never had a chance. They had a brief window to exhale when the former two-division world champion let them know that he was likely going to walk away from the sport after a fourth-round TKO loss to Shawn Porter in April of 2014, but they had to know that a fighter never stops fighting that easily.
“I never made an official announcement, but I told my friends and family I think I’m done,” said Malignaggi. “When you first start, you realize that this is your dream, and then as you face more and more tough fights, you wear down as you go up the ladder, and you start to realize that this is not a game. It can really wear down your body and stuff like that, so I think my family was relieved when I said I was done.”
Malignaggi’s post-fight issues from the Porter bout were well documented, mostly by the straight-shooting Brooklynite himself.
“The reminders were there every single day for a while,” he said. “I had bad headaches, bad nausea every single day, but there was absolutely no need to think about it once that passed and I got over it.”
And even when he was back to one hundred percent physically, the itch to resume a career that had seen him compile a 33-6 pro record wasn’t there. At least until it was again.
“As time went on, that changed too,” Malignaggi said, and soon enough he was back in the gym, helping longtime friends Luis Collazo and Sadam Ali prepare for their upcoming bouts. By April of this year, the 34-year-old had his own fight scheduled for May 29 against Danny O’Connor.
“I felt good sparring and working with them,” he said of his work with Collazo and Ali. “I had enough in the tank to deal with them and we were giving each other great work. So I said if I can compete on this level, then I can still fight on this level, even on the grand stage.”
For Malignaggi, fighting under the Premier Boxing Champions banner on national television was grand enough for him, but then the only question anyone had for the “Magic Man” was “Why?”
“I think everybody has asked me ‘why,’ starting with my family first and foremost when I wanted to fight,” he said. “They were the ones who asked me why would you do this? You have absolutely no reason to do this again. It’s not like you need any money, it’s not like you’re starving, what is it? My best friend actually called me selfish at one time. He said you don’t care what you put everybody else through; you’re just worrying about yourself.”
Malignaggi pauses, likely speechless for one of the rare times in his life. It’s because he’s kept his circle small, and friendship and family means more to him than most. So when they question his decision to fight, he had to take it seriously, especially in a business where most people who surround fighters want them to continue the paydays until they can’t even enjoy them anymore. Malignaggi’s circle wanted him to walk away with his faculties intact to continue with his broadcasting career and his business ventures. It was time. For everyone but the man who stepped through the ropes.
“I get it, I understand, but I think in life there are other things that make you feel fulfilled besides money,” Malignaggi said. “Money’s good, trust me. It can always make you feel good to a degree, but you can’t buy happiness and you can’t buy that sense of fulfillment. You fight to be on this grand stage. You do all the hard work through the years, you fight in these little club shows early in your career, you’re fighting in gymnasiums as an amateur and you do it all so you can be on these huge stages one day in the pros. That’s what you dream of anyway, and the bigger the stage the bigger the rush, and the bigger the rush the bigger the moment feels. I don’t think that void will ever be filled once it’s gone, but I don’t want to regret it when I’m 45 and say I walked away too soon, and think I should have taken my chances and done this or that.”
Despite all this, fate nearly intervened when Malignaggi was cut two weeks before the O’Connor fight and forced to withdraw. A month later, it was announced that he was facing Danny Garcia on August 1st at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Danny O’Connor is a good fighter, primarily a boxer like Malignaggi, with only nine knockouts in his 25 wins heading into their fight. Philadelphia’s Garcia is 30-0, a former world champion with 17 knockouts moving up to the welterweight division, where his power is expected to be even more potent.
Malignaggi is concerned like he is about any fight, but not anymore than usual, and he’s certainly not intimidated by the task at hand.
“I made sure (in the gym) that I had something left to not embarrass myself once I got in the ring, and I’m very confident that once I get in the ring, I know what I’m doing,” he said. “They don’t hand you wins at this level and I’m not the kind of guy that wants anything handed to him. I love the challenge, I love the fact that people count me out and always say I’m done or not good enough. It’s been something I’ve been battling my whole life and I don’t think I find the best motivation until I reach that point.”
He laughs.
“It’s the weirdest thing.”
It is, mainly because Malignaggi has nothing to prove. He’s been in with the best, he’s won world titles at 140 and 147 pounds, and he’s established a life for himself after boxing. That’s more than 90% of boxers can say, and to have done it with brittle hands and the knowledge that on fight night, he either won’t hurt an opponent or can’t hurt them puts him in another category altogether when it comes to guts. But for someone who is fond of using the #SMK hastag on Twitter, aka Social Media King, there will never be any rest from detractors who take jabs at him while he eagerly fires back, wanting to prove any and all doubters wrong.
“I feel like I always have to have the last word,” he said. “But you can only upset the odds so many times. One day, you’re not gonna have it anymore. How many great performances do I have left? I feel like I’ve had certain nights in my career where I really feel that on those nights, nobody in the world could have beaten me, I was that sharp. And it’s like, can I pull that out one more time? Can I get the last laugh on people one more time? And then, am I able to walk away with the last laugh? I don’t know. But I have to prove you wrong, I have to show you that it’s wrong.”
He chuckles.
“I just want to have the last laugh, and I’m obsessed at laughing last at times. I don’t know if it’s an ego thing.”
Now he laughs, knowing that yes, it’s an ego thing. Then again, ego is what makes fighters great, and if there is one thing that obsesses Malignaggi more than getting the last laugh, it’s being considered a great fighter and one day getting a place in the Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York. He believes a win over Garcia can start putting him in that conversation, but to boxing observers, there will always be the questions about his loss to Porter, an emphatic defeat looked at as a career ender. Yet in Malignaggi’s eyes, 2014 was a year with only 364 days, with the date of April 19 missing.
“I don’t even think about the Porter fight,” he said. “I have my own reasoning in my mind for what happened, and I never watched the fight, not even a single time. I don’t need to watch the fight. In my mind, I’ve come to grips with what happened, I know what happened, and that’s it. I saw the fight one time through my own eyes when I fought it. I don’t feel like there’s a need to think about the Porter fight. Once I started feeling better, that was it.”
But after the loss and the ensuing headaches and nausea, did Malignaggi worry about the toll the sport had taken on him?
“Sometimes you think about the damage you take overall in boxing, but I don’t think of one particular fight.”
In other words, his family and friends never had a shot of getting him to hang up the gloves.
“You can’t tell me what I can and cannot do,” he said. “I’m the ultimate decision maker, and it’s always been that way.”
And probably always will be. Malignaggi is stubborn, opinionated, and walks to the beat of his own drummer. That can be hard for those who care about him to deal with, but it’s also why they care about him. It’s also why he will step into the ring on Saturday night, fight with his heart, and let the chips fall where they may. Win or lose, he did it his way.
“People tell me, ‘well’ you’re already successful. In life, you’re successful.’ Of course, I know I’m successful in life, but I always have to raise the bar higher. I don’t want to fail at anything I do, and I want to go out on a winning note. Sure, there’s been ups and downs and it’s been a rollercoaster ride, but I know I’ve got one more good part of that ride left before it finally pulls up and the ride ends. And I’m not gonna let anything stop me from feeling that one last good time.”