Porter Stops Malignaggi; Quillin Beats Konecny

By Showtime Boxing - 04/20/2014 - Comments

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Shawn “Showtime” Porter (24-0-1, 14 KOs) overwhelmed Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi (33-6, 7 KOs) to remain undefeated and retain his IBF Welterweight World Championship with an impressive fourth-round TKO over the veteran fighter. Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (31-0, 22 KOs) retained his WBO Middleweight World Championship with a unanimous decision win over Lukas Konecny (50-5, 23 KOs) in a fight controlled by “Kid Chocolate.”

Porter rushed Malignaggi right from the opening bell and opened up a cut on Malignaggi’s cheek in the first round. In the second round, Malignaggi was clearly hurt by a leaping left hook from the champion.

Early in the fourth, Porter threw a powerful right hand to the temple, dropping Malignaggi for the fourth time in his career. While Malignaggi gamely continued, he was clearly hurt. Porter closed the show with a barrage of punches that sent Malignaggi down again and forced referee Sam Williams to wave waved off the fight without a count at 1:14 of round four.

In the aftermath, Gray asked Porter what it was that Malignaggi had told him just moments after the bout. “Paulie, wished me the best and I don’t know what he is looking at for himself [in the future] but he said, ‘Make sure they know that I lost to a great champion. Go out there and be great.’ I am going to honor his words and his wishes.”

Speaking about the win, Porter said, “I definitely needed this victory. To get it like that from a guy like this. He touched me in every way possible being in the ring with him. I knew what he was coming with. But I always had questions of my own. I came in and answered those questions tonight.”

When asked what he wants next, Porter said, “I’m going to enjoy this and let my team handle what is next. I’m sure they will all communicate. We’ll come up with the next game plan and we’ll tackle it.”

Gray then asked Malignaggi what it was that he told Porter. “I just said, ‘Don’t make me have lost to an average fighter. Go be great so that I can say that a really great fighter beat me.’ I know that he has that potential.

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Regarding retirement, “If I do retire, and I don’t want to make that decision right now while I am emotional, but I don’t want to do it off of an average champion. I want to do it off of a great champion.

Breaking down the fight, Malignaggi said, “He was controlling the distance. I couldn’t get going. He was going away and then bringing the attack. He mixed it up well. He came right at me at times and then, at other times, he moved away.”

When asked about retiring and focusing the rest of his career solely on his commentating work for SHOWTIME, Malignaggi said, “I can’t really think about that right now. If I give you an answer right now I would tell you that I am stopping fighting but maybe I’d change my mind next week. I want to go home and think about it.”

Quillin, who implemented his game plan from the first round, was the stronger, quicker and more effective fighter. While Konecny never appeared to be in jeopardy of going down, he wasn’t able to adjust to Quillin’s style and won 2 just rounds combined on the three judges’ scorecards. The scores were 120-108 and 119-109, twice.

After the fight, Quillin said, “I’m thankful that I was able to get up in here with a tough customer in front of me and get up and fight.”

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SHOWTIME EXTREME® Results:

Sadam Ali (18-0, 11 KOs) defeated Michael Clark (44-9-1, 18 KOs) via a first-round knockout (2:06) in a scheduled 10-round welterweight bout.

Marcus Browne (9-0, 7 KOs) defeated Otis Griffin (24-15-2, 10 KOs) in an 8-round light heavyweight bout via unanimous decision. All three judges scored the fight 80-71.

Zachary Ochoa (6-0, 3 KOs) defeated Hector Marengo (6-7-4, 4 KOs) via TKO due to the request of Marengo’s corner to end the scheduled 6-round junior welterweight bout.

Tonight’s SHOWTIME EXTREME telecast will replay on Wednesday, April 23 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME EXTREME.