Malignaggi trashes Khan, prepares for a possible fight with Berto
by SC on Feb 2, 2010 6:01 AM EST
in News Analysis
43 comments
A major fight being discussed for April 10, according to ESPN's Dan Rafael, is a welterweight title bout between WBC strapholder Andre Berto and junior welterweight contender Paulie Malignaggi. Berto recently pulled out of a January 30 date with Shane Mosley due to family concerns in Haiti, leaving him open. With Mosley signing to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. on May 1 and Manny Pacquiao, Joshua Clottey and Miguel Cotto all looking tied up within the Top Rank family for their next fights, it leaves Berto with few viable options.
Malignaggi's promoter Lou DiBella has Madison Square Garden booked for April 10, which came about when Paulie was being discussed as a possible Mayweather opponent. With MSG available for them, Berto-Malignaggi at the Garden could be fun. It's not a great fight, don't get me wrong. If you've been around BLH for any amount of time, you probably know I really like Malignaggi for a variety of reasons, but I have my doubts that he'd fare very well against Berto. Andre is fast and a pretty good puncher, two things that Juan Diaz is not, and Paulie's career renaissance was built on a controversial loss to and clear win over Diaz in 2009.
On the other hand, Berto will have been out of action since last May, whenever he fights, and he fought Juan Urango in a complete stinker. It would be a bit bothersome to Berto keeps fighting junior welters, but I also can't really lose sleep about it. There aren't any names at 147 past the elite guys mentioned in the first paragraph here, and they're busy. Who's he going to fight? Selcuk Aydin? Rafal Jackiewicz? There's just not much out there, and Berto having to cancel the Mosley fight really threw a wrench into him getting a good fight for 2010.
Malignaggi also recently ripped junior welterweight titlist Amir Khan. Paulie's a solid trash talker, but Khan got back a pretty good shot, too.
"Ask Oscar [De La Hoya] and Richard [Schaefer] why we're not fighting each other. Him and Freddie Roach refused! So we moved on and got bigger and better [things]. We've got bigger fish to fry than Amir Con on April 10. If Amir Khan wants it, then he knows our number. We called him out numerous times. ... Khan doesn't want it. He knows who is the man."
Khan's reply, snipped:
"I will come to Paulie's city to defeat him and put up the WBA title on May 15th. I have an HBO date. Let's get it on. Don't p***y out."
I highly doubt Khan-Malignaggi is a realistic option right now, at least so long as Golden Boy remains confident that they can make Khan-Juan Manuel Marquez happen for May. There's nothing they gain if Malignaggi beats Khan. If Marquez does it, at least they promote Marquez and it'd be a good bounce-back win for the man who remains Mexico's No. 1 star.
Anyway, what are your thoughts on Berto-Malignaggi? Yea or nay?
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You didn’t mention Collazo.Everyone seems to have either forgotten about him or just refuses to acknoledge him nowadays for some reason.
The fight would sell as it has already been FOTY material on HBO only a year ago.
Maybe Berto’s people want to steer clear or maybe Collazo is a bad negotiator.
Whatever,he’s still a top 7 or so welter,right behind Mayweather,Mosley,Pacquiao,Cotto,Clottey and Berto.
I voted nay for Berto v Malignaggi by the way as i think he would most likely take a baeting and doesn’t really deserve to be mixing with the top guys(certainly not at 147) just because he beat a blown up lightweight who was maybe a bit of an overachiever in the first place.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Feb 2, 2010 7:05 AM EST reply actions
You didn’t mention Collazo.
He doesn’t have any appreciable name value and consistently asks for too much money.
The fight would sell as it has already been FOTY material on HBO only a year ago.
It wouldn’t sell. Neither of them are bigger stars now than they were 13 months ago and that fight was in Mississippi.
I’d love to see Berto-Collazo II, for the record, but I’ve more than given up on it ever happening.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by SC on Feb 2, 2010 7:19 AM EST up reply actions
Of course they are bigger names now.They were on live HBO in a great fight.
That obviously heightens peoples awareness compared to what they knew about them before the fight.
Also,Collazo has fought Hatton and Mosley previous to Berto so he’s not exactly unheard of.He’s had as much exposure as Malignaggi,whose biggest fights were against Hatton and Cotto.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Feb 2, 2010 7:26 AM EST up reply actions
Admittedly Collazo has done himself no favours by being inactive and,as you say,pricing himself out of fights.
Berto v Malignaggi does very little for me though,to be honest.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Feb 2, 2010 7:37 AM EST up reply actions
I think it could happen eventually just because Collazo might be able to get back into the position of being Berto’s mandatory. Would take a while though.
Collazo doesn’t make much noise either which is another thing against him.He should get on the boxing sites amd put his name about more.
