Paulie Malignaggi already has gotten more out of his career than many expected. He is a two-time world champion who has faced some of his era’s best boxers. But the mouthy kid from Brooklyn wants more. He wants to be a Hall of Famer.
“By making the right business decisions, by having the right people around me and with my hard work ethic that I’ve always had, I think I could be a Hall of Fame fighter,” Malignaggi said this week while sitting in Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn where he first learned how to box. “I’ve won two world titles and accomplished all this under some adverse circumstances like hand injuries and not having the strongest promoter for most of my career. I’ve had to work hard to get recognition.”
Malignaggi can add some credibility to a Hall of Fame candidacy tonight at Barclays Center where he defends his WBA welterweight championship against the unbeaten and much-hyped Adrien Broner of Cincinnati. Showtime will broadcast the bout. Also on the card: Johnathon Banks will try to validate his knockout of Seth Mitchell in a rematch of heavyweights, and Sakio Bika faces Marco Antonio Periban in a super middleweight bout. Former Olympian Marcus Browne of Staten Island is also on the card. Tickets priced from $250 to $25 remain available.
Broner (26-0, 22 KOs) is a huge favorite, already having won titles at 130 and 135 pounds. He will skip two weight classes to challenge for Malignaggi’s 147-pound title. He draws as much attention for his brash and flash as the power he packs in both fists.
“Adrien Broner is one of those few talents who might come around once in a lifetime, once in a generation,” said Golden Boy promoter Richard Schaefer.
Beating Broner would be the signature win of Malignaggi’s career and erase the sting of losing previous big fights to Miguel Cotto in 2006, Ricky Hatton in 2008 and Amir Khan in 2010. Despite those setbacks, he has won enough to stay relevant, beating Lovemore N’Dou to capture the IBF junior welterweight title in 2007, upsetting Juan Diaz in 2009 and going to the Ukraine to defeat Vyacheslav Senchenko for his current belt in April 2012. His new role as a boxing commentator for Showtime has also enhanced his profile.
“I think about the hard work. I think about everything I’ve been through in my life,” Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KOs) said. “Not everything is always easy. But that builds character. It builds motivation. I believe that’s part of the reason why I still am here.”
He views the 23-year-old Broner as a pampered fighter who was carefully matched against inferior opponents and isn’t worthy of the hype or television exposure he has been getting.
“If I had that treatment I know I would have had more star power than he does,” Malignaggi said. “I speak three languages and I’m articulate. I’m the most charismatic fighter that has come around in the last decade but people didn’t take notice of it because I wasn’t marketed correctly.”
Malignaggi can mount his own marketing campaign tonight. He will have to fight the smartest bout of his career to be successful. He must find that delicate balance of scoring points while not getting hit flush. Broner likely will wait until the third or fourth rounds to begin to press the action. Malignaggi will have to stick with his game plan of being first and then gone. “At the end of the day, I’m knocking him out,” Broner said.
Malignaggi, 32, was battered against Cotto, Hatton and Khan. But says he’s smarter and more determined that he was in those fights.
“The intelligence I’ve gained learning to train the right way and maximize what I do have now makes me the best fighter I’ve been in my career, even if I don’t have as much natural ability as I did,” he said. “I know I get 100 percent of what I’ve got now.”
Prediction
Malignaggi has edge in experience to make this a difficult fight for Broner, who wins by decision.