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Malignaggi selling wolf tickets again saying he wants Cotto.
Magic Man Sets Sights On Cotto Rematch
The following is from the Sports Ticker:
Magic Man sets sights on Cotto rematch
June 13, 2007
By Mark Staniforth PA SportsTicker Boxing Writer
There was to be no Hollywood-style ending to the script of 'Magic Man', the documentary film which followed perpetual underdog Paulie Malignaggi's rise from the mean streets of Brooklyn to world-title contention.
Instead of wrapping the WBO light-welterