Plenty To Talk About After Broner-Malignaggi Scrap

Judging by the number of comments ESB readers have been posting with regards to last night’s 12-round SD win Adrien Broner scored over Paulie Malignaggi, the fans have plenty to say and discuss about the fight and the whole event. Firstly, Broner, the new WBA welterweight champ, has further alienated many fans with his crass behaviour, both in and out of the ring – hitting on the break, disrespectful showboating and, worst of all, kicking during the action – and “The Problem” shows no signs of ever earning the respect of many of these fans.

Last night’s split decision, which came as quite a shock, especially to those “experts” who “knew” Broner would KO Malignaggi, has also caused some talk. Broner deserved the win, but what would have happened if referee Benjy Esteves had taken a point or two away from Broner for his many infringements? Can Malignaggi, who said he felt the fight was close and could have gone either way, be justified in complaining over how the split decision handed in by the three judges didn’t wind up being a draw or even a win for him? (had a point been taken away from Broner for his classless kicking stunt, Malignaggi would have got a draw on two cards, thus retaining his belt and scoring a major upset to the Broner applecart.)

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Broner wins the fight, but Malignaggi wins the event

We learned some things tonight in watching Adrien Broner (27-0, 22 KO’s) battle hard to barely beat WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-5, 7 KO’s) by a 12 round split decision in a fight televised by Showtime. We learned that Broner isn’t cut out for the welterweight division. Malignaggi clearly showed that by almost beating Broner.

We saw that unless Broner moves back down to the lightweight division, he could end up as little more than just a contender in the future. We learned that Broner’s power isn’t as lethal at welterweight compared to when he was fighting at lightweight.

Malignaggi exposed Broner’s flat-footed fighting style and was able to easily outmaneuver him in the ring for much of the fight. It often took Broner too long to get his shots off because he often waited too long before he’d let his hands go.

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Broner decisions Malignaggi; Bika tops Periban; Mitchell defeats Banks

broner45499 Adrien Broner (27-0, 22 KO’s) defeated WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-5, 7 KO’s) by a 12 round split decision at the on Saturday night to win his WBA title at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, USA. The judges had it 115-113, 117-111 for Broner, and 115-113 for Malignaggi.

You can make an argument that the fight should have been scored a draw, as Broner did little in the first 5 rounds of the fight other than covering up in the turtle shell defense.

Broner failed to set himself apart from Malignaggi in terms of talent in this fight because he just didn’t work hard enough.

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Caleb Truax Stops “Da Bomb” in the Sixth Round

There’s been a bit of a drought in Minnesota when it comes to victories on the big stage. For a while there, it seemed like it would never happen. ESPN2 analyst and famous trainer Teddy Atlas reminded fans right away of that fact. He has a habit of pointing out what he thinks might be padded records. In Caleb “Golden” Truax’s case, Teddy explained that most of Caleb’s victories took place in his own backyard. It wasn’t hard to figure out what he was implying. He further explained that Caleb blew his big chance against Jermain Taylor on 4-20-12 in Biloxi, Mississippi. Except for a ninth round knockdown of Taylor, Caleb was pretty much shutout. Caleb 22-1-1 (13KOs) was determined to not let that bad memory repeat itself.

Caleb managed to get Don “Da Bomb” George 24-3-2 (21KOs) in trouble right away in the first round. Caleb quickly figured out George was not a counter puncher, and didn’t use his legs much for anything other than moving straight ahead. Consequently, Caleb started teeing off. He was using a hard jab to set things up and then pounded in with good three punch combinations. George’s idea of a guard was easily exploited by Caleb. The 29 yr old kid from Osseo, MN didn’t have to rely on his college degree to realise he could slam shots right into George’s guard without retaliation.

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ESPN2 Friday Night Fights Recap from Minneapolis

In what was a shorter than expected main event IBF Title Eliminator from the Minneapolis Convention Center which was broadcasted by Espn2 and Espn Deportes. Rances Barthelemy scored a 2nd round knockout with shots the body that put Fahsai Sakkreerin on the floor for the full 10 count. Fortunately Sakkreerin was able to get up after a being tended to by the ringside doctor.

Rances controlled the 1st round with lead left hooks and counter right uppercuts on the inside. Fahsai landed his left early in the round but Barthelemy’s ability to roll his punches enabled him to land anything clean.