Maybe he is having a bit of a rest from boxing.I know he had that fight last year after the Berto one but it was really just a stay busy fight.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Feb 2, 2010 8:10 AM EST up reply actions
He's been calling people out
But his promoter is Don King, so nothing happens. And as Scott mentioned, he has a habit of pricing himself out of fights.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
Justchecking ESPN.comDan Rafael
lists Selcuk Aydin as a possible opponent for Collazo on March 27th in Europe,in his welterweight ranking.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Feb 2, 2010 12:29 PM EST up reply actions
If Hatton
can do what he did to Paulie,i think Berto can do at least as good a job,if not more so.He could probably stop him at 147,but what would it prove?
Whatever,i suppose if it gets Malignaggi a decent payday and there’s nothing much else for Berto,it’s another fight to add to the schedule
I won’t exactly be marking it down on my calender though.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Feb 2, 2010 7:15 AM EST reply actions
I voted yea just so I can see Paulie get beat up.
Berto doesn’t have many options and Paulie is probably the biggest name out there he can fight. He’s going to destroy him, but it will be good for Berto to gain an easy win and also impress people at MSG, especially if they promote Berto around the tragedy in Haiti.
by thp0344 on Feb 2, 2010 9:12 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
I voted nay
just because I have strong dislike for Paulie. It’s a bias to be sure, he’s a fine boxer, but I just find him embarrassing personally.
I suppose I'm cast as the darkness, because I comprehended their light not at all; at least not in the way they wanted me to.
i voted yes just because its something. paulie shouldn’t be anywhere near 147 and will more than likely lose but i think it would be entertaining at least.
paulie vs. khan and berto vs collazo 2 is much better match making.
"Newspapermen ask dumb questions. They look up at the sun and ask if it is shining."
-Sonny Liston
@mikefareri on twitter.
Those two matches would be much better options.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Feb 2, 2010 11:43 AM EST up reply actions
Khan v Malignaggi would most probably be more competitive than Khan v an old,blown up JMM too.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Feb 2, 2010 11:49 AM EST up reply actions
Really? You think JMM would lose to Paulie at 140?
Some people are acting like Pacquiao should be expected to have just gone, "Yeah sure, let’s do something I’ve never done before because your dad made some dumbass baseless comment."
(SC, 28/12/09; http://www.badlefthook.com/2009/12/27/1221143/mayweather-pacquiao-update-bob#comments)
Where did i say that?
It’s about styles.Khan will be too fast and powerful for JMM at 140,imo but Paulie would probably be able to evade Khan’s puinches better and take the ones that landed better because he is a proper lightwelter and he is an elusive type.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Feb 2, 2010 12:26 PM EST up reply actions
Juan Manuel Marquez
is only just a lightweight.He could probably still make 130 easily enough.He just hasn’t got the height or build to fight at 140,imo.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Feb 2, 2010 12:32 PM EST up reply actions
He definitely couldn't make 130 having just gone up to 143 for the Mayweather fight.
Losing 13 pounds of muscle would simply be way too much to drain off at his age with already fading reflexes. The problem for Marquez is that at 135, there aren’t too many big fights. As good as a fight with Katsidis would probably be, it’s not like he’s fighting anyone with name value. A Diaz rematch last June would have been interesting, but Diaz has now lost at least once to Paulie and it’s just not an attractive fight any more. Khan-Marquez makes the most sense in that if Khan wins, it gives him a great name to his record and sets him up for other big fights, and if Marquez wins, it gives him the name of one of the hottest prospects in boxing and re-installs him as a top line fighter. It’s really a no-lose situation for Golden Boy, although I reckon they could probably do with Khan winning it more than Marquez.
"The terror of the unforeseen is what the science of history hides, turning a disaster into an epic"
Yeah
fair points and i agree that Marquez is the best name out there for Khan at the moment but i don’t agree that it was 13 pounds of ‘muscle’ that Marquez put on for Mayweather.He looked a bit fleshy around the middle and was carrying a few pounds excess,imo.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Feb 2, 2010 3:36 PM EST up reply actions
I think it’s just inevitable that he’s going to look fleshy going that high up in weight to be honest. The only guy that’s really managed to look consistently more ripped going up in weight is Manny Pacquiao.. (sorry, couldn’t resist a little snide comment about Pacman haha). But yeah, you’ve got to remember that Marquez never really looked especially ripped when he was a super-feather or a lightweight: that’s just his body shape.
"The terror of the unforeseen is what the science of history hides, turning a disaster into an epic"
Thats my point – he’s a small guy,and at his age it isn’t like his body is growing.If you are looking to gain weight naturally at 36 yoa,it takes you a long time to put just 3-4 pounds of muscle on.The rest is water and fat.
