Paulie Malignaggi ANSWERS THE FANS QUESTIONS
Posted: 12 Mar 2008, 16:44
He obviously has a lot of respect for Hatton and how he does his business!
A few of the UK fans questions are there.
Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi Q&A
By the fans of DoghouseBoxing.com
Edited by Vikram Birring
1. Would you jump to welter for a rematch with Cotto (if Cotto agreed of course) and if so how would he fight the rematch differently than the 1st fight?
PM: Absolutely, I would JUMP at the chance to fight Cotto again. I would fight a tactically smarter fight. Instead of letting my heart make the decision I would use my brain more.
2. Though you showed great courage in your defeat to Cotto, how are we to believe that you will be able to overcome a glaring deficiency that was on display in that fight; your lack of power. How will you build the dangerous punch that is usually necessary to gain admission to the elite rank of boxers? Is it even possible for you to do so? Good luck and thank you for your attention.
PM: I don’t go into fights thinking I’m going to win by knockout or decision, I go in thinking of winning every second of every round. There was a glaring deficiency against Miguel Cotto of course, but the game plan is to NOT go in there and think I’m going to knock someone out.
3. Will you fight Witter in May and if not WHY NOT?
PM: No, at the moment I’m in negotiations for an N’dou rematch which will be on the undercard of Ricky Hatton’s comeback fight, personally I think its a waste of time but because it is in my contract I do not feel like going to court and being sued. I will probably have a fight with Ricky Hatton in the fall if both of us are successful in May. I think Witter is a tremendous fighter, but they pay more to fight Ricky Hatton these days
4. What do you think of the blatant ducking of Witter by Hatton for the last 7 years?
PM:I think it’s disgraceful, I think Witter would KO Ricky Hatton, but a lot of things in this business are disgraceful.
5. Who in your opinion has the guts to fight Witter apart from yourself?
PM :I think Witter is going to have to fight his mandatories for now because I don’t see anyone else in the division fighting him. Too much risk for too little money. I think Timothy Bradley is his next mandatory and I was in the amateurs with him. I think he is a good fighter but I do not think he beats Junior Witter.
6. Who do you think should be the Ring Champion at 140?
PM: It’s tough to enforce the Ring Magazine title because fighters can do whatever they want once they have it. Unlike real title belts there are no mandatories with the Ring Championship. But that’s not to say that some of the mandatories aren’t BS that ARE enforced by the sanctioning bodies. By the same token you can’t consider the Ring Magazine champion as the best in the weight class sometimes.
7. Paulie, what do you think about Junior Witter? Do you feel you have a style that can offset his strengths?
PM: I think Junior Witter would be a tough fight for ANYONE including ME, But at the same time I think with my experience that I have gained over my 25 pro fights I think that me and my team can come up with a game plan to beat him.
8. Congratulations on retaining your title. Now i know and whole heartedly believe you can and will take over the junior welterweight division, i think we all know who is in front of you at 140 but their were rumors awhile back about some other names one of the ones mentioned was a fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at 147 the other was a Juan Diaz fight for your title at 140 both of those fights I feel would do more for you and your legacy than fighting the other bums at 140 so if you had a shot either man who would you want and how would you win?
PM: I don’t think Chavez's people wherever really serious about the fight because when my people contacted his people they never made any serious moves to go ahead with the fight. Look at whom he fights? He doesn’t fight any world-class opposition they just wanted to use my name as means to make people talk about Julio Jr. Well I just finished seeing Juan Diaz getting his ass kicked and I would have no problem doing it again for him at 140 pounds if he comes up!!
9. Paulie, what do you truly think of Hatton as a fighter and opponent? Do you feel he is elite or built on the back of beating aged once good fighters? Do you think you have the style to beat him and what makes you think that you do?
PM: I don’t think he is all that good as a fighter, I just think he was allowed to get away with a lot of shit he shouldn’t of been able to get away with because he was in England his whole career. He holds and hits, That’s not inside fighting that’s ILLEGAL. The people have gotten so used to it that they complain when the referees don’t let him do it, so now he is allowed to basically do it all the time. I think Ricky Hatton is very beatable against anyone who has fast hands as you can see by his two fights with Collazo (who I think won) and Mayweather . They tried to blame it on the weight. But in reality those where the only opponents he fought with any kind of speed in their hands.
10. Who do you see as the most competition to ruling the 140 lb. division?
PM: JUNIOR WITTER!!
