It’s soft to look at Paulie Malignaggi and cast slanders. He is the antithesis of the old-school battler, containing all the style of today’s modern boxer, along with the positive bluster and tilted-head look of somebody who’s accomplished eminent things.
Somebody blanked out to tell “The Magic Man” that boxing is an old-school sport, which has ensued in the Brooklyn-based junior welterweight fretting some devotees the wrong way. But while he can be agitating, the great thing about Malignaggi is that he does not care. His goal is to be the finest 140-pounder in the world. Love him or hate him, The Magic Man doesn’t give a shit. Just so long as you don’t discount him.
Malignaggi (25-1, with five knockouts) is coming near the largest fight of his life on Saturday night, when he’s scheduled to challenge world junior welterweight champion Ricky Hatton in Las Vegas. Malignaggi is breaking off his fourth surgery on his right hand, a combat injury he sustained beating Lovemore Ndou in June on the Hatton-Juan Lazcano bill in Manchester, a rematch Malignaggi and anybody following would like to forget.
