Quality Malignaggi interview

Paulie Malignaggi – The Magic is Back By Thomas Gerbasi (Aug 23, 2008) http://www.maxboxing.com/Gerbasi/Gerbasi082308.asp The words are coming fast, too fast to even keep up, and it’s hard not to get taken in by the energy being dished out by IBF junior welterweight champion Paul Malignaggi. It’s a far cry from his mood before his last two bouts, decision wins over Herman Ngoudjo and Lovemore N’dou that had fans wondering whether Brooklyn’s ‘Magic Man’ had run out of tricks. Now, three months out from what could be a career-defining showdown against Ricky Hatton on November 22nd, the old Paulie is back. “The way this business is, it gets on your nerves and you just lose a lot of love for everything, but I needed something like this to get up in the morning and want to go to the gym and train,” said Malignaggi. “No matter what’s going on outside the ring – and with boxing there’s always a problem outside the ring – I’m so excited about this fight that nothing can break my concentration. This is the fight I’ve been wanting for a while, and I’m excited about fighting right now.” It wasn’t the case before his last bout, a title defense in May against the man he won the belt against – N’dou. Their first fight in June of 2007 saw Malignaggi at his best as he dipped, dodged and befuddled the Australian en route to a near shutout 12 round win. Given the fact that Malignaggi’s chances of knocking out the steel-chinned N’dou in the rematch were slim and none, anything less than another shutout would be seen as a disappointment. 12 rounds, another broken hand, and a mid-fight hair styling session later, Malignaggi left the ring with his belt, but a dented reputation. “I have no excuses,” said the 27-year old champion. “There’s no way a professional on a world-class level should have a lack of concentration or lack of motivation. But the politics of boxing made me give Lovemore Ndou a rematch. I’ve got 24 rounds of experience with Lovemore Ndou, I think the experience will always serve me well, and I think he’s a world-class tough guy. But it was tough to get excited about training for a fight like that. I was excited about fighting in the (City of Manchester) stadium, but it was still tough to get ready for that particular opponent because I was like ‘I’ve got to fight this guy again? What’s the point?’” What was the point indeed, especially considering that all N’dou did after being defeated by Malignaggi the first time was knockout a fighter with a 14-12-2 record in Rafael Ortiz. But in this game, it’s not always what you know, but who you know, and having ultra-powerful Al Haymon as your adviser – like N’dou did - is the equivalent of bring a rocket launcher to a knife fight, hence the rematch. But on the positive side, along with getting some ill-advised hair extensions clipped off between rounds by his corner, Malignaggi’s win earned him a date with Manchester’s popular ‘Hitman’ – a fight the Brooklynite has craved ever since he won the belt. “The Ricky Hatton fight I’ve wanted since I won a title,” he said. “I actually thought I was gonna get it when I won the title. The fact that I had to wait for it and finally got it now makes it all the more exciting.” But just because he’s excited, don’t think that Malignaggi isn’t looking both ways before he crosses the street while making sure no black cats cross his path. After his first major title fight against Miguel Cotto in 2006 - one that saw him have to deal with an early weigh-in that benefited the Puerto Rican star as well as a small ring which he described as a “playpen” – he’s hoping for the best but expecting the worst, especially when it comes to Hatton’s known tendency for tactics not in the Marquis of Queensbury playbook. “Ricky Hatton is pretty basic, and the only reason he’s had success in my opinion is because he’s been allowed to get away with everything he’s done – and more than half of the things he does are based on illegal tactics and people just let it slide,” said Malignaggi. “I have to make this point because I’m watching Cotto-(Antonio) Margarito and the whole fight is basically inside fighting. There are no breaks, but there’s no holding. Any time there’s actually a clinch, the referee breaks them in an instant and there’s no complaints from anyone in either camp. But whenever there’s a Ricky Hatton fight, there’s always a question of who’s going to allow inside fighting, because he’s the only one who’s holding when there’s inside fighting. Cotto-Margarito was an inside fight that everyone enjoyed, and whenever there was a clinch, the referee broke it right away and there was no complaining.” Hold on, he’s just getting warmed up. “This is boxing,” Malignaggi continues. “Ricky Hatton’s