Trouble In Texas

Paulie Malignaggi is a colourful character, from his wild hairstyles to his flamboyant ring attire he has always stood out. But now he is the talk of boxing for another reason.

Malignaggi spoke out last week voicing his concerns over his bout with Diaz. He claimed that he bowed over weight, money, location, the venue and even the ring size. He finally lost his temper in a phone call with Rick Reeno about the appointment of officials.
He claimed that Richard Schaffer of 'Golden Boy Promotions' promised him neutral officials but to his surprise Gale Van Hoy of Texas, Raul Caiz, a Mexican American and David Sutherland of Oklahoma, which neighbours Texas were appointed in his bout with Juan Diaz, a Texas based Mexican American.

Malignaggi's fears were realised on Saturday night when he lost, what was seen by most as, an extremely close unanimous decision by margins of 110-118, 113-115 & 112-116.
I, as well as many others, felt that Malignaggi had done enough to win.

Diaz, coming off a knock out loss Marquez in February, was seen as one of Golden Boy's hot prospects. He racked up 30 consecutive wins picking up the WBO, WBA & IBF light weight titles by the age of 23.
He fought at a fast and ferocious pace for all 3 minutes of every round and seemed unstoppable. Until he came up against seasoned Nate Campbell. He fought well until he suffered a cut above his eye and wilted, losing a split decision and his titles. When he faced Juan Manuel Marquez, the same happened again. At first he looked impervious rushing Marquez and hurting him at times but as Marquez began to figure him out he was cut, again he wilted and went on to be knocked out in the 9th round.

Thus the fight on Saturday night was seen as a make or break for him as well as Malignaggi, who had lost to Ricky Hatton in November of 2008 and despite picking up a win in April of this year was in career limbo.

The fight was close let it be told, the light-handed Malignaggi popped his jab, moved and attempted to out box Diaz who constantly came forward with furious energy but at the end of the 12th,I and many other felt Malignaggi had done enough to merit a win. Clearly this wasn't the case as Gale Van Hoy saw the fight as wide as 118-110 in favour of Diaz!

Even Oscar De La Hoya (more in an attempt to save face rather than in genuine outrage) spoke out against the judging at the Golden Boy promoted event,

"The fight was a close fight [Diaz-Maliganggi]. We look at the landslide that one of the judges had, I don't agree with it. I'm not a judge but I don't agree with it. Paulie Malignaggi was right [about getting screwed by the scoring] but it was a close fight. Both fighters gave it their all. You have to give it up to Paulie Malignaggi because he came to fight. He was in tremendous shape and put on one hell of a performance,"

Malignaggi was furious and rightly so at the post fight presser he had this to say:


And he is right. It was a travesty that the scoring turned out how it did, Malignaggi did fight valiantly and to see the result is a discredit to him and boxing itself.
One would have thought that after Malignaggi aired his concerns about such things happening, the robbery would have been a little more discreet. Yet judges like Van Hoy simple didn't care. His scoring of the fight was simply horrible.

Boxing has had its dark days, it is well known that the had its say in the outcomes of fights with fighters, referees and judges alike all playing their part, and this harps back to these times as the home town and in house fighter was presented with a gift.

Malignaggi has bathed himself in glory in how he handled the situation, he took nothing away from Diaz, acknowledging him as a tough and worthy opponent. Yet no one will begrudge his ill will toward Golden Boy or anyone involved in this fiasco. We can only hope that Paulie does not allow this to leave such a bitter taste in his mouth that he doesn't not continue to fight.

Golden Boy, despite Oscar's public attempt to show disgust, has much to explain.