10.16.04 – Mike Michael, advisor to Cestus Management’s junior welterweight sensation Mighty Mike Arnaoutis, had plenty to say when questioned about Arnaoutis’ ShoBox date with Jesse Feliciano, set to air live on Friday, October 22 on Showtime. “This Feliciano, where did they find him? This kid is fit, he’s strong, he comes to fight, but he has no business standing across the ring from Mighty Mike… It’s simply a matter of class. My kid is a pedigree fighter, a different class of fighter, a fighter from the old school. He’s got the skills, the discipline, the charisma, he’s got the whole package. Next Friday, the boxing fans are going to see what happens when you throw a future champion in the ring with a future journeyman.”
Having completed 135 rounds of hard sparring, Mighty Mike is primed and ready for his second showcase on the Showtime network. Says the young pugilist, “I trained very hard for this fight, just as hard as I trained to fight Urango in August. I hope Feliciano trained hard too, because otherwise this is going to be a short fight. If he trained like I expected him to train, I’m ready to fight just as hard in the twelfth round as I will in the first.”
Arnaoutis-Feliciano will be the main event of the ShoBox: The New Generation broadcast from the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, California on Friday, October 22. Though careful not to take Feliciano lightly, Mighty Mike’s handlers are already considering prospective match-ups with the 140 pound division’s other young fighters. One young man in particular has captured the attention of team Cestus, though not as much for his performances in the ring as his manner outside the squared circle.
“Paul Malignaggi is a fraud,” says advisor Mike Michael. “He goes to press on the internet saying that he wants to fight world rated fighters and how he’s stepping up all the time, and then he goes hunting for journeymen, Europeans and guys that my kid has already exposed. My boy fought Juan Urango in his twelfth fight. 13-0, ten knockouts, the ‘iron man’ Juan Urango, and everybody saw what happened. Malignaggi fought Paul Delgado in his twelfth fight, 5-1-1, two knockouts, and he barely even beat him. We are already moving light years ahead of where Malignaggi is right now, and he’s got six more fights than we do. And he claims to be climbing the ladder? Maybe that haircut is affecting his brain.”
Upon being questioned about Malignaggi, Mighty Mike simply smiles and shakes his head. “I would fight him tomorrow. No kidding, put the contract in front of me and I will fight him anytime he wants to fight. But I don’t think he would fight me. I’m not the kind of fighter he’s looking to fight.”
When asked why he feels he’s not what Malignaggi’s advisors have in mind, a smile again comes to the face of the undefeated phenom. “Why he won’t fight me? It’s simple. I’ve got two good hands, and I hit back.”