Paul Malignaggi

Paulie Malignaggi
Malignaggi in 2010
Statistics
Real name	Paul Malignaggi
Nickname(s)	The Magic Man
Rated at	Junior welterweight
Height	5 ft 8.5 in (1.74 m)[1]
Nationality	American
Born	November 23, 1980 (1980-11-23) (age 30) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	34
Wins	30
Wins by KO	6
Losses	4
Draws	0
No contests	0

Paul "Paulie" Malignaggi (born November 23, 1980) is an Italian-American professional boxer. He is the former IBF junior welterweight champion, and former WBO NABO light welterweight champion.

Boxing career

Light Welterweight

On June 16, 2007, Malignaggi defeated Lovemore N'dou via a 12 unanimous decision to win the IBF World Junior Welterweight Championship at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. The bout was one sided with one judge awarding the bout a 120–106. Lennox Lewis who was commentating at ringside for HBO described Malignaggi's performance as a "boxing clinic". After this win and the victory over Edner Cherry earlier in the year Malignaggi was awarded the Ring Magazine comeback of the year award at the end of 2007.

On January 5, 2008, Malignaggi defended his title against Herman Ngoudjo in a highly competitive match held at Bally's Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Malignaggi controlled the fight with his jab until he was stunned in the 7th round, but Ngoudjo failed to finish the job. After the seventh, Ngoudjo became ineffective with his aggression and came up short and lost a wide unanimous decision, which although fair, did not reflect the competitiveness of the fight.

On May 24, 2008, Malignaggi beat Lovemore N'Dou in a rematch by split decision to retain his IBF title at the City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England. Malignaggi was in control for the first half of the fight, boxing behind his faster and crisper jab.^[2] Prior to the fight, Malignaggi was sporting hair extensions which proved to be a problem throughout the fight until his trainer Buddy McGirt cut them off in his corner between rounds eight and nine. Malignaggi appeared sloppy in the second half of the fight as N'Dou came back to make the fight close. In the end, Malignaggi pulled out a close victory and also suffered a fractured right hand in the fight.^[3] Malignaggi vacated his title on September 19, 2008.[1]

On November 22, 2008 in the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Malignaggi fought the Ring Magazine and IBO Light Welterweight World Champion Ricky Hatton. It was billed as the boxer against the brawler, and it was Hatton who dominated and won every round bar the first. Hatton rocked Malignaggi in the 2nd and several other times during the fight, leaving Paulie to hold on, doing exactly what he publicly said Hatton does. With Malignaggi way behind on points, his trainer Buddy McGirt threw in the towel during the 11th round.

On August 22, 2009 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Malignaggi fought former lightweight titlist Juan Diaz for the vacant WBO NABO light welterweight title at a catch-weight of 138½ pounds. Unofficial HBO scorer Harold Lederman scored the fight 115–113 for Malignaggi, but none of the three judges saw the fight this way. Gale Van Hoy had it by an 118–110, Raul Caiz had it 115–113 and the other Judge, Dave Sutherland scored it 116–112, all in favor of Juan Diaz. In the post fight interview of the Juan Diaz fight (interviewed by Max Kellerman, HBO boxing analyst) Paulie was furious stating that "boxing is full of shit". He also stated that the only reason he is continuing to fight is because of the good pay day.^[4]

A rematch with Juan Diaz occurred on December 12, 2009 in Chicago on HBO. This rematch went in Malignaggi's favor, when he defeated Juan Diaz by unanimous decision. All three judges scored the fight 116–111 in favor of Malignaggi. In the fight, Malignaggi threw more punches but only landed 21% of them while Diaz landed 28% of his, but threw less.

Khan (left) and Malignaggi at the press conference on March 17, 2010.

