Erik Morales vs. Danny Garcia: Paulie Malignaggi’s big fight preview

By ESB - 10/20/2012 - Comments

By Joseph Herron: On September 25th, reigning WBA Welterweight Champion Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi visited “The Pugilist KOrner” radio show and offered his analysis of the big rematch between Mexican legend Erik Morales (52-8, 36 KOs) and current WBC/WBA Junior Welterweight Champion Danny “Swift” Garcia (24-0, 15 KOs).

The highly anticipated title fight is slated to headline the big Golden Boy fight card on Showtime premium cable network tonight at 8PM EST/PST.

While many boxing pundits have questioned the second pairing between the two fighters, “The Magic Man” feels it has the potential to be a very entertaining scrap.

“I thought the first fight between the two was an entertaining fight,” explains Paulie Malignaggi. “Styles make fights. I like the match-up between the two styles and think it really has the potential to be a very exciting fight.”

While Paulie understands why Garcia will be favored in tonight’s contest, the 11 year ring veteran recognizes some areas in Danny’s fight game that could make the title fight very interesting at times.

“In his knock-out performance over Amir Khan, Danny Garcia showed some flaws and vulnerabilities in that fight. Before he stopped Khan in the third round, he was behind. Danny is a guy who likes to be in the pocket and he likes to fight, but he can box a little bit. So a guy like that is always entertaining.”

“Morales loves to fight and is always entertaining as well. Whatever the case is, you always like to favor the younger guy in a style match-up like this. But Morales never comes to lie down. He always comes to fight. So there may be some people who are criticizing the fight, but at the end of the day, the first one wasn’t bad and I really don’t think the second one is going to be bad.”

“Especially when you consider the fact that Morales wanted this rematch so bad. He hounded Golden Boy for it and he kept pounding them about it until he got what he wanted. I really think it has the potential to be a very good fight. It’s going to be a lot better than a lot of people think.”

It’s because of both combatants’ willingness to fight that Malignaggi believes this to be a potentially exciting contest.

“Styles make fights. Danny is a solid boxer but he’s not the slickest guy, and that’s probably what would control Morales most of all would be a guy who is a very slick boxer like Zahir Raheem. Danny can box but he likes to get in there and bang with his opponents. He likes to throw his power shots, which is what Morales loves.”

Although Danny will be the clear favorite in tonight’s main event, Paulie states that it’s entirely up to Erik Morales to make the reigning champion fight an “El Terrible” fight.

“Danny can box at mid-range and will stay there and bang with Erik if he allows it. Danny doesn’t have the fastest feet and doesn’t have the fastest hands in boxing, so Erik Morales can force issue and make Danny Garcia fight a fight that he isn’t comfortable fighting. If Morales has the will and intelligence to cut the distance and force a fight on the inside, the fight could get very interesting in favor of Morales.”

“The fight has a lot of potential to be very interesting if Morales forces the action and tries to impose his will on Garcia. I’m really curious to see if he can do it, because Danny is one of the most disciplined fighters you’ll see in boxing and he knows how to stick to a game plan very well.”

“So there are a lot of sub-plots and fight strategies that make this fight very intriguing and potentially very entertaining.”

The main event will take place tonight on Showtime’s quadruple header which begins at 8PM EST/PST.