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These punch stats tell us one thing: It was a close fight, and a lot of scoring for this one depends on which guy impressed you more. Malignaggi worked pretty effectively behind a jab and I thought he did an excellent job controlling distance against the shorter Diaz for much of the fight, which is why I scored it for Paulie. If you were impressed by Diaz essentially abandoning his jab (not that he's ever been a jabber) and going for power shots, and doing a fair job with that gameplan especially to the body, it's easy to see why you would score it for "The Baby Bull."
Let me be clear, since we've had the discussions in the comments of the many posts that have been dedicated to a fight I didn't think would generate too much interest: I don't think Paulie was robbed in the traditional sense that he definitely, absolutely, for sure, no arguments won this fight and had the win taken away. This was not Casamayor-Santa Cruz or Burton-Augustus.
This was really a good, competitive fight that I think could be scored either way. Juan Diaz did not win 10 rounds. Paulie Malignaggi didn't either. Most folks had it 7-5 one way or the other, some had a draw, and I was heavy for Paulie at 8-4. This is a fight that is going to play out now a lot like Cotto-Clottey did, though the circumstances are a bit different. Cotto-Clottey was a damn good fight, and 99% of the post-fight talk from everyone centered on Clottey being "robbed" or not. The same thing is, sadly, happening here, though this one is more upsetting, because it is clear that Van Hoy went out of his way to put the screws to Malignaggi.
The brief CompuBox summary of the fight even touches on what's really wrong here: "GALE VAN HOY’S 118-110 SCORE FOR DIAZ WAS AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE."
Total Punches Landed / Thrown
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Jabs Landed / Thrown
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Power Punches Landed / Thrown
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Final PunchStat Report
Punches Landed / Thrown
Total Punches | Jabs | Power Punches | |
Diaz | 178 / 663 | 55 / 229 | 123 / 434 |
27% | 24% | 28% | |
Malignaggi | 191 / 949 | 111 / 621 | 80 / 328 |
20% | 18% | 24% |