Malignaggi's next fight was against Amir Khan in Madison Square Garden in New York on May 15, 2010. The press conference took place in London, England on March 12 while another press conference was held in New York City, United States on March 16. Malignaggi was stopped in the eleventh round by the referee. As the fight progressed, Malignaggi began to fall behind on points and the result began to get comfortable for Khan. He was very overmatched throughout the fight.^[5] On September 28, 2010 it was announced that Malignaggi signed with Golden Boy Promotions.^[6]

Welterweight

Following his TKO win over Michael Lozada in December 2010, Malignaggi will make his 2011 debut against Jose Cotto, older brother of champion Miguel Cotto, on April 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.^[7]

Boxing style

Inside the ring, Malignaggi can best be described as a slickster. He adopts the "Hitman" stance popularized by Thomas Hearns, his left arm is kept beside his waist and he keeps his right hand at the chest level, leaving his head completely exposed. Consequently, he punches from his hips, something few boxers can pull off unless they have exceptional handspeed. Malignaggi moves around the ring well and counter-punches effectively against aggressive opponents. Compared to many other champions he lacks power but makes up for it for good handspeed and ring generalship.

Acting and other media

Malignaggi has done print clothing ads that have been featured in magazines such as Esquire magazine, Playboy magazine, and Frank 151 magazine. He also had a small role in the movie "Undefeated" featuring John Leguizamo, and had a feature documentary on his life leading into his fight with Miguel Cotto titled "Magic Man". Japanese video game company Nintendo used him as the model for their character Little Mac in the new sequel Punch-Out!! for the Wii, and also featured him in the commercials as well. Malignaggi is a featured fighter in EA Sports' Fight Night Round 4 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Professional boxing record

30 Wins (6 knockouts), 4 Losses, 0 Draws,0 No Contest
Res.	Record	Opponent	Type	Rd., Time	Date	Location	Notes
Win	30-4	Orlando Lora	UD	10	2011-10-15	Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Win	29-4	Jose Miguel Cotto	UD	10	2011-04-09	Mandalay Bay Resort and Casin, Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	28–4	Michael Lozada	TKO	6 (10), 2:33	2010-12-18	Pepsi Coliseum, Quebec City, Quebec
Loss	27–4	Amir Khan	TKO	11 (12), 1:25	2010-05-15	Madison Square Garden, New York, New York	WBA Light Welterweight title on the line.
Win	27–3	Juan Díaz	UD	12	2009-12-12	UIC Pavilion, Chicago, Illinois	Won WBO NABO Light Welterweight title.
Loss	26–3	Juan Díaz	UD	12	2009-08-22	Toyota Center, Houston, Texas	vacant WBO NABO Light Welterweight title on the line.
Win	26–2	Christopher Fernandez	UD	8	2009-04-25	Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, Connecticut
Loss	25–2	Ricky Hatton	TKO	11 (12), 0:48	2008-11-22	MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada	The Ring & IBF Light Welterweight titles on the line.
Win	25–1	Lovemore N'dou	SD	12	2008-05-24	City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom	Retained IBF Light Welterweight title.
Win	24–1	Herman Ngoudjo	UD	12	2008-01-05	Ballys Park Place Hotel Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey	Retained IBF Light Welterweight title.
Win	23–1	Lovemore N'dou	UD	12	2007-06-16	Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville, Connecticut	Won IBF Light Welterweight title.
Win	22–1	Edner Cherry	UD	10	2007-02-17	Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, New York
Loss	21–1	Miguel Cotto	UD	12	2006-06-10	Madison Square Garden, New York, New York	WBO Light Welterweight title on the line.
Win	21–0	Donald Camarena	UD	10	2006-02-10	Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, Connecticut	Won WBC Continental Americas Light Welterweight titl.
Win	20–0	Jeremy Yelton	UD	8	2005-08-25	Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, New York
Win	19–0	Sandro Casamonica	TD	7 (12)	2004-12-04	Barton Coliseum, Little Rock, Arkansas	Won WBC International Light Welterweight title.
Win	18–0	Ramiro Cano	UD	10	2004-06-17	Harrah's Laughlin, Laughlin, Nevada, United States
Win	17–0	Rocky Martinez	UD	10	2004-04-22	The Grand Ballroom, New York, New York, United States
Win	16–0	Paul Delgado	UD	8	2003-12-06	Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, United States
Win	15–0	Jesus Abel Santiago	UD	8	2003-10-24	Jimmy's Bronx Cafe, Bronx, New York, United States
Win	14–0	Kevin Watts	TKO	6 (10)	2003-08-01	Hampton Beach Casino, Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, United States
Win	13–0	Shad Howard	UD	6	2003-06-03	Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville, Connecticut, United States
Win	12–0	Paul Delgado	SD	8	2002-11-23	Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	11–0	Chad Lawshe	UD	6	2002-10-13	Regent Hotel, New York, New York, United States
Win	10–0	Anthony Simpkins	TKO	2 (6)	2002-08-30	Cipriani's Restaurant, New York, New York, United States
Win	9–0	Jadschi Green	UD	6	2002-07-26	Mountaineer Casino Racetrack and Resort, Chester, West Virginia, United States
Win	8–0	Andre Baker	UD	6	2002-05-30	Days Inn, Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States
Win	7–0	Sterling Gethers	UD	4	2002-04-12	Foxwoods Resort, Mashantucket, Connecticut, United States
Win	6–0	Antonio Young	UD	6	2002-01-18	Huntington Hilton Hotel, Melville, New York, United States
Win	5–0	Jose LaPorte	UD	4	2001-12-07	Foxwoods Resort, Mashantucket, Connecticut, United States
Win	4–0	Cornell Jackson	UD	4	2001-11-23	Roseland Ballroom, New York, New York, United States
Win	3–0	Luis Melendez	KO	3 (4)	2001-11-10	Fernwood Resort, Bushkill, Pennsylvania, United States
Win	2–0	Robert Sowers	TKO	4 (4)	2001-07-26	Roseland Ballroom, New York, New York, United States
Win	1–0	Thadeus Parker	TKO	1 (4)	2001-07-07	KeySpan Park, Brooklyn, New York, United States	Malignaggi's professional debut.