11. Do you feel it is blatant that Hatton is avoiding Witter and would you be willing to tackle him instead?
PM: I think its OBVIOUSLY very blatant that Hatton is avoiding Witter, I mean think about it he was bringing guys from out of the country like Vince Phillips, Dennis Pederson, and Ben Tackie when Junior Witter was just down the street waiting for a fight the whole time.
12. Are you interested in a unification bout against Torres?
PM: Yes that is a fight that interests me alone with the Hatton and the Witter fight.
13. How do you think a bout between you & Floyd Mayweather play out?
PM: I think it would be a very tactical fight; it could be either VERY boring or VERY exciting. I think Floyd is an AMAZING fighter and lets just leave it at that ...
14. How much money did ODLH offer you?
PM: There was never an offer thrown on the table, but the offer for all 3 opponents (Salita, ME, Forbes) was 400,000. Either way you look at it was not worth it to fight ODLH for 400,000 at 150 pounds in LA. I can make that money fighting somebody else.
15. After the Marquez/Vasquez fight & the respond they got, does it motivate you to become a more crowd-pleasing fighter?
PM: Sometimes I think about that, but I have been boxing for 10 and a half years and my style is pretty much set in me. Although I do believe that my style can be crowd pleasing at times if by crowd pleasing you mean going toe to toe.
16. Congrats on being' awarded with the Will 'O the Wisp Award.
How do you feel about being' honored with an award that was named after the great champion Willie Pep?
PM: It’s always an honor to be mentioned in the same breath as Willie Pep. I feel very fortunate that there are people out there that can compare me to him in someway.
17. Paulie,
I have a comment and a question for you:
Comment:
I’m not as well versed as some of the others on this forum in boxing, but because of you I have a renewed interest in and appreciate what you bring to the sport.
Question:
In a previous interview you indicated that you felt like you ‘Walked thru the fight” referring to your recent victory over Ngoudjo. Considering all of the criticism you received from those who thought your fight against Ngoudjo was a less than stellar showing, what are you doing differently, if anything, in terms of mentally and physically preparing for your next fight?
PM: I believe mentally I kind of slept on Herman which translated into physically fighting a very lazy fight, That’s not to say I didn’t have a great camp because I trained VERY hard for the fight physically. I believe it’s a lesson learned from me, at this level everyone’s fighting for what they dreamed of their whole life so you can’t take ANYBODY lightly. So this was def a lesson learned.
18. When you're at your best, like the Edner Cherry fight, you remind me of Macho Camacho. Do you see any resemblance in your styles?
PM: I believe I have some similarities to Hector, I also believe that I have my own unique style as well. Camacho in his prime is one of my favorite fighters.
19. In all honesty, where would you rank yourself in terms of speed compared to say, Judah, Mosley, Mayweather, and Holt?
PM: I believe I have the fastest hands in boxing, the faster the opponent the faster my hands are in the ring; I have never been in the ring where I felt I was at a speed disadvantage.
20. What's the most recent decision (not your fights, just boxing in general) that wasn't widely disputed, that you disagreed with?
PM: I think Joel Casamayor vs. Santa Cruz was one of the worst decisions I have ever seen in boxing. I thought Santa Cruz won 10 rounds.
21. Are you the sort of fighter who's a fan of the game, like maybe a young mike Tyson... or one that just looks at it as a job, like Jermain Taylor is fond of saying?
PM: I watch A LOT of boxing although being in this business has really turned me off and I believe I would love it a lot more had I not been a part of it. Cause being a part of the business has shown me a lot of the negativity that as FANS you guys DON’T get to see.
22. Who would you rather fight, Torres or Juan Diaz? I got you beating both, pretty much sure things to be honest.
PM: Well I just seen Juan Diaz get his ass kicked by Nate Campbell, So I guess Torres becomes the bigger fish.
23. If you only had 3 fights left to try to make the Hall of Fame, what three would you take?
PM: Hatton, Cotto, Mayweather!! But politics obviously wouldn’t allow me to get those kinds of fights.
24. Have you engaged in any workouts to help improve your punching power and if so what?
PM: I do a lot of calisthenics and polymetrics , I focus my training camps on conditioning and getting sharp .
25. Aside from the obvious (Cotto) who has had the toughest style for you to decipher? And what was it about Cotto's style that troubled you the most?
PM: Aside from Cotto I would have to say Ngoudjo, he gave me a good tussle. He was awkward in a lot of ways. The toughest parts about fighting Miguel Cotto is the fact that he has tremendous punching power, is very dirty, and has a lot of tenacity.
26. Who would you choose between Cotto and Mayweather?
PM: I think that’s a GREAT fight. I lean slightly towards Floyd Mayweather.
