Paulie Malignaggi wants everyone to know that when he gets to Houston this week, he is going to get mugged. No, not literally robbed at gun point or anything like that, but when he faces the hometown Juan Diaz this Saturday night at the Toyota Center, he believes that his chances of winning this fight have been systematically taken from him.
So he's been letting everybody know in advance that they should be prepared to call 911 after watching the HBO broadcast this weekend. From the very genesis of Diaz-Malignaggi, he's been put behind the proverbial 8-ball, in his view.
"I want to put it out there, the way I've been treated in the negotiations- and I'm still going to fight because I'm a man of my word and frankly I'm tired of training and not fighting- and I don't want to fight till I'm 35. I figure if I'm going to get big fights, I'm going to try to get all the big fights I can before a certain age because I don't want to fight that much longer," he explained to Maxboxing this past Sunday afternoon." So I took the fight regardless of these situations, OK, I'm going to go back a couple of months. I'm going to take you through the whole process.
"A couple of months back I was getting ready to face Mike Alvarado, I went to the Mayweather-Marquez press conference in New York at the Empire State Building. There, I see Richard Schaefer and he's hanging out with Kery Davis and Ross Greenburg, they approach me. Richard says,' Paulie, there's nothing we can do to talk you into facing Juan Diaz on HBO instead of this Alvarado fight?' I said,' Honestly, Richard, guys, I love fighting on HBO, it's the pinnacle of the sport, everyone wants to get to HBO but I think at this point I think I would fight Juan Diaz, just not in Houston. I think the Alvarado fight is better for me. It's in Atlantic City, even though it's for less money, it's better for my career at this point. Maybe later on we can make something happen. I'd love to fight on HBO. I'd just like to do it under better circumstances.'
"And Richard Schaefer goes,'OK, maybe we can get you some neutral officials if it would make you comfortable.' I said,' Richard, I totally appreciate it.' Bang, bang, bing, bing, the rest of the conversation was very friendly. It ended there."
Weeks before that fight, Alvarado pulled out of the fight. Leaving Malignaggi without a dance partner.
" So we get in contact with Golden Boy's people, we said,' OK, we're interested in the Diaz fight, what do you got?' So we gotta fight in Houston, we already knew that. We have to accept that. They have to weigh-in at 138.5-pounds. We weren't too thrilled about that, but y'know what? We'll accept that, also. We want more money, though, because it's in Houston and we gotta take a lighter weight. Nope. It was take it or leave it. 'If you don't take it, we'll offer the fight to David Diaz or Rolando Reyes.' So I'm like, 'Aw, shit. If I don't take this fight, I'm not going to fight a big fight till 2010.' So I'm like,' F**k it, let me go for it. At least I'll get my neutral officials, right?'"
In addition to the other provisions, an 18-foot ring will be used on Saturday night, which favors the pressure style of Diaz and they had no say on just how much padding will be underneath the canvas. The thicker the padding, the more it would seem to work against Malignaggi who likes to move around the ring.
" I'm like,' Shit, these guys are really trying to tie my hands behind my back, here. They're trying to decide the fight before it happens.' But I'm thinking I'm going to get my neutral officials," he continued." But when it comes down to that, they say,' Oh, no, we gotta have a Texas referee and one Texas judge.' So I said,' Wow, I'm not going to even get my neutral officials.' Richard Schaefer supposedly said he went to the Texas commission and they said no to him. But really, honestly, how hard did they really try to get to the Texas commission and try to get neutral officials? Because not having neutral officials benefits him and his fighter.
And it's here when Malignaggi starts naming potential suspects.
" So the referee's going to be Laurence Cole- he's got a checkered past. OK. The Texas judge is Gale Van Hoy, who I think is horrible," he said, perhaps burning Lone Star State bridges, if not mincing words." He had the Rocky Juarez-Chris John fight a draw, along with all the other hometown decisions he loves to give. That's one of their main hometown judges. No, ifs, ands or buts about it, the Texas commission is not changing it. So I said,' OK, at least we get two neutral officials- well, one of the neutral officials is Raul Caiz Sr. Now, nothing against Raul Caiz but he's a Mexican, Juan Diaz is a Mexican. I'd rather not have a guy who's Mexican from California on the judging panel when I'm already dealing with a Texas judge. And I'm not just saying that just for that. It has nothing to do with race here.
"He judged Zahir Raheem versus Erik Morales, Zahir Raheem won 118-110 on two scorecards, Caiz Sr. had the third scorecard, y'know what his score was? 115-113. So it wasn't just that he was giving every round he possibly give the Mexican in Morales that fight. It's a pure boxer in Raheem against Morales and he's obviously going for the aggressive guy. Whether it was because he's Mexican or whether it was because he was aggressive. He's not a guy I'd rather have on the panel when they already have Gale Van Hoy as one of the judges."
It's obvious that in this match-up, he is Raheem. Malignaggi and his representatives tried to object these appointments.
