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Paulie Malginaggi to return against Eggington March 4 in London

Fighters Network
25
Jan

Paulie Malignaggi, the colorful commentator who has discussed retirement in recent years only to fight on, isn’t ready to be a full-time boxing analyst yet.

Malignaggi, a former two-division champion, will face Sam Eggington on March 4 in a welterweight bout at 02 Arena in London on the undercard of David Haye’s heavyweight clash with Tony Bellew, it was announced on Wednesday. The brash Malignaggi (36-7, 7 knockouts) has alluded to finding a different vocation a number of times only to reverse course. He spoke as if he was done following a brutal loss to Shawn Porter in 2014 in which he was stopped in the fourth round and suffered a concussion. But Malignaggi, a self-professed gym rat, did a 180 and came back more than a year later against the equally dangerous Danny Garcia. He was stopped in the ninth round.

The skilled boxer spoke again about possibly doing something else following that loss but returned against a softer touch in Hungary’s Laszlo Fazekas in Italy in September of 2015, winning on points. Malignaggi, who is now 36 and regarded as a bright and earnest commentator for Showtime, captured a decision against Antonio Moscatiello two months later in London on a card that also saw Anthony Joshua and Bellew in action, and he thoroughly out-boxed Gabriel Bracero last July, a win that likely convinced him he has plenty left. “I am excited as ever to once again return to the UK and fight in front of the most passionate fans in the world,” Malignaggi said in a prepared statement. “I know Eggington is young and hungry but my experience and craftiness will be too much for him to overcome.”

Eggington (19-3, 11 KOs) hasn’t fought nearly the same standard of opposition of Malignaggi but he is 23 and has been more active, fighting three times last year, including an eighth-round stoppage against Frankie Gavin last October to win the vacant WBC international Welterweight title.



“This is the big name and big card that I’ve wanted for some time,” Eggington said in a press release. “I’ve asked for these sorts of fights for a while, I got Frankie and now I’ve got Paulie. He’s going to be the biggest name on my record; you just have to look at what he’s won and who he has boxed to see that. But I have asked to fight him for a while now and I am confident that I can beat him, and beating him is a big scalp on my record, and it puts me in that world bracket, which is where I want to be.”

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