In the second round Barthelemy stuck his long jab in Fahsai’s face than followed it up with solid shots to the body and head. The fighters exchange body shots a few times in a row but it was Rances bigger, more accurate shots that ended the night. The win moves Barthelemy’s record to a perfect 19-0(12Ko) and puts him in prime position in the IBF rankings.

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Broner vs. Malignaggi: Does Adrien believe in Magic?

I can’t recall another fight in recent years that had so much 2 way trash talk leading up to the event. If the fight lives up to even 50% of the hype that got very personal at times, we could see both men fighting with some extra emotion in the ring this Saturday from Brooklyn, New York at the Barclays Center. This fight isn’t a PPV but you would never guess from the buzz that it has created even with Adrien Broner being a huge favorite at the sportsbooks.

Will Paulie be able push Broner the way Ponce De Leon and Fernando Quintero did? Or will the pre fight presser’s be the only thing we remember about this fight that could be downright boring?

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Weigh-in: Broner vs. Malignaggi

Adrien Broner (26-0, 22 KO’s) and WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KO’s) both successfully weighed in on Friday for their fight on Showtime Boxing at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Broner weighed in at 146.8 lbs, and Malignaggi weighed in at 146.4.

Not much happened in the stare down, as both fighters jawed back and forth with another. Malignaggi wanted Broner to stare him in the eyes because he kept pointing to his eyes to get Broner to continue staring at him after he turned his head.

Broner looked good at the weight, and he claimed afterwards that he didn’t have to drain himself to make the 147 lb. limit. He said he ate as he always does and he still made the weight. Broner is probably being honest about it because when he was fighting at lightweight, he would rehydrate to close to 147 for his fights, so it makes sense that for him to easily make the 147 lb. limit.

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Ricky Burns to defend against Raymundo Beltran on September 7th in Glasgow, Scotland

burns6 WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (36-2, 11 KO’s) got his difficult title defense against Jose Gonzalez out of the way in beating him by a 9th round TKO last May, and now Burns will be making what should be a lot easier title defense against #8 WBO 8 Raymundo Beltran (28-6, 17 KO’s) on September 7th in Glasgow, Scotland.

If Burns beats Beltran, he will likely face the winner of the Gavin Rees vs. Anthony Crolla fight next. That’ll give Burns two relatively easy fights back to back before he has to take on someone dangerous like Sergio Thompson, Omar Figueroa or Terrence Crawford. That’s where Burns will really be tested.

Beltran is a good fighter, but he’s already lost at the top rungs of the division recently in defeats against Luis Ramos Jr. and Sharif Bogere. Beltran did defeat Hank Lundy and Ji-Hoon Kim recently, but those guys aren’t in the same class as Burns and it’s not the same thing.

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Cleverly vs. Kovalev on August 17th in Wales

Big punching unbeaten light heavyweight contender Sergey Kovalev (21-0-1, 19 KO’s) will be facing WBO 175 lb. champion Nathan Cleverly (26-0, 12 KO’s) on August 17th in a fight that will be televised by HBO as part of a possible triple-header with IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale defending his title against challenger Darren Barker in a different location, and IBF super bantamweight champion Jonathan Romero facing an opponent still to be determined.

The Cleverly-Kovalev fight will be staged at the Motorpoint Arena, in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.

This will be one of the rare fights for Cleverly where he’s fighting someone that actually is a really good fighter and who has a chance to beat him. You can’t say that about a lot of the guys that Cleverly has been fighting since he picked up the WBO 175 lb. title in 2011. There’s been a lot of weak opposition that Cleverly has been facing and it’s nice to see him fight a live body for a change.

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Gennady Golovkin – Matthew Macklin Full Interview Transcript

352 Operator: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Middleweight Championship Boxing After Dark Triple Header Conference call. Today we have WBA and IBO defending middleweight champion, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin with a record of 26 and 0, 23 knockouts and his challenger, top rated middleweight contender and former World Title challenger, Matthew “Mac the Knife” Macklin with 29 and 4 and 20 knockouts.

We also have Tom Loeffler, president of K2 Promotions, Golovkin’s promoter and GGG’s head trainer, Abel Sanchez. For team Macklin, we have promoter Lou DiBella of DiBella Entertainment, co-promoter, Brian Peters of Brian Peters Promotions and head trainer, Buddy McGirt. The HBO Boxing After Dark triple header begins at 9:45 pm Eastern Time and Pacific Time on Saturday, June 29 and takes place at the MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods.

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