CHICAGO—Yo, listen up, youse over here and youse over there.
Brooklyn’s Paulie Malignaggi put on a masterful boxing clinic Saturday night to take a decision over plucky Houstonian Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz after 12 rounds at the University of Illinois, Chicago, campus (HBO).
Malignaggi had complete fun inside the ring and, as he noted afterwards, he even enjoyed the pulsating noise when the Mexicans backing Diaz chanted, “Paulie sucks!”
This was a virtuoso performance by Malignaggi, a night when his deeds fully backed up his words.
In a highly entertaining and dramatic scrap from the first ding to the last dong, from the opening round through the final one, the “Magic Man” from Bensonhurt by way of Italy won the decision and the NABO title by a unanimous decision with all three judges rendering 116-111 scores for the mouthy New Yorker.
The most compelling round the two have fought in 24 complete rounds was the seesaw final round here. They battled head to head and toe to toe, swapping the hardest shots they could muster.
It was a great finish to a neat rivalry.
In fact, the fight was so competitive and enthralling that I now say, hey, they did it twice with both of them more than watchable contests so now let’s do it thrice. I think nearly every one of the 7,500 or so who made up a sellout crowd here would be in favor of Malignaggi and Diaz moving up to Chapter 3, to rounds 25 through 36.
My final score was 115-111 in favor of Malignaggi.
I smell the threematch, folks, unless Diaz turns it down in frustration. And, with Malignaggi having by far his best career effort and gaining satisfaction after losing the first bout in Diaz’s hometown, he is now the shotcaller.
“I am very disappointed,” a glum Diaz said in his morgue like dressing room. “That just wans’t me out there tonight.
“I planned to surprise him early, by not pouncing on him in the first round. I just got complacent.”
Unfortunately, thinking solely of the money, the victorious Malignaggi immediately called out punched ticket Ricky Hatton for another revenge match.
As Bob Arum would put it, who cares?
(As a just for fun sidelight, can you imagine what fun, what big laughs, we could all enjoy if Malignaggi ever fought that terrible “drug cheater” (accused by Malignaggi without any proof) Manny Pacquiao? But hey it’s just one of my many fantasies.
So bring it on, Diaz-Malignaggi III. Bring it to Madison Square Garden unless Team Diaz is sick and tired of being sick and tired of listening to Malignaggi rambling.
Malignaggi outthought, outfought and outboxed the tenacious but frustrated Texas even wobbling him several times. Malignaggi was stunned a few times but always recovered quickly.
Malignaggi benefited from a questionable 10th round knockdown call. Malignaggi got a 10-8 margin in that round when he wobbled Diaz and it appeared that one of Diaz’s gloves briefly swiped the canvas.
Malignaggi improved his record to 27-3 while Diaz, once a highly touted Golden Boy before he was even promoted by the company of the same name, dropped to 35-3, the other losses being to Nate Campbell and Pacman nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez.
