By Carlos Young de San Felipe
We all hoped that Paulie Malignaggi would have some special magic, as he is called the “Magic Man” but he had very little magic if any at all and so his hopes of competing with Amir Khan became futile in only three rounds. The man that has been on the junior welterweight division pound 4 pound list for almost three years merely stood in front of Amir as would a kid in the play ground attempting save face with the school yard bully.
The boxing style we knew Paulie for was absent, no moving from side to side, hardly any angles, slight head movement from time to time, nothing; absolutely nothing skillful from Paulie. The one thing that was more apparent and present then ever before was Paulie’s lack of punching power and when “King” Khan realized that Malignaggi’s right hand had less on it than his jab he knew and his corner knew that picking Paulie to fight as their entry match into the American market was genius. Never was Paulie a threat and he took his contracted beating like a man. Round after round Amir punched Paulie in the face and forced him down and away from him with his elbows when clinched or close in order to make room to get a few more punches in before the bell rang. It appeared as if Khan was indeed trying to retire Paulie, as he predicted.
Everyone knew after the ninth round that it was only going to get worse for Paulie when the referee began to make it known to Paulie’s corner that he’s going to need to see something from Malignaggi. It never came and the fight was stopped, as it should have been in the eleventh round, one round too late actually.
It was a good night for Amir Khan he really looked good. Big, fast, strong and well coached it seemed. I say it seemed because Paulie had nothing, No-Thing! So, I began to wonder after the fourth round if I was witnessing the next dominant 140 pounder. I thought about it hard and fast and concluded that Amir Khan is pretty good, one of the best in the division but not the best. The best in the division are Tim Bradley,
Devon Alexander, Marcos Maidana or Lamont Harris. Although Amir is rated above Alexander, Harris and Maidana as pound 4 pound selections, who “King” Khan is as a fighter and man would be tested in ways that Paulie couldn’t deliver upon because every one of the fighters listed as possible challengers to Khans title can hit and hurt Khan.
I thank Paulie for all of the memories but what Khan did to Paulie had to be done and some one had to do it. It’s done to all fighters that stay too long, they get Shut-out and Shut-up, perhaps for good.
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