It’s not like Marquez was struggling to make super-feather.He moved up because he was chasing Pacquiao and/or other big fights.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Feb 2, 2010 4:58 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah, but whereas he wasn’t struggling to make super-feather in March 2008, there’s simply no way that in 2010, two years on, having gone up as high as 143, he’d be able to get back down to 130 without draining himself out.
"The terror of the unforeseen is what the science of history hides, turning a disaster into an epic"
I think I’d pick Paulie.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by SC on Feb 2, 2010 8:34 PM EST up reply actions
How about Berto vs. Cintron or Berto vs. Quintana?
I’d rather see those than Berto vs. Malignaggi, and they’re both DBE guys so it’s an easy fight to make. I’m sure it doesn’t sell out MSG, but neither does Berto-Malignaggi, frankly, and it’s still easy enough to put a big Malignaggi fight (say, Malignaggi-Judah) on the undercard. But I already KNOW Berto can beat Malignaggi. If he beat Collazo, he can beat the smaller, orthodox, lighter hitting version of Collazo.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
yeah, I’d rather see either of those.
Thing is – I respect what Malig does. He flops his nuts, he’s maximized his skill-set, and he is a courageous little sucker (see Cotto v. Malig). But – I don’t like Paulie, he’s irritating and can’t hit at all, which makes his skill kind of boring. If he was Yuri’s personality, it would be better, but he’s not, he’s Paulie, and he can’t shut the f up.
"Yes Gina, I am a Wise Cracker"
Berto v Cintron
definitely appeals to me but i hear it is looking like Williams v Cintron is likely for May.
As far as Berto beating Collazo?Officially,yes,but it was debatable,imo and Bill Clancy’s scorecard was too wide.I thought it should have been a very close one to Berto or a draw.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Feb 2, 2010 11:47 AM EST up reply actions
Yeah
But I guess I just can’t see how Malignaggi wins if a Collazo fight was even close. Malignaggi is like a poor man’s Collazo, at least in terms of skills, and he’s not southpaw (which seems to bother Berto).
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
Oh yeah,no way can i see Berto losing to Paulie.I mean,i did think there was a small possibility Paulie could outbox him but realistically,Berto’s speed,power,size and equal if not better boxing ability would let him walk right through Maligg,imo.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Feb 2, 2010 11:54 AM EST reply actions
All you can say about Paulie is that at least he is trying to stay active.
If you always thought what you thought, then you wouldn't think what you knew.
No, you can probably say other things about Paulie too.
by taco pal on Feb 2, 2010 1:51 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Hehe
I do respect Paulie for taking lots of tough fights.
"Honey i forgot to duck" - Jack Dempsey
by Drunken cutman on Feb 2, 2010 5:35 PM EST up reply actions
Is the Maidana Cayo fight pretty much set?
Cause Paulie Maidana could be pretty interesting. Or just have Paulie fight the winner of Maidana Cayo, mostly because Paulie does matchup well Maidana (could be like the Kotelnik fight). Cayo I have seen a couple times on FNF but its always against some scrub he’s going to beat up anyway so making judgments on him seems a little premature.
Boxingscene
are reporting that Maidana v Cayo/ Guerrero v Katsidis doubleheader is set for March 27th on HBO.
by Matt (Yorkshire) on Feb 2, 2010 4:01 PM EST up reply actions
I would like that fight
And I think Malignaggi would win a nicely wide decision, HBO would probably buy it and it would be good for Paulie.
"Honey i forgot to duck" - Jack Dempsey
by Drunken cutman on Feb 2, 2010 5:36 PM EST up reply actions
This would be an ugly, brutally bad fight as Berto cruises to decision.
Pass.
The Seattle Times linked to my website in June 2009. I wasn't aware of this until January 2010.
I'm undecided/indifferent
I like Paulie but he shouldn’t be near a ring with a welter. But he is looking for a fight and a hard one at that. Im against it but dont see much else they can do. If they do it or not, I wont mind and ill still watch it.
"It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up." - Ali
What about Zab Judah or Carlos Quintana?
I feel those two fighters would be a good match up for Berto. both are 147lb fighters and former world champions with good skills. Kinda of a big downgrade going from Mosley to Malignaggi. But if they put Berto up against either Judah or Quintana at least he wouldn’t be fighting a jr welterweight
Malignaggi Sucks
What Malignaggi can’t make up in strength/skill/speed, he makes up with his mouth.
What’s sad about this is that he actually built up his fan base because of that gay style.
In terms of boxing skill he is very accomplished
However he lacks the physical gifts which would make him more effective. He is also not someone who will always take on tough challenges such as Hatton or Cotto.
"Honey i forgot to duck" - Jack Dempsey
by Drunken cutman on Feb 3, 2010 12:04 PM EST up reply actions
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