" But you know what we were told?' F**k you, you're going to have to take this one, too.' So I said,' Now, I have a choice. My lawyer is advising me to pull out," explained Malignaggi. But at age 29 and not much leverage, his options are limited right now." I said,' Y'know what? I'm going to fight this anyway and I'm going to let EVERYBODY know what the f**k is going on.'"
What really concerns his promoter, Lou DiBella is the catch-weight, which is in-between the lightweight and jr. welterweight limit. Malignaggi has fought his career as a 140-pounder, for the most part.
"That was all Willie Savannah basically insisting on 138.5. We don't understand why they needed that advantage. We already know that there was going to be an 18-foot ring, that's the ring they have in that venue that Juan Diaz fights in. It's obviously a punchers ring, not a boxers ring. But that stuff was all known. they stuck on the 138.5 pounds, they wouldn't give on the ring."
DiBella believes that making 138.5 could be detrimental to his boxers health." Look, this kids going to be dehydrated, period, when unquestionably he walks out of the weigh-in. To make 138.5, he hasn't done that in a long, long time and he's been put under tremendous pressure to do it and it's not like he's coming down to a more normal weight. He's coming down to an unnatural weight. He's doing that to make him easier fodder for Juan Diaz. There's no question about that."
But of course, it is Savannah's job to give his fighter every advantage he can. And the reason why there are doing all this? Well, it's simple, it's because they can. Diaz is the draw, Golden Boy is the promoter and it's their date on HBO.
"Exactly!!!," agreed DiBella, excitedly." They are doing it for the same reason that dogs lick their balls." (Uh, well, that's not exactly the same reason but it's simply too good of a quote to not use.)
So with all this going against him, just how in the hell is he going to possibly win this fight?
Malignaggi says," After the Ricky Hatton fight, everybody had a lot of opinions about me, I told people,' Y'know what? Before I got with Buddy McGirt, I was a much better fighter, much different fighter,' and little by little the transformation started happening with Buddy and I'm not blaming Buddy directly because I should've seen it myself but I really wanted to learn Buddy's system,I really did. I'm a student of the game, I wanted to learn. But after the Hatton fight it really hit home, I said,' I've just been getting worse and worse every fight with this guy.' My whole career it never happened to me, y'know what I'm sayin'?
"Even in the amateurs, I had five, six trainers between the amateurs and pros, never had I had a trainer that tried so hard to change me from what I was. And then it didn't work on top of that. So I said,' I've got so much left to give.' So I went with a new trainer, Omar Sharif, he's not a big-name trainer, a New York guy, I've known him for years.I know he works well with speed."
Malignaggi knows what many people are thinking to themselves as they read his quotes.
"A lot of people are like,' Oh, Paulie's making excuses.' But in the seven months I've been training with Sharif, I know what I got, I know I got an ace up my sleeve. I know what I'm capable of, again. I was right and the more I train every day, the more I realize that I was the one who's right and I'm not making excuses and everybody else is wrong. So this fight gives me the opportunity to show people on a national stage exactly what I've been talking about. That I'm the real deal, still. I may get f***cked doing it, but I may stop Diaz. I'm not predicting a knockout obviously because everybody will say,' Oh, now he's predicting a knockout.'
" Believe me when I tell you, the hands are going to be moving, the speed is going to be there and the angles are going to be there. Yeah, they gave me a short ring so we'll exchange a little more, maybe it'll make for a more action fight. But y'know what? I may need a knockout to win the fight."
DiBella gave him this bit of advice:" I said to him,' Fight your ass off and make sure that at the worst for you, it's a controversy.'"
BOREMAN
I got a phone call on Tuesday afternoon from one Bob Arum who said he was 'disappointed' in me. Now, for a quick second I was wondering if he had seen some of my past report cards from Montebello High School, which is located just a few blocks from where I was having lunch at Rafael's, with a friend. Geez, who knew he really cared? Well, it turns out that he was dismayed that I had told one of his matchmakers, Brad 'Goodbar' Goodman, the night before that adding the bout between Daniel Santos and Yuri Foreman to the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto undercard would be a bad idea.
Bottom line is this, Arum told me himself a few weeks ago that he would deliver a 'spectacular' undercard for November 14Th. And to Top Rank's credit, I like some of the other fights being discussed that involve Edwin Valero and bouts like Humberto Soto-Anthony Peterson and Jesus Soto-Karass-Alfonso Gomez. But Santos-Foreman, certainly is anything but 'spectacular'.
I admitted to him that, yes, I objected to that fight being put on what will be the biggest night of boxing in 2009. That was my opinion and I had made it known many times before to him what I thought of Foreman's style. This was no secret. I was actually puzzled why he would be interrupting my lunch( Which consisted of a cool, refreshing shrimp cocktail and a healthy chicken salad. Who says you can't eat lean at a Mexican restaurant?) He then went on a spiel about how this went much further than boxing, that it was about getting media coverage in area's and jurisdictions that don't cover the sport regularly and expanding boxing's, ever-shrinking fan-base. To him, the storyline of a future rabbi fighting for a world title was a can't-miss.
