It?s not as if Paulie Malignaggi has never fought in Brooklyn – which he will this Saturday night at the new Barclays Center versus Pablo Cesar Cano (Showtime, 8 p.m., ET/PT) . In fact, he made his pro debut against Thadeus Parker at the KeySpan Park back in July of 2001. And he?s certainly no stranger to fighting in the Big Apple (where he?s fought many times including his high-profile bout with Miguel Cotto in 2006 at Madison Square Garden and then four years later in their small room with Amir Khan) but this appearance just feels different for some reason.
Maybe it?s because this time around, he isn?t the B-side but a champion defending his belt (in this case, the WBA welterweight strap) on his home turf. Regardless, it?s just…different.
?It?s a lot different,? confirmed Malignaggi a couple of weeks ago as he was getting his hands wrapped by trainer Eric Brown at the Wild Card Boxing Club. ?I mean, it?s exciting when I fight on the East Coast close to home but just the fact that the fight is in the address at Brooklyn, New York. Well, that makes it all the more exciting for me. I?ve said it before to a lot of people asking me how excited I am; you can?t really put it into words because I don?t think words can describe or words can do it justice. But I?m very excited and on the inside, I?m pretty giddy. I?m focused and I want to put on the best show possible. I?m from less than five miles from the hospital; it?s in the same neighborhood. It?s Long Island College Hospital and it?s a few miles away.
?It?s crazy; almost 32 years ago I was born just a few miles away and I?m definitely a world champion right there.?
Part of the reason Malignaggi signed a promotional pact with Golden Boy a few years ago was their exclusive deal with the Barclays Center, which will serve as the home of the NBA?s Brooklyn Nets.
?They started signing a lot of New York talent and they tried to make a concerted effort to grab people and I was one of the guys,? explained Malignaggi, who now splits his time between New York and Los Angeles. ?Obviously, there was a rebuilding process to go through, so they took a chance on me and I?m glad they did and they did a great job. Everybody did their job; they did their job. I did my job and here we are. It?s pretty amazing, surreal at times, but all at once, it?s exciting too.?
In many ways, the ?Magic Man? is the quintessential brash, talkative New Yorker. It can be argued very easily that his personality is more entertaining than most of his prizefights. He has parlayed this personality into marquee fights because of his ability to sell himself and the fights just as much as his boxing acumen. Not only does he have the gift of jab but the gift of gab (which is one of the reasons why Showtime has used him recently as a color analyst).
But in the end, you still have to win significant fights. And in late April, he was shipped off to Russia (without much fanfare or love) to face Vyacheslav Senchenko for the WBA title. Malignaggi admits this was a must-win situation for him. Bottom line is he wasn?t going back to fighting for a pittance at the Hammerstein Ballroom. ?Yeah, there?s certain moments in your career that are do-or-die; you get them here and there. There?s obviously always big fights and sometimes it?s a fight where you can become a regular star to a superstar and those do-or-die fights where you want to remain at a high level. You have to win or you will fall off to the wayside completely and people won?t care about you,? he stated.
Winning a title would make Malignaggi – a former titleholder at junior welterweight – a viable name at 147 pounds.
?This was one of those fights where if I wanted to remain relevant at the high level of boxing, I needed to win this fight. And it was a lot of pressure on me because being away from home and what happens to American fighters when we travel,? said Malignaggi, who made sure there would be no debating the outcome of this fight by dominating the Russian on the strength of his piston-like jab that befuddled Senchenko from the very beginning. Stunningly, he stopped him (just his seventh knockout in 35 pro outings). Brown, who has trained Malignaggi since he came out west, remarked, ?We knew going in that we had to do that. We had to go in there and dominate this guy. We had to go in there and take him totally out of his game. We had to either cut him up or stop him or knock him out. And Paulie doesn?t have a big knockout ratio, so we knew we had to do something to stop the fight or really sway the judges in our favor. So going after him, working behind that solid jab and outbox him, we knew Senchenko had never fought anyone like Paulie and that was going to be to our advantage. Paulie took command and never relinquished it.?
Having this belt means Malignaggi is coveted as an opponent by the marquee names in the sport. Months ago, there was speculation that the comebacking Ricky Hatton was targeting him in 2013. Regardless, it keeps him relevant. One thing Malignaggi will never do is play out the string on his career as just a shell of himself. Once you play Broadway, it?s hard to go backward.
?I want to do it at a high level; I don?t have to do it at a low level,? he says. ?I?ve got money and I?ve got investments and I?m doing pretty well. So if I didn?t do it at the level I want to, I don?t want to do it. It?s not like something that I just do to do. At this point, it?s become my job. It?s something I enjoy a lot. I love competing and if I can better my life, I?ll continue to do it. If I continue to enjoy competing, which I always think I will, I will do it. But it has to be that combination of things. If I fall off the wayside, if I?m not at a high level, there?s no reason to stay and do this. One thing I?ve always wanted to accomplish – just as an Italian because I have a double-passport – is win the EBU title during my career. So maybe at the end of my career, I?ll chase that but that?s something so small, that?s later on maybe.?
Brown says his 31-year-old pupil still has an incredible passion for the sport.
?Most definitely, that?s what?s got us undefeated as a welterweight the last two years. We?ve done nothing but get stronger and stronger and that?s because of work ethic and his passion for it. He doesn?t just want to be one of these veterans that?s hanging around taking a payday here or there. He wants to be the very best. He wants to be on top of the game and he wants to fight the best out there,? said the trainer, who will also be leading Peter Quillin into his battle on Saturday night. ?A lot of guys don?t want to fight him unless they can stack the deck against him and that?s one of the things we have to deal with. Paulie trains as hard as any of these young guys coming up or anybody else. He trains just as hard – if not harder – than any of them and he brings a lot of experience to the table as well.?
No, Cano, a tough hombre from Mexico coming up from 140 pounds, may not be the fight Malignaggi yearns for but this is exactly the type of event he thrives in, a headlining spot in his hometown on a national stage. And yes, he was being hounded for tickets weeks before the fight. Malignaggi went back to New York earlier than usual to help promote this card and participate in events like the Columbus Day Parade. It?s all part of the deal – and it?s something he?s used to.
?I?ve fought at home before and even though it was in Manhattan, there can be [distractions]. I think because of the experience that I have fighting at home, the trick is, when you have leave the locker room, to just pretend you?re in any arena,? he explained. ?Pretend you?re fighting in Vegas or fighting anywhere because, honestly, from the locker room to the ring and the fight in the ring, that can happen anywhere in the world. It?s the same thing. So I already plan on telling myself when I leave the locker room, ?You?re not fighting in Brooklyn; you?re fighting in a boxing ring. You could be fighting anywhere in the world.? Because at that moment, it?s not like you?re interacting with anyone anyways. You?re fighting, I mean, from the moment you leave the locker room to the time you come back to the locker room. That happens all over the world.
?It can happen anywhere; it has nothing to do with where you are.?
