Paul Malignaggi confirms re-retirement
It sounded like he was over it all on Saturday night after the judges said the other guy won.
And Paul Malignaggi confirmed it on Monday night, two days after Artem Lobov scored a fifth round unanimous decision win over the Showtime analyst in a bare knuckle scrap, in Tampa, Florida, on pay-per-view.
“I’m done,” the 38-year-old ex-hitter told Randy Gordon and Gerry Cooney on their SiriusXM show, “At the Fights.” “I always try and look for the next adventurous thing but I’m going to have to look for the next adventurous thing that’s outside of fighting…I was always tough enough to be a fighter but my hands never cooperated with me the way I wanted them to,” he said, referring to a brittle right hand. “I’ve think I’ve strained every ounce of energy my hands can give me. I don’t think my hands can go on anymore.”
The tally: 36-8 (with 7 knockouts) in the ring, and 0-1 in BKFC. That “1,” might continue to sting a bit, as most assumed his boxing pedigree would be enough to get past Lobov, 13-15-1-1 in mixed martial arts and now 2-0 in bare knuckle competition.
“Conor McGregor’s sparring partner” is how anti-fans of Paulie’s put it on social media and, no, the decision wasn’t unanimous outside of that arena. I thought Paulie’s ring generalship won him three of five rounds but straight-up aggression is rewarded more by bare knuckle judges, so that is what it is. Paulie has been no stranger to savaging judges when they slapped a loss on him. Now his ire will be more tempered and limited, he says, to his on-air calls for Showtime and Sky Sports.
Malignaggi thought his effort was too cerebral and went over the judges’s heads. He was moving, he told Randy and Gerry, and not while running. “They were too stupid to even understand what they were watching,” Malignaggi said. “Another level of stupid,” is how he described the cards turned in by the arbiters.
"These judges were another level of stupid." — @PaulMalignaggi on the #BKFC6 judges not understanding his gameplan and properly scoring his fight with Artem Lobov on Saturday night@MMAonSiriusXM @CommishRandyG @gerrycooney pic.twitter.com/sb5wGozFyC
— SiriusXM Boxing (@SiriusXMBoxing) June 25, 2019
My three cents: I put the chances of Paulie never fighting again at not 100%. This is a HYPER-competitive being. A year, 16 months passes. You KNOW he’s going to get the urge again and, yeah, he didn’t look horrid. Malignaggi is NOT shot. His right hand may be close to it but bones heal. Pride and ego sometimes take longer. Will he go out on two losses? Time will tell.
Paulie has been a guest on the Everlast “TALKBOX” podcast. Listen here. You can follow Michael Woods on Twitter @Woodsy1069.
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