Well, I fully admit, he's the expert. He went to Harvard, I barely graduated from dear ol' Montebello High in 1990. But I do know this, from an action and entertainment standpoint, Foreman's fights are absolutely must-miss. In short, he moves around the ring faster than Usain Bolt and in his last bout against Cornelius Bundrage which took place in a rather empty arena in Atlantic City, boos could be heard in the audience within the first 45 seconds of that dreadful affair, which was mercifully halted with an accidental clash of heads in round three. I get the sense that if he boxed in a synagogue in Jerusalem, the audience over there would get awfully restless.
Some may enjoy his style of boxing. I know the majority don't.
(All I know is that in the purse bid for this WBA jr. middleweight title, Top Rank was the only promotional company to bid on this fight. Meaning, Carl Moretti was awfully lonely on Monday afternoon in Panama and probably wishing he bought two envelopes sealed with their bids.)
But Arum wasn't hearing it. Foreman, would fight better against a truly world-class performer, he opined. ( Which I happen to disagree with, boxers don't suddenly become more fun to watch as they face superior opposition). But I told him that it was absolutely his prerogative to put on any card he wanted and that it was my right to have a dissenting opinion. Last I checked, that was my job, actually. Also I told him that it was my belief that boxing fans don't care about religious beliefs or orientations, when it's all said and done, they want guys who rumble and make good fights.
He vehemently disagreed and again, hit on the point that this was, again, about getting coverage with outlets that otherwise never cover boxing. This, right here, was good for boxing in so many ways. As if having the New York Times write one more story on the sport a year than they usually do is somehow going to revitalize this white, Jewish market that Arum wants to hit. Sorry, Bob, but those folks left the sport at about the time Barney Ross and Benny Leonard hung'em up and they aren't coming back anytime soon.
Because you know what will revive boxing? Well, one facet will be deep undercards filled with good fights. Not fights made because of any ethnic or religious agendas. I wonder, if a young Muslim fighter was planning to one day be an Imam and he had an un-entertaining style, would Arum push him on this card? Nothing against Foreman, personally, but I'd rather see some young, fresh- and more importantly, fun- talent like Miguel Garcia or Brandon Rios in this position. Again, that's just the way I feel.
But Arum insisted this is something much deeper than the hard-core follower of the sport, it wasn't about- and this was his word- 'the schmucks' who read Maxboxing on a daily basis. Which I thought was a very curious term to use, given that, oh, I don't know, that the average, everyday reader of this fine website is his clientele.
Listen, there's no doubt that Arum has a soft spot for Foreman given that he is himself, Jewish. I understand that completely. But I propose this, since Arum in my opinion, is among the greatest promoters ever( no sarcasm, here, I'm dead serious) and the last real renegade promoter the business has left and when he's gone, his loss will be felt for years. But if he really believes in Foreman and his ability to bring in the masses, instead of sticking him on this undercard, rent out the Madison Square Garden in New York, which is not only where Foreman hails from, but also the biggest media market in the country and do what he does better than anybody else- promote.
Put Dimitry Salita, Zab Judah and bring back Dana Rosenblatt and call it 'Hebrew Fury'. But to punish your loyal Filipino and Puerto Rican schmucks, uh, I mean, fans( sorry, Arumien slip) by shoving this on the Pacquiao-Cotto card? In the words of Chad 'Ocho Cinco'- child, please! Yes, boxing, for better or worse, still relies on racial and ethnic loyalties but it isn't necessarily an unconditional love. Pacquiao and Cotto are popular with their people because in addition to winning, they are consistently engaged in compelling bouts that are both memorable and legendary. Santos, ironically, isn't all the popular with Puerto Ricans because of his often-negative style. I vividly recall a bout versus Fulgencio Zuniga on the island where he was roundly booed, himself.
I told Arum I would give him a chance to give his side of the argument in a future story- to which he replied angrily, "F**k that, I don't have to defend anything," and he said he didn't care about my opinion, which then had me wondering why in the hell he called me in the first place.
It's Arum's show and regardless of anything I say, this show will be a bonanza, both from a pay-per-view perspective and at the live box-office. But if he believes that Santos-Foreman is somehow great for boxing and will bring back the Jewish demographic, well, he might find out that this fight will have even more folks wailing in front of the Wailing Wall.
And if I'm wrong( and I could be), then I'm more than willing to eat a healthy dose of Kosher crow.
But yes, there is a spectacular pay-per-view undercard coming up. It takes place on September 19Th before Floyd Mayweather faces Juan Manuel Marquez.
MIDWEEK FLURRIES
Manager Frank Espinoza told me that Israel Vazquez will be making his return on October 10Th the Nokia Theater at L.A. Live....DiBella says that Allan Green will face Victor Oganov on October 2ND on ShoBox, which will also feature his new signees Antwon Smith and Marcus Johnson....I thought Antonio Pitalua had thrown the best right-hand of the month, then comes Raiders coach, Tom Cable....It's official, Brett Favre is the Larry Holmes of the NFL.....Headline I saw on Pacland:" MILF rejects Pacquiao to be peace talks negotiator' OK, but what about the cougars? How do they feel?
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