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Malignaggi Dominates In Rematch
Over Diaz
By Nat Gottlieb Courtesy of HBO.com
Paulie Malignaggi, the mouth that roared in protest over a
controversial loss to Juan Diaz, this time let his fists do
his talking and what they said in the rematch was, I got it
right again and this time the judges did, too.
Using his superior hand and foot speed and working behind an
active jab, Malignaggi (24-3) kept the fight in the center
of the ring and never let Diaz (35-3) -- normally a
high-volume, all-action inside puncher -- get his game
going. The only time Diaz seemed to get into the fight was
when Malignaggi elected to stand flat-footed and exchange
blows, which he said afterwards he did for the judges. “Juan
was not doing anything in the early rounds so I didn’t give
ground because the judges don’t like boxers who give
ground,” said Malignaggi, who won a unanimous decision,
116-111 on all three cards.
Diaz, who has been a pressure fighter throughout most of his
career, never got inside, landing just 35 body blows over 12
rounds. Partly that was the result of Malignaggi out-jabbing
Diaz 480-308, but a lot of the blame seemed to lie on a lack
of aggression and activity on the Houston’s fighter’s part.
From the opening round to the closing one, Diaz just seemed
befuddled by Malignaggi’s slippery movement in the ring and
his speedy hands, and never got into any kind of rhythm.
The fight was a vindication for Malignaggi of his August
fight with Diaz in the Texan’s hometown of Houston in which
he lost a controversial unanimous decision which many felt
could have gone the other way. “I gotta say I told you so,”
said the hyperkinetic Malignaggi to HBO’s Max Kellerman
after his victory. “To my critics who said I was done, I’m
back!”
Malignaggi was credited with a highly-questionable knockdown
in the 10th round, when replays showed he landed an illegal
punch to the back of the head which pushed Diaz off balance
and caused his glove to touch the ground. But the 10-8 round
didn’t matter because Malignaggi would have won anyway. The
victory thrust the 29-year-old Malignaggi back into the top
rung of the loaded junior welterweight division. His star
had fallen last year when he suffered a dominating 11th
round TKO loss to Ricky Hatton. In the aftermath Malignaggi
blamed the defeat on the coaching of his trainer Buddy
McGirt, who prefers his boxers to stand in the pocket.
Malignaggi said that took away his best asset, his speed,
and with a new trainer who emphasizes speed in Sherif Younan,
the “Magic Man” seems to have gotten back his mojo. In the
flush of victory, Malignaggi called out Juan Manuel Marquez
and indicated he would love to have a rematch with Hatton.
Diaz has now lost 3 of his last 5 fights and the college
graduate may soon decide to follow his plans to go to law
school.
In the co-feature, Victor Ortiz (25-3-1), who was heavily
criticized in his last fight for seemingly quitting in his
6th round TKO loss to Marcos Rene Maidana, got back on the
winning track with a TKO of 33-year-old Antonio Diaz
(45-6-1). Diaz, who was never in the fight, suffered a very
bad cut over his left eye in the sixth round and his corner
threw in the towel after the round. It was a fight in which
the 22-year-old Ortiz was never tested, so while victorious,
he did nothing to erase the label that he is a quitter. That
is something Ortiz will have to accomplish down the road
when he faces adversity again as he did against Maidana,
when he was knocked down twice.
Earlier in the day in Switzerland, heavyweight champion
Vitali Klitschko (39-2) had an easy time winning a unanimous
decision over Kevin Johnson (22-1-1), who seemed more
interested in taunting and slipping punches than throwing
any. It was another pitiful performance by an American
contender.
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