In this video interview caught by FightHub, Paulie Malignaggi talks about getting some perspective during the WBC’s annual convention and some of the problems that still plague the sport. Here’s some excerpts of what he had to say...
On if sanctioning bodies can do more to combat poor decisions from judges:
“I think everybody could fight it but, unfortunately, it’s also a commission problem. The United States has the biggest boxing market and the problem with the United States is the ego of the commissions — you know — they want to use their judges. They appoint their judges and you cannot say anything.
“They look at the sanctioning bodies as corrupt, meantime they don’t realize that a lot of the corruption is them...They could easily be helping and working hand-in-hand with the sanctioning bodies to make things better. There are some scorecards that are so bad that I don’t think you should get a second chance. There are some scorecards that are so ridiculous that I don’t think you need a warning, I don’t think you need discipline, I just think you should never judge again.
“There are some scorecards that are that bad, that maybe it’s corruption,maybe it’s not being knowledgeable enough, whatever the excuse is — I don’t care. There is no reason that you should ever judge again if you have a scorecard that is that bad.
“I think it’s very important for everybody to work together to fix this problem but it’s just a lot of politics in boxing, that’s the frustrating thing, you know. Who has friends here, who’s friends here, you know, friends in high places — they don’t lose their job even if they should. You know, it’s difficult.”
On bad scoring adversely impacting fighter’s careers:
“Yeah...the decision can also have a crazy impact on the rest of his career, have a crazy impact on the kind of money that he makes...You know, winning or losing a fight, there’s hundreds of thousands, if not millions or dollars in difference from your next purse...even if you get robbed. So it’s not just the ending of careers, it’s also changing the direction of people’s careers too. And there’s a lot of sacrifice that these fighters put forth, you know.
“The judges put in a decision, they go home, they go to sleep, the next day is a normal day for them...nothing changes, they just get their salary and that’s it. So I think you have to think about the consequences that fighters go through and maybe make it a bit more consequences for bad officials as well because if there is bad consequences I think people will start to be a bit more attentive to doing things the right way, to doing things the correct way. But, it’s unfortunate. It’s not just boxing, it’s life in general...”