The End Of The Line

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Paulie Malignaggi

Most people that are 34-years old are not contemplating retirement, but that is not the case for Paulie Malignaggi. Malignaggi is a former boxing champion at both the Junior Welterweight and Welterweight Divisions. Malignaggi has a professional record of 33-7, but he has lost three out of his last four fights including a ninth-round technical knockout at the hands of Danny Garcia last night. The fight against Garcia was stopped in the ninth round by referee Arthur Mercante Jr., who felt that Malignaggi was enduring too much punishment. And during Malignaggi’s post-fight interview at the Barclays Center in his hometown of Brooklyn, New York, he let it be known that his fight with Garcia was more than likely his last one.

Malignaggi’s last four fights have taken a lot out of him. Malignaggi lost a controversial split decision to Adrien Broner in 2013 which resulted in him relinquishing the WBA Welterweight Title. Malignaggi would rebound later that year to score a unanimous decision over fellow Brooklynite Zab Judah. But last April, Shawn Porter destroyed Malignaggi and it only took him four rounds to do it in. The bout with Porter should have signaled the end of the line for Malignaggi as he was thoroughly beaten and outclassed, but he decided to give it one more go when he stepped into the ring against Garcia last night who appeared to finish off the job.

The timing is right for Malignaggi to walk away from competing as he shouldn’t hang around in the ring just to be a litmus test for the young and upcoming welterweights in the same fashion as the Brooklyn Brawler was for World Wrestling Entertainment. Aside from fighting, Malignaggi also provides excellent color commentary for Showtime during their boxing telecasts which is a way to keep him around the sport that he loves without having to take the physical punishment in the ring.

Malignaggi’s professional career has spanned 14 years as he scored his first victory in July 2001 when he won a first-round TKO over Thaddeus Parker at KeySpan Park in Brooklyn; so it was only fitting that potentially his final professional bout would take place in Brooklyn as well.

Malignaggi has never been known to have tremendous punching power, but he still managed to win 33 fights as a professional. But as Malignaggi got older and his boxing skills began to diminish, his lack of power was on display when he met the top welterweights in boxing who were able to get past him with relative ease.

In the ring, Malignaggi embodied his hometown of Brooklyn to a tee as he was tough, scrappy, and if he was knocked down, you knew that he would pick himself up off of the canvas to give it a go one more time. Malignaggi’s career didn’t end in the fashion that he would have liked it which is the case for most people, but that wont diminish what he was able to accomplish in the sweet science as he has cemented his name alongside some of the other great boxers to emerge from Brooklyn.

 

 

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By | 2015-08-02T13:45:29+00:00 August 2nd, 2015|Categories: Boxing|Tags: |0 Comments

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