Paul Malignaggi

Paul Malignaggi
Paul Malignaggi (right) in Staredown with Amir Khan (2010)
Data
Birth Name	Paul Malignaggi
Fight name	Magic Man
Weight class	Welterweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	November 23, 1980
place of birth	New York City
style	Left delivery
size	1.74 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	44
Victories	36
Knockout victories	7th
Defeats	8th

Paul "Paulie" Malignaggi (* 23. November 1980 in New York City ) is an American professional boxer of Italian descent, former IBF world champion in the welterweight and former WBA world champion in the welterweight division .

Amateur career

The son of Sicilian immigrants began boxing at the age of 16. He won the New York Golden Gloves in 1998 and 2001 , and the bronze medal in the National Police Athletic League (PAL) in 2000 . At the US Junior Championships in 1999 and the National Golden Gloves 2000, he reached the quarterfinals.

In 2001 Malignaggi won the lightweight gold medal at the US Championships in Colorado Springs .

Professional career

On July 7, 2001 he played his first professional boxing match and won by knockout in the first round. He remained undefeated in his next 20 fights; he defeated, among others, Kevin Watts (18-2), Roman Martínez (40-9) and Ramiro Cano (18-1). On December 4, 2004 he won prematurely against Sandro Casamonica (34-4) and was thus international champion of the WBC in the light welterweight division. After winning points against Jeremy Yelton (16-1), he also won the American-Continental Championship of the WBC on February 10, 2006, by winning points against Donald Camarena (16-1).

On June 10, 2006, he received a WBO light welterweight title fight at Madison Square Garden in New York City . In the fight against the undefeated title holder Miguel Cotto (26-0, 22 K. o.) Malignaggi had to go down in the second round for the first time in his professional career, suffered a severe cut injury to his left eye and a broken cheekbone . After the full twelve rounds, Cotto was declared the unanimous point winner and thus defended his world championship belt for the sixth time in a row.

In February 2007 he defeated Edner Cherry (21-4), later World Cup challenger to Timothy Bradley . On June 16, 2007 he was allowed to box in Uncasville for the IBF world light welterweight title and won it unanimously on points against Lovemore N'dou (45-8). N'dou pulled out almost all the stops in the fight against the technically superior Malignaggi. For example, he changed the display , was admonished in the third, fifth, sixth and eleventh round for irregular blows to the kidneys and the back of the head and punished with a deduction, and he went down in round 9.

In January 2008 Malignaggi defended his world title against the Cameroon-born Canadian Herman Ngoudjo (16-1) unanimously on points. In May 2008 he played a rematch against Lovemore N'dou, which he could only just win after twelve rounds by majority decision ( split decision ). Then Malignaggi put down the world title to compete on November 22, 2008 against Ricky Hatton (44-1) for the IBO world championship. However, he was boxed out by the more experienced Briton and was hopelessly behind on points, which is why Malignaggi's coach Buddy McGirt threw in the towel in the eleventh round.

On August 22, 2009 he lost the fight for the North American Championship of the WBO controversial on points against Juan Díaz (34-2), but won the rematch on December 12, 2009 unanimously. On May 15, 2010 he boxed against Amir Khan (22-1) for the WBA light welterweight championship, but had no chance and was badly damaged by the referee in the eleventh round.

Only after more than seven months did Malignaggi return to the ring, beating Michael Lozada (36-6) early in the sixth round. In April 2011 he met José Cotto (32-2), the brother of his former opponent Miguel Cotto, and won by unanimous decision. He also won a unanimous point win against the Mexican Orlando Lora (28-1) in October 2011.

On April 29, 2012 he fought against the undefeated title holder Vyacheslav Sentschenko (32-0, 21 knockout) for the WBA welterweight championship. The 1: 4 outsider Malignaggi completely dominated the fight and defeated the Ukrainian in his hometown Donetsk prematurely in the ninth round. In October of the same year he made his first title defense against the Mexican Pablo César Cano (25-1) and won by majority decision.

In April 2013 he was supposed to defend his title against Marcos Maidana (33-3), but the fight did not materialize. In June 2013 he lost his world title by a narrow point defeat to Adrien Broner (26-0). In December 2013 he prevailed unanimously on points against Zab Judah (42-8) and became the NABF title holder .

On April 19, 2014 he boxed in Washington for the IBF welterweight championship against Shawn Porter (23-0), but lost to tKo in the fourth round. In August 2015 he lost to Danny García (30-0). In December 2015 he defeated Antonio Moscatiello (20-2). In July 2016 there was a win against Gabriel Bracero (24-2).

On March 4, 2017, he lost in London by knockout against Sam Eggington (19-3).

predecessor	Office	successor
Lovemore N'dou	Light welterweight boxing champion ( IBF ) June 16, 2007 - September 19, 2008	Juan Urango

predecessor	Office	successor
Vyacheslav Sentschenko	Welterweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) April 29, 2012 - June 22, 2013	Adrien Broner

Web links

• BoxRec