References

1. ^ "Paul Malignaggi's Boxing Record". BoxRec. http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=52984&cat=boxer. Retrieved 23 November 2008. 
2. ^ Watt, Craig (2008-05-25). "Hatton delights his 56,000 fans!". Fightnews.com. Archived from the original on 2008-05-27. http://web.archive.org/web/20080527211000/http://www.fightnews.com/watt188.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-26. 
3. ^ "Paul Malignaggi Update!". Fightnews.com. 2008-05-27. http://www.fightnews.com/fightnews_2/headlines//EkEEAkAllEkiteKKpQ.html. 
4. ^ "Paulie just wants a payday". Sky Sports. February 20, 2009. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12183_4940830,00.html. 
5. ^ http://boxing.fanhouse.com/2010/05/15/amir-khan-vs-paulie-malignaggi-live-round-by-round-updates/
6. ^ http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=31345
7. ^ Blake, Brian O.. ""Action Heroes" Undercard: Malignaggi Takes On Jose Cotto in Welterweight Bout". Breaking News. SportsBettingWorld.com. http://www.sportsbettingworld.com/home/boxing-betting/action-heroes-undercard-malignaggi-takes-on-jose-cotto-in-welterweight-bout-15313/. Retrieved 24 March 2011. 

External links

• The Official Website of Paul "The Magic Man" Malignaggi
• Paul Malignaggi Official Fan Store
• Biography of Professional Boxer Paulie Malignaggi
• Official Sponsors of "The Magic Man" Malignaggi
• Professional boxing record for Paul Malignaggi from BoxRec
• Interview
• Magic Man Film Review
• Becoming a People's Champ

Preceded by Lovemore N'dou

IBF Junior Welterweight Champion June 16, 2007 – September 19, 2008 Vacated

Vacant Title next held by Juan Urango

Persondata
Name	Malignaggi, Paul
Alternative names
Short description	boxer
Date of birth	November 23, 1980
Place of birth	Brooklyn
Date of death
Place of death