been around for 45 fights but it seems like he’s just getting it now that you get broken up from a clinch because he’s complaining about (referee for Hatton’s bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr.) Joe Cortez. The funny thing is that there are a bunch of morons in the media – including the American media – saying that Cortez might not have allowed enough inside fighting. These guys have got to be kidding me. I can’t stand the double standard. Inside fighting is inside fighting. Holding and hitting is not inside fighting. Ricky Hatton is the only guy that does that and he’s the only one with an issue about whether a referee will allow him to work on the inside. Why would a referee not allow a guy to fight? Only Ricky Hatton has this issue, because he’s the only guy holding and hitting. If he wants to do MMA, I’ve got no problem with that. Let’s go into the Octagon and I’ll fight him there. I took a couple of sambo and jiu-jitsu lessons just for the fun of it and I’ll take him on - I’ve got no problem putting him in an armbar.” Malignaggi laughs, but only for a moment, because he knows that going into Las Vegas this fall may be the equivalent of going into Hatton’s hometown, given the two-division champion’s three previous fights in Sin City, his bigger name, an expected large contingent of Brits making the trip over, and his status as a Golden Boy Promotions (the lead promoter) fighter. So Malignaggi’s concerns about getting a referee that will enforce the rules are valid. “This can be a problem,” he said. “Lovemore Ndou had his BS complaints after the first fight that the referee didn’t let him fight on the inside, and I ended up with the backlash because in the rematch I had a referee who allowed everything and I got hit with a million rabbit punches and elbows. Now I feel like I’m gonna get hit with the backlash again because all I’ve heard since Ricky Hatton’s last US fight, when he got knocked out by Mayweather, was that he wasn’t allowed to work on the inside. He got beat fair and square, and if Joe Cortez broke them when he was supposed to, Ricky Hatton gets stopped in four rounds. There is no talent there – the only reason he fights like that is because there is no skill set. He has no choice – he has to fight like that. And because he’s in England, where they wanted him to become a star from the get-go, he’s been allowed to get away with it.” Needless to say, Malignaggi has built up a nice head of steam about this topic and the fight, but it’s a good energy, one that will keep him focused from rounds one through 12 this November. He’s needed that and it hasn’t been in evidence since he won the belt. Now he’s got a chance to silence a lot of critics, and he’s confident that he’ll do so against a Hatton who hasn’t really had a ‘wow’ performance from start to finish since his back-to-back wins over Kostya Tszyu and Carlos Maussa in 2005, and even those wins had more than their share of ugliness and mauling. But is Hatton regressing as a fighter? Malignaggi doesn’t think so – he thinks ‘The Hitman’ wasn’t that good to begin with. “Let’s look at it analytically,” explains Malignaggi. “Since he (Hatton) left England, maybe he has to follow the rules a little more – don’t get me wrong the refs in the US let him get away with a lot too. And he also has to fight world-class opposition in the US, something that seems to be against the rules when you’re fighting in Europe, where they let you fight whoever you want. If you come to the US and you want to get paid, you have to fight world-class opposition. Boxing may not be as popular in this country as it is in other places, but if you want to be a winner in boxing in the US, you’ve got to fight the top guys or they won’t accept you. In Europe or anywhere else, as long as you’re the home country fighter and you’re winning, they don’t care who you’re fighting. So I think, yeah, maybe he’s regressed, but then again, maybe he was never that good to begin with.” Strong words, and you can expect them to get stronger as the fight grows nearer and the hype machine kicks into gear. But is he being too overconfident? He doesn’t think so. “There are a couple of things that keep me from being overconfident,” he said. “First and foremost, this is definitely the ticket to bigger and better things. The second thing is that everybody thinks I’m gonna lose this fight. You know how that gets me going. The perception among the general public is that Paulie Malignaggi is not gonna beat Ricky Hatton, and that’s a major motivation for me.” Frankly, it’s the type of stuff Malignaggi lives for, and the bigger the stage, the more he’s built for it. And having been through the wringer with Cotto, he’s ready for Act II against Hatton.....