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Here's the Malignaggi essay I said I was going to write. You don't have to agree with it and I'm not a Malignaggi nuthugger. I think he still has to prove himself, but he is talented. Still, my essay is based on facts and compares him to Camacho, another flamboyant, but extremely talented fighter. Well, here it is. I hope you like it even if you don't like Malignaggi or Camacho.
What does it take to earn respect in the game of boxing? Some would say that winning is the key to success, yet it does not make a boxer immune to the doubts and discredit of the boxing media. It has been proven that sometimes a spirited loss brings more glory than an uninspired, uneventful win. Proof of the aforementioned situation is the respect that courageous fighters like Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward have earned despite the fact that they have fallen short when they stepped into the ring against elite competition. On the other hand, brilliant, skillful boxers like Ivan Calderón and Ronald "Winky" Wright are often labeled as dull, predictable, and weak because most, if not all, of their opponents are able to hear the final bell. If having decent or even superb, boxing skills does not earn you recognition and admiration, then what will do it? Perhaps a little bravado is what will solve your problem.
In today's boxing world, there does not seem to be a more colorful, ****y, or confident boxer than Italian-American, Paul Malignaggi. The charismatic junior welterweight has managed to create headlines during the last two years of his career, even if sometimes some of those headlines have been different to what he might have liked. Regardless of fans or detractors, Malignaggi has proven to have the kind of boxing skill required to achieve greatness. Or has he? That's part of the dilemma regarding Paul Malignaggi, a modern day, old school fighter who has proven to be a courageous fighter who is a pure boxer with abilities that other fighters can only dream of having. But is it possible to be a courageous pure boxer? That peculiar characteristic, along with his mojo, is part of Malignaggi's uniqueness.
Looking back in boxing history, there have been some boxers who were too colorful and flamboyant for their own good. Fighters like "Maromero" Páez, Pernell Whitaker, Roy Jones Jr., and Naseem Hamed come to mind, but none of these fighters had as many similarities to Malignaggi as a controversial, flashy, yet very talented boxer born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico and raised in Spanish Harlem in New York. The name of that fighter is Héctor "Macho" Camacho. Although Camacho is eighteen years Malignaggi's senior, these two are so alike they could be mistaken as long-lost twin brothers. Both have pure boxer styles, solid defense, amazing hand speed, and a flair for showmanship. If it were not for the fact that Camacho was a southpaw and Malignaggi an orthodox fighter, you could say these are two were identical, carbon copies of each other.
Despite all the similarities, there is one meaningful difference, and that's the level of competition. Camacho's quality as a boxer has been proven and he is a future hall of famer, while Malignaggi is a young lion who, arguably, has not reached his peak yet. Camacho battled the best fighters that the 80's and 90's had to offer including Rafael Limon, Julio César Chávez, Edwin Rosario, José Luis Ramírez, Ray Mancini, Vinny Pazienza, Roberto Durán, Félix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya, and Ray Leonard, and had good results in doing so. Malignaggi has only faced one elite fighter in his short career, Miguel Cotto, who defeated him in a brutal, yet competitive bout for the WBO Jr. Welterweight Championship of the World on June 10, 2006. Malignaggi, although defeated, was able to give the strong Cotto one of his toughest challenges to date and received a lot of praise for his valiant effort. After the loss, he has rebounded with a string of three victories and has become the IBF Jr. Welterweight Champion of the World.
Will Malignaggi be an all time great? Will he become one of the best fighters of his generation? That remains to be seen but debating that is not the point of this writing. The purpose of this article is to establish that not every fighter has to follow the same paths of every good champion before him. He can rewrite a chapter in the history of the sport by taking a different road, like Camacho who did it his way, but always thinking of greatness as the ultimate goal to be achieved.
What does it take to earn respect in the game of boxing? Some would say that winning is the key to success, yet it does not make a boxer immune to the doubts and discredit of the boxing media. It has been proven that sometimes a spirited loss brings more glory than an uninspired, uneventful win. Proof of the aforementioned situation is the respect that courageous fighters like Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward have earned despite the fact that they have fallen short when they stepped into the ring against elite competition. On the other hand, brilliant, skillful boxers like Ivan Calderón and Ronald "Winky" Wright are often labeled as dull, predictable, and weak because most, if not all, of their opponents are able to hear the final bell. If having decent or even superb, boxing skills does not earn you recognition and admiration, then what will do it? Perhaps a little bravado is what will solve your problem.
In today's boxing world, there does not seem to be a more colorful, ****y, or confident boxer than Italian-American, Paul Malignaggi. The charismatic junior welterweight has managed to create headlines during the last two years of his career, even if sometimes some of those headlines have been different to what he might have liked. Regardless of fans or detractors, Malignaggi has proven to have the kind of boxing skill required to achieve greatness. Or has he? That's part of the dilemma regarding Paul Malignaggi, a modern day, old school fighter who has proven to be a courageous fighter who is a pure boxer with abilities that other fighters can only dream of having. But is it possible to be a courageous pure boxer? That peculiar characteristic, along with his mojo, is part of Malignaggi's uniqueness.
Looking back in boxing history, there have been some boxers who were too colorful and flamboyant for their own good. Fighters like "Maromero" Páez, Pernell Whitaker, Roy Jones Jr., and Naseem Hamed come to mind, but none of these fighters had as many similarities to Malignaggi as a controversial, flashy, yet very talented boxer born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico and raised in Spanish Harlem in New York. The name of that fighter is Héctor "Macho" Camacho. Although Camacho is eighteen years Malignaggi's senior, these two are so alike they could be mistaken as long-lost twin brothers. Both have pure boxer styles, solid defense, amazing hand speed, and a flair for showmanship. If it were not for the fact that Camacho was a southpaw and Malignaggi an orthodox fighter, you could say these are two were identical, carbon copies of each other.
Despite all the similarities, there is one meaningful difference, and that's the level of competition. Camacho's quality as a boxer has been proven and he is a future hall of famer, while Malignaggi is a young lion who, arguably, has not reached his peak yet. Camacho battled the best fighters that the 80's and 90's had to offer including Rafael Limon, Julio César Chávez, Edwin Rosario, José Luis Ramírez, Ray Mancini, Vinny Pazienza, Roberto Durán, Félix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya, and Ray Leonard, and had good results in doing so. Malignaggi has only faced one elite fighter in his short career, Miguel Cotto, who defeated him in a brutal, yet competitive bout for the WBO Jr. Welterweight Championship of the World on June 10, 2006. Malignaggi, although defeated, was able to give the strong Cotto one of his toughest challenges to date and received a lot of praise for his valiant effort. After the loss, he has rebounded with a string of three victories and has become the IBF Jr. Welterweight Champion of the World.
Will Malignaggi be an all time great? Will he become one of the best fighters of his generation? That remains to be seen but debating that is not the point of this writing. The purpose of this article is to establish that not every fighter has to follow the same paths of every good champion before him. He can rewrite a chapter in the history of the sport by taking a different road, like Camacho who did it his way, but always thinking of greatness as the ultimate goal to be achieved.
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