Malignaggi robbed in Houston

Paulie Malignaggi has every right to feel hard done by in a fight I certainly felt he won along with Harold Lederman – the unofficial HBO fight scorer. I had it scored 115-113 to the Magic Man, who I felt fought the best he had ever fought. It was a close but clear decision. I don’t know what the judges were thinking. Gal Van Hoy even had it 118-110. In my opinion, Gal Van Hoy should never judge a fight again!

Round 1 started with Paulie coming out fast with a beautiful jab combined with elegant movement. He kept Diaz turning and never set while peppering him with fast jabs with the occasional flurry. Malignaggi through a staggering 85 jabs! Diaz however this was a quiet round for him as he couldn’t get set and when he did Paulie was gone. He landed one punch of note a long overhand right that cut Paulie over his left eye just 10 seconds from the end of the round. This was a Paulie round.

The next round started the same but Paulie started to stand in front of “The Baby Bull’ who just licked his lips and started ripping shots at
Malignaggi. Diaz had a lot of success but Malignaggi did show glimpses
of what he used in the first round and I was wondering why he wasn’t
moving but it didn’t do to much harm as Diaz picked up a cut which is
an ominous sign for Diaz who has never won a fight where he sustained a cut. Diaz landed a great left hook halfway through the round that knocked ‘The Magic Man’ off balance, he then followed itup with some good shots to seal the round. Diaz round. The referee against the rules conferred with the judges if a headbutt had caused the cut, luckily the judges seen no headbutt.

The 3rd was another great display from the flamboyant Paulie Malignaggi who started to introduce his right hand to target that cut on Diaz that was situated just on his left eyelid. Again Paulies footwork and angles kept Diaz guessing and not letting him get set up. Around the 2 minute mark of the round a stray elbow from Malignaggi cut ‘The Baby Bull’ this was a worse cut on the eyebrow of Juan. Paulie Malignaggi sweeped this round.

Round numero 4. Malignaggi again stood infront of the bull of the baby
variety and again lost the round. Diaz was landing more on the
seemingly non-mobile Malignaggi who later again showed glimpses of what he could do.

Rounds 5 and 6 were again boxing clinics of Malignaggi however they
were closer as Diaz started to step to his right and through his
punches. I think Malignaggi’s jab was the key to these rounds as it was keeping Diaz off balance and not letting him get set up to throw his shots.

Round 7 was back to Diaz who used cut off Malignaggi with that side
step to the right to counter Malignaggi’s clockwise movement. He landed several good right hands in this round but it wasn’t as dominant as any of Malignaggi’s rounds.

The 8th and 9th were dominant for Maliginaggi as he showed glimpses of the great Ralph Dupas in the way he made angles for himself then landed a flurry or a jab. I was very impressed by his skills and repertoire. Mixing up his combos and his jabs with his movement really confused Juan who just couldn’t set himself up for his shots.

The 10th was for Diaz who just managed to suss out the slick movement of the Italian-American. He managed to get set up and land some good body shots to take the round but Malignaggi was blocking and slipping a lot of punches but wasn’t using the same foot movement and angles that had served him so well.

The 11th was for me Malignaggi’s most impressive round. He showed the things that had won him the rounds so far and more. Diaz tried cutting him off by stepping to his right and Malignaggi calmly sailed past the oncoming right hand almost like Willie Pep. Smooth as his normally gelled and greased hair. He just gave to many questions to the college student Juan Diaz who couldn’t come up with the answers quick enough

and Malignaggi the school master punished him with a sharp jab and
quick as you like combinations.

Both guys knew they needed this last round and they both came out to take it in spectacular fashion. Malignaggi played into Diaz’s hands
abit as he was aggressive but still got his licks in but ultimately
Diaz pounded out the hard fought last round like he had pounded out so many other rounds through his career.

Then I thought fair enough Malignaggi has got it in an entertaining
fight. I enjoyed the fight it was the classic Boxer-vs-pressure-fighter. And lived up to its expectation but surprisingly Malignaggi threw just over 200 more punches than the supposedly higher volume puncher Diaz, although they were mainly jabs.

You already know the decision and my thoughts on it but it went to Diaz which I won’t keep going on and on about which is quite frankly a joke and is what is bad about boxing.

Malignaggi shared my sentiments and was upset at the decision saying
the ‘politics is what he has to deal with.’ And ‘an fighter that comes
to Texas doesn’t get a fair decision.’ However he praised Houston
saying it had a great fan base and they made a lot of noise. Malignaggi obviously upset stated ‘I used to love this game, its bullshit I just do it as it’s a good pay day.’ Now I think Malignaggi said this in
anger and regrets it as he obviously loves boxing but the constantly
bad decisions and politics in boxing are bull shit and drive away fans
and would be boxers. It needs to stop.

I want to do something about it so I recommend everyone who reads this email the Texas licensing board and complain about the judging. It
might not do nothing but at least we are trying and letting them know
us fans don’t appreciate it. I would also recommend you email Golden
Boy Promotions venting your disgust in the decision and hopefully they
will do something like a rematch. It will only take 5 minutes

Heres the addresses

boxing@license.state.tx.us

ramiro@goldenboypromotions.com

Take care.

Greg Paterson