27. How do you see Cotto vs the winner of Margarito/Cintron playing out and whom do you see winning Margarito/Cintron?
PM: I favor Cotto in ALL of those fights, I believe Kermit can beat Margarito in the rematch, but as you seen in his last fight he still has problem with pressure fighters. And that was Jesse Feliciano he fought
28. How long you got left at 140?
PM: I would say about year and a half 2 maybe? But you never know in this sport.
29. Do you hang with the Gatti boys?
PM: LOLOL I live in Brooklyn they are all the way out in Long Island. Good one though haha.
30. I thought you were cool before the Cotto fight back when most people hated you. Now people are starting to like you, can you please go back to the villian role?
PM: The funny thing about the villain role was that it came natural to me I was having a lot of fun. But the past couple years I have grown very disgusted with this business, if I’m not having fun I cant just fake it. Being a clown and being a villain is part of me having fun. Funny thing is a lot of people have made that comment to me bout going back to that role. I will try and do that more in the future.
31. Are you tired of all these questions about Witter. Well here's one more. Do you think Hatton is scared of Witter, much the same way Witter was scared when he fought Judah?
PM: I think Hatton is SHIT scared of Witter, the thing about the Judah fight is that Witter took it on 9 days notice!! And had never fought more then 6 rounds in his career until that night. The fact that he was winning on 2 scorecards after 6 rounds is something he should be credited for more then knocked about. Judah at the time was considered a very hot World Champion. I believe Witter is getting the short end of the stick in this business cause the people he has been signed with have not had a lot of pull. And this is business its not about who the best fighter is its about WHO THEY KNOW!! .
32. Are you a boxing icon?
PM: Trick question??? How do you think I feel about my iconism
33. This is more of a comment. In your interview after your last fight, it kinda made it seem like you were looking to cash out because of your hands. I hope this is not true. If so your management should lie and make it look like your hands are great!
Good luck in your next fight... not like you need it. After all, you're the magic man!! Although personally, I think you should change your nickname to "icon"
PAUL MALIGNAGGI: I would like to thank Doghouseboxing.com for taking the interest in me enough to do something like this. Maybe we can do this again after my next fight. Hopefully everyone enjoyed this as much as I did!! . I believe the fans and the fighters are the PUREST thing about this sport. Everything else involved in it is bullsquirt.
The Magic Man
Paulie Malignaggi
A few of the UK fans questions are there.
Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi Q&A
By the fans of DoghouseBoxing.com
Edited by Vikram Birring
1. Would you jump to welter for a rematch with Cotto (if Cotto agreed of course) and if so how would he fight the rematch differently than the 1st fight?
PM: Absolutely, I would JUMP at the chance to fight Cotto again. I would fight a tactically smarter fight. Instead of letting my heart make the decision I would use my brain more.
2. Though you showed great courage in your defeat to Cotto, how are we to believe that you will be able to overcome a glaring deficiency that was on display in that fight; your lack of power. How will you build the dangerous punch that is usually necessary to gain admission to the elite rank of boxers? Is it even possible for you to do so? Good luck and thank you for your attention.
PM: I don’t go into fights thinking I’m going to win by knockout or decision, I go in thinking of winning every second of every round. There was a glaring deficiency against Miguel Cotto of course, but the game plan is to NOT go in there and think I’m going to knock someone out.
3. Will you fight Witter in May and if not WHY NOT?
PM: No, at the moment I’m in negotiations for an N’dou rematch which will be on the undercard of Ricky Hatton’s comeback fight, personally I think its a waste of time but because it is in my contract I do not feel like going to court and being sued. I will probably have a fight with Ricky Hatton in the fall if both of us are successful in May. I think Witter is a tremendous fighter, but they pay more to fight Ricky Hatton these days
4. What do you think of the blatant ducking of Witter by Hatton for the last 7 years?
PM:I think it’s disgraceful, I think Witter would KO Ricky Hatton, but a lot of things in this business are disgraceful.
5. Who in your opinion has the guts to fight Witter apart from yourself?
PM :I think Witter is going to have to fight his mandatories for now because I don’t see anyone else in the division fighting him. Too much risk for too little money. I think Timothy Bradley is his next mandatory and I was in the amateurs with him. I think he is a good fighter but I do not think he beats Junior Witter.
6. Who do you think should be the Ring Champion at 140?
PM: It’s tough to enforce the Ring Magazine title because fighters can do whatever they want once they have it. Unlike real title belts there are no mandatories with the Ring Championship. But that’s not to say that some of the mandatories aren’t BS that ARE enforced by the sanctioning bodies. By the same token you can’t consider the Ring Magazine champion as the best in the weight class sometimes.
