Malignaggi's nightmares come true in Houston, Diaz wins controversial decision

Paulie Malignaggi called out judge Gale Van Hoy, the other two judges, the Texas Athletic Commission, and referee Laurence Cole before he showed up in Houston to fight hometown fighter Juan Diaz. The only guy he didn't rip on, in fact, was Juan Diaz.

After a fight that many felt he won, Malignaggi still had no beef with Juan Diaz. But his nightmares came true when he lost 115-113, 116-112 and a ridiculous 118-110 -- from Van Hoy -- on the scorecards.

From my view, Malignaggi (26-3, 5 KO) largely dominated the fight defensively and with speed. He looked like the vintage Malignaggi that was a legit contender at 140 pounds. Diaz (35-2, 17 KO) did survive a bad cut this time around, and didn't fight badly. But he had a horrible time closing distance on the longer, taller, quicker Malignaggi, and it was Paulie that made much of the fight go.

It was also, it should be noted, a highly-entertaining style collision between two guys that came to mix it up and win. They both needed it badly, and fought like it. But it was Malignaggi, in my opinion, that won the bout. And I'm not alone. Bad Left Hook scored it 116-112 for Paulie. HBO's Harold Lederman scored it 115-113 for Malignaggi.

Malignaggi spoke bluntly about the sport after the fight, saying something close to the effect of, "Boxing is full of s**t. I used to love the sport. Boxing is full of s**t. The only reason I do it is for a good payday."

Paulie has legitimate gripes right now. He was robbed, I think. You may disagree, and that's fine, but I'm just talking about how I saw the fight. And it was a Malignaggi win.

• The main undercard bout between Malcolm Klassen and Robert Guerrero was called by the HBO team as a dominant Guerrero win, and Guerrero got the unanimous nod. But I scored it a draw and felt Malcolm Klassen acquitted himself quite nicely. I am not arguing a Guerrero victory; not at all. What I am arguing is that he cruised to victory. He did not.
• Daniel Jacobs won a tough fight with Ishe Smith. The bout looked exactly like what most of us expected. Ishe Smith was outworked, and Jacobs won on pure talent. But Jacobs also probably learned a lot, which is best case scenario with an opponent like Ishe.