Broner edges Malignaggi, trash talk continues!
Photo: Tom Casino/Showtime
On Saturday night at the Barklays Center in Brooklyn NY, hometown fighter Paulie Malignaggi lost his WBA welterweight strap by close split decision to Adrien ” the Problem” Broner who was making a 2 division leap up from lightweight.
Malignaggi, a 11-1 underdog started quick, ripping flurries to the head and body and outworking Broner in the first two rounds.
Broner, 23 seemed to have trouble with Malignaggi’s movement early on but was soon able to walked Paulie down and when he did find his mark, he did damage. The Cincinnati fighter rocked Paulie on numerous occasions but the fight remained close due to the “Magic Man’s” high output.
After twelve rounds of action one judge would see it 115-113 for Malignaggi. A second judge would see it 115-113 for Broner and the third had it wider at 117-111 for the winner, Adrien Broner.
The trash talk that preceded the melee continued through out the fight as both fighters taunted each other with every punch and it didn’t stop there. The verbal jabs even spilled out into the post fight interviews.
“I beat Paulie, I left with his belt and his girl” said Broner in reference to a former girlfriend of Malignaggi who joined the Broner team throughout the pre-fight festivities.
“Don’t brag about taking my side piece” shouted a clearly irritated Malignaggi as the two were separated.
The fight was close. There was no arguing that. Malignaggi’s output versus Broner’s accuracy and power punching. Not to mention Broner’s ability to press the action in the later rounds.
“He [Broner] was sharp in spots but he just wasn’t busy” said Malignaggi “he worked about 30 seconds of every round. It was a close fight because when he did work it was good but I thought I outworked him by a lot”
“Paulie fought exactly how I thought he was going to fight. A soon as he felt my power, he got on his bicycle and I literally had to cut him off the whole fight” said Broner “23 years old, 27-0 with 22 knockouts. Who’s doin’ it like me in the game? Nobody!”
Things quickly escalated when Paulie began to point fingers and make some heated accusations.
“Tom Schreck is a New York judge that was in Al Haymon’s [Broner’s Advisor] pocket. 117-111 is a joke” Paulie said “Boxing is always full of shit, theres always politics to this thing and the fans can never go home happy”
“I’m not saying it was fixed but it’s always the politically connected fighter that gets these close decisions and this was no different. It always happens” continued an angered Malignaggi
So what’s next? Broner says he’s letting the fans choose who’s up next.
“Since everyone thinks i’m picking my opponents. I’m going to let y’all [the fans] choose and whoever has the highest percentage, I’ll fight”