NEW YORK, NY– Sometimes, having too much heart can be a bad thing. Last night, we saw a fight end how it inevitably must, but, because a fighter refused to follow the game plan and give it up, took about an extra five levels of severe damage. It was like you could see Paulie Malignaggi‘s (27-4, 5 KOs) life being beaten out of him by the fifth round, and yet something within him refused to take the safe way out. At least now, like Jake LaMotta before him, he can say Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KOs) wasn’t able to knock him out.
KHAN DIDN’T LOSE A ROUND
It’s hard, probably impossible, to argue that the fight wasn’t one-sided. Khan had Malignaggi’s number from the start, and, taking everything Malignaggi had to offer, quickly lost respect for his punching power and went in for the kill. Except for a knockdown in round 5 that looked to be more the result of faulty legwork than an actual punch, he wasn’t able to do it. In between the tenth and eleventh round, the referee considered stopping the fight; Malignaggi wanted to go on. He wasn’t allowed to finish the eleventh, and why should he risk the brain damage when the best he could do is a unanimous decision loss at that point.
I’M STILL RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING
I can already see you all in the comments section salivating at the prospect of telling me that my prediction was wrong. Well, not really. There was no knockout– the referee stopped the fight against Malignaggi’s will because an extra three minutes of punishment was senseless, not because Malignaggi wanted it to be stopped. Khan appeared to be a bit frustrated in the middle rounds at the fact that, despite Malignaggi looking out for the count, he wouldn’t go down and stay down. But here’s what I got wrong: Amir Khan has punching power– a lot of punching power. Like all power punchers, his chin is a bit suspect, but when in the ring against someone like Malignaggi, where his power isn’t being checked by his weak defense, the only thing going against him is the psychological factor of shooting everything you have against a fighter that obviously can’t take it, but not being given the satisfaction of a knockout.
WHAT YOU DON’T SEE ON TV
Show this fight to someone who isn’t a regular boxing viewer, and they will probably recoil at the violence and tell you the sport is inherently inhuman. I can hear my grandma in my head, telling me that a perfectly good boy like Malignaggi could have done more with his life (what more one can do with their lives than become a beloved world champion, I don’t know, but my grandma– and probably yours, too– will tell you this). What they don’t see because, presumably, their only boxing experiences are televised, is a sea of thousands of Ed Hardy shirts, interrupted only by spotaneous displays of Pakistani nationalism, which carry all the more significance given the events of the past few weeks. Not to mention that fight night is the only occassion where the dress code includes both oversized t-shirts and sequined dresses– and oversized dresses an sequined t-shirts.
BOXING’S POWER OF PEACE
What other sport can boast that it can turn Madison Square Garden into a Pakistani pride parade less than a month after the Times Square terror attempt and have it be peaceful (well, relatively), apolitical, and fun? “Peaceful” sporting events, like soccer or baseball, often degenerate into riots and terrifying displays of hatred. In any other sport, perhaps, an event uniting such disparate cultural groups would have ended is disaster; in boxing, only about 5 of the thousands of people in the stadium had to be forcefully removed in an otherwise joyful evening.
KHAN-BERTO IS A MOUTH-WATERING PROSPECT
Khan’s future is easy to divine, as he is a world champion and, until someone challenges his chin, he’s going to be sitting pretty on the title. And even if he loses it by making a hare-brained decision like fighting Floyd Mayweather (41-0, 25 KOs) or something, he’s only 23 and has more than enough time to make up for any early mistakes. Malignaggi was Khan’s biggest challenge yet, but it only tested the ability to land his punches, keep the pressure, and resist the psychological pitfalls of coming to America to fight a beloved hometown fight who will not be knocked down no matter what. Now he has to prove himself against a similar fighter, a puncher with a questionable chin, and all the best fights are seven pounds north of his current location. If he’s willing to make welterweight, on the top of my wish list would be Andre Berto (26-0, 20 KOs), a fight probably littered with knockouts where the fighter who can best handle his nerves will win.
NO PRIDE LOST IN PICKING BATTLES CAREFULLY
Malignaggi has a trickier decision to make. I heard a lot of journalists at the fight whispering about retirement. After the fight, Paulie didn’t seem as punchy as one would expect a fighter to sound after that level of punishment. Plus, he’s only 29. That said, this is one of several fights where Paulie’s chin and heart has caused him to take significantly more damage than other fights more willing to quit would have. One more fight like this and he’ll be over the hill quickly, so the best thing to do, if he is to stay (as I believe he is inclined to), is to pick his battles more wisely. Don’t let your pride get in the way of skipping out on an inconvenient matchup– Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs) never do, and guess what, Freddie Roach wasn’t about to let his coddled British fighter take a beating from a real power puncher, either. Pick on one of the other less powerful champions, and just try to grab a title, any of them.
DON’T ACT LIKE YOU WOULDN’T WATCH A MALIGNAGGI TV SHOW
Of course, if I were managing Paulie, I would be cultivating his persona much more than his fighting career. I’ve been saying this for quite a while now, but Malignaggi has some serious marketing potential that no one seems to be tapping. He’s not just a boxer– he’s a talker, a character, a public personality. The man should have his own TV show. Similarly challenged, colorful athletes like Johnny Weir have made successful business models out of TV shows and fashion design (two things in which Malignaggi could excel– just imagine a show whose premise is Malignaggi giving random celebrities hair makeovers and boxing lessons). Weir in particular has done wonders for the popularity of male figure skating, which, as far as exciting sports go, is really bottom of the barrel. Of course, good fashion sense and great talent is where the similarities between Weir and Malignaggi end, but it’s a business model that someone at Team Paulie should really consider. It would guarantee that he retain the fanbase that motivates him to fight, make him millions, and put boxing into the spotlight again. And it doesn’t have to be a trashy reality show!
BEGINNING OF THE END FOR MONEY MAYWEATHER AND CONGRESSMAN PACQUIAO?
And like a fedora-clad Bert Sugar, cigar in hand, drifting off into the night, this fight night is over, giving us the birth of a new star and yet another reasserting of an already beloved fighter’s heart. It’s always exciting to see someone like Khan who, when he peaks as a fighter, could potentially end the chokehold Money Mayweather and Congressman Pacquiao have on this field of weight classes. Of course, the Roach factor makes at least half of these prospects pipe dreams, and Khan’s got about five years to go before he makes it up there, but someone new to talk about, having proven himself in America, is always welcome.
[Photos by Frances, Rafael Martel]