Boxing News Boxing News
After having lost a controversial clash with Juan Diaz this past August, light welter Paulie Malignaggi got revenge this evening by posting a unanimous decision in the rematch his evening at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago.
Malignaggi, 27-3 (5), managed to largely control the pace of the bout by avoiding the trench warfare favored by Diaz, 35-3 (17), although there were dramatic moments where all caution was thrown to the wind.
The New Yorker took the early rounds by outboxing Diaz but the Texan began to close distance by the fourth and was in command until the seventh when Malignaggi began to reassert his will.
The more deliberate pace was to Malignaggi’s advantage but an unlikely knockdown of Diaz in the tenth probably cemented the result in favor of Malignaggi, who won the eleventh before getting outworked in the 12th.
Malignaggi won all three cards by a margin of 116-111 and gets the most important victory of his career to date despite their being no world title on offer.
Diaz has now lost three of his last five bouts after starting his career with a 33-0 run.
In the chief support bout, Victor Ortiz, 25-2-1 (20), came off a loss to Marcos Rene Maidana to stop welterweight veteran Antonio Diaz, 46-6-1 (29), in the seventh.
Middleweight hopeful Erislandy Lara, 9-0 (5), outpointed Luciano Perez, 17-10-1 (15), over ten frames while light middle prospect Ronald Hearns, 23-1 (18), stopped Shadrack Kipruto, 18-14-2 (10).