7. Paulie, what do you think about Junior Witter? Do you feel you have a style that can offset his strengths?
PM: I think Junior Witter would be a tough fight for ANYONE including ME, But at the same time I think with my experience that I have gained over my 25 pro fights I think that me and my team can come up with a game plan to beat him.
8. Congratulations on retaining your title. Now i know and whole heartedly believe you can and will take over the junior welterweight division, i think we all know who is in front of you at 140 but their were rumors awhile back about some other names one of the ones mentioned was a fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at 147 the other was a Juan Diaz fight for your title at 140 both of those fights I feel would do more for you and your legacy than fighting the other bums at 140 so if you had a shot either man who would you want and how would you win?
PM: I don’t think Chavez's people wherever really serious about the fight because when my people contacted his people they never made any serious moves to go ahead with the fight. Look at whom he fights? He doesn’t fight any world-class opposition they just wanted to use my name as means to make people talk about Julio Jr. Well I just finished seeing Juan Diaz getting his ass kicked and I would have no problem doing it again for him at 140 pounds if he comes up!!
9. Paulie, what do you truly think of Hatton as a fighter and opponent? Do you feel he is elite or built on the back of beating aged once good fighters? Do you think you have the style to beat him and what makes you think that you do?
PM: I don’t think he is all that good as a fighter, I just think he was allowed to get away with a lot of shit he shouldn’t of been able to get away with because he was in England his whole career. He holds and hits, That’s not inside fighting that’s ILLEGAL. The people have gotten so used to it that they complain when the referees don’t let him do it, so now he is allowed to basically do it all the time. I think Ricky Hatton is very beatable against anyone who has fast hands as you can see by his two fights with Collazo (who I think won) and Mayweather . They tried to blame it on the weight. But in reality those where the only opponents he fought with any kind of speed in their hands.
10. Who do you see as the most competition to ruling the 140 lb. division?
PM: JUNIOR WITTER!!
11. Do you feel it is blatant that Hatton is avoiding Witter and would you be willing to tackle him instead?
PM: I think its OBVIOUSLY very blatant that Hatton is avoiding Witter, I mean think about it he was bringing guys from out of the country like Vince Phillips, Dennis Pederson, and Ben Tackie when Junior Witter was just down the street waiting for a fight the whole time.
12. Are you interested in a unification bout against Torres?
PM: Yes that is a fight that interests me alone with the Hatton and the Witter fight.
13. How do you think a bout between you & Floyd Mayweather play out?
PM: I think it would be a very tactical fight; it could be either VERY boring or VERY exciting. I think Floyd is an AMAZING fighter and lets just leave it at that ...
14. How much money did ODLH offer you?
PM: There was never an offer thrown on the table, but the offer for all 3 opponents (Salita, ME, Forbes) was 400,000. Either way you look at it was not worth it to fight ODLH for 400,000 at 150 pounds in LA. I can make that money fighting somebody else.
15. After the Marquez/Vasquez fight & the respond they got, does it motivate you to become a more crowd-pleasing fighter?
PM: Sometimes I think about that, but I have been boxing for 10 and a half years and my style is pretty much set in me. Although I do believe that my style can be crowd pleasing at times if by crowd pleasing you mean going toe to toe.
16. Congrats on being' awarded with the Will 'O the Wisp Award.
How do you feel about being' honored with an award that was named after the great champion Willie Pep?
PM: It’s always an honor to be mentioned in the same breath as Willie Pep. I feel very fortunate that there are people out there that can compare me to him in someway.
17. Paulie,
I have a comment and a question for you:
Comment:
I’m not as well versed as some of the others on this forum in boxing, but because of you I have a renewed interest in and appreciate what you bring to the sport.
Question:
In a previous interview you indicated that you felt like you ‘Walked thru the fight” referring to your recent victory over Ngoudjo. Considering all of the criticism you received from those who thought your fight against Ngoudjo was a less than stellar showing, what are you doing differently, if anything, in terms of mentally and physically preparing for your next fight?
PM: I believe mentally I kind of slept on Herman which translated into physically fighting a very lazy fight, That’s not to say I didn’t have a great camp because I trained VERY hard for the fight physically. I believe it’s a lesson learned from me, at this level everyone’s fighting for what they dreamed of their whole life so you can’t take ANYBODY lightly. So this was def a lesson learned.
18. When you're at your best, like the Edner Cherry fight, you remind me of Macho Camacho. Do you see any resemblance in your styles?
PM: I believe I have some similarities to Hector, I also believe that I have my own unique style as well. Camacho in his prime is one of my favorite fighters.
19. In all honesty, where would you rank yourself in terms of speed compared to say, Judah, Mosley, Mayweather, and Holt?
PM: I believe I have the fastest hands in boxing, the faster the opponent the faster my hands are in the ring; I have never been in the ring where I felt I was at a speed disadvantage.
20. What's the most recent decision (not your fights, just boxing in general) that wasn't widely disputed, that you disagreed with?
PM: I think Joel Casamayor vs. Santa Cruz was one of the worst decisions I have ever seen in boxing. I thought Santa Cruz won 10 rounds.
21. Are you the sort of fighter who's a fan of the game, like maybe a young mike Tyson... or one that just looks at it as a job, like Jermain Taylor is fond of saying?
PM: I watch A LOT of boxing although being in this business has really turned me off and I believe I would love it a lot more had I not been a part of it. Cause being a part of the business has shown me a lot of the negativity that as FANS you guys DON’T get to see.
22. Who would you rather fight, Torres or Juan Diaz? I got you beating both, pretty much sure things to be honest.
PM: Well I just seen Juan Diaz get his ass kicked by Nate Campbell, So I guess Torres becomes the bigger fish.
23. If you only had 3 fights left to try to make the Hall of Fame, what three would you take?
PM: Hatton, Cotto, Mayweather!! But politics obviously wouldn’t allow me to get those kinds of fights.
24. Have you engaged in any workouts to help improve your punching power and if so what?
PM: I do a lot of calisthenics and polymetrics , I focus my training camps on conditioning and getting sharp .
25. Aside from the obvious (Cotto) who has had the toughest style for you to decipher? And what was it about Cotto's style that troubled you the most?
PM: Aside from Cotto I would have to say Ngoudjo, he gave me a good tussle. He was awkward in a lot of ways. The toughest parts about fighting Miguel Cotto is the fact that he has tremendous punching power, is very dirty, and has a lot of tenacity.
26. Who would you choose between Cotto and Mayweather?
PM: I think that’s a GREAT fight. I lean slightly towards Floyd Mayweather.
27. How do you see Cotto vs the winner of Margarito/Cintron playing out and whom do you see winning Margarito/Cintron?
PM: I favor Cotto in ALL of those fights, I believe Kermit can beat Margarito in the rematch, but as you seen in his last fight he still has problem with pressure fighters. And that was Jesse Feliciano he fought
28. How long you got left at 140?
PM: I would say about year and a half 2 maybe? But you never know in this sport.
29. Do you hang with the Gatti boys?
PM: LOLOL I live in Brooklyn they are all the way out in Long Island. Good one though haha.
30. I thought you were cool before the Cotto fight back when most people hated you. Now people are starting to like you, can you please go back to the villian role?
PM: The funny thing about the villain role was that it came natural to me I was having a lot of fun. But the past couple years I have grown very disgusted with this business, if I’m not having fun I cant just fake it. Being a clown and being a villain is part of me having fun. Funny thing is a lot of people have made that comment to me bout going back to that role. I will try and do that more in the future.
31. Are you tired of all these questions about Witter. Well here's one more. Do you think Hatton is scared of Witter, much the same way Witter was scared when he fought Judah?
PM: I think Hatton is SHIT scared of Witter, the thing about the Judah fight is that Witter took it on 9 days notice!! And had never fought more then 6 rounds in his career until that night. The fact that he was winning on 2 scorecards after 6 rounds is something he should be credited for more then knocked about. Judah at the time was considered a very hot World Champion. I believe Witter is getting the short end of the stick in this business cause the people he has been signed with have not had a lot of pull. And this is business its not about who the best fighter is its about WHO THEY KNOW!! .
32. Are you a boxing icon?
PM: Trick question??? How do you think I feel about my iconism
33. This is more of a comment. In your interview after your last fight, it kinda made it seem like you were looking to cash out because of your hands. I hope this is not true. If so your management should lie and make it look like your hands are great!
Good luck in your next fight... not like you need it. After all, you're the magic man!! Although personally, I think you should change your nickname to "icon"
PAUL MALIGNAGGI: I would like to thank Doghouseboxing.com for taking the interest in me enough to do something like this. Maybe we can do this again after my next fight. Hopefully everyone enjoyed this as much as I did!! . I believe the fans and the fighters are the PUREST thing about this sport. Everything else involved in it is bullsquirt.
The Magic Man
Paulie Malignaggi
