Paulie Malignaggi reacts to bare knuckle boxing defeat
Former world champion Paulie Malignaggi dabbled in bare knuckle boxing for the first time on Saturday night.
He came up short in the end.
Fighting Artem Lobov he dropped a unanimous decision points loss after a bloody affair where he likely broke his hand in the bout too.
The contest itself was pretty messy where Malignaggi’s hand appear to go early on.
It looked like the break occurred when he landed a right hand in round 2.
From there Artem proceeded to cut Malignaggi in round 3.
Although the New Yorker was jabbing and moving — Artem’s pressure started to pay off.
He closed down the distance on his former world champion opponent.
His aggression and more effective blows scored swayed it in the eyes of the judges 48-47.
Speaking after the fight the former boxing world champ said:
Paulie Malignaggi reacts to defeat
“I’m not sure what the judges were looking at. But I felt like he walked into a lot of my jabs and check-left hooks. Maybe it’s beneath me but I thought I would give it a shot. Give him a shot. Maybe I was wrong. I am 38-years-old so I am not interested in campaigning or competing in Bare-Knuckle against this loss. I kind of liked the adrenaline rush and it was different but I am done.”
Overall the event was what it was.
It’s hard to see many professional boxers being attracted to compete in this format moving forward realistically.
Particularly given the current boom that pro boxing is going through and the opportunities available there.
The fight this weekend was being billed as a potential precursor to a Conor McGregor vs Paulie Malignaggi fight if the latter won.
That didn’t happen so that now puts to bed the whole McGregor vs Malignaggi saga. At long ast.
You’d have to think.
Photo Credit: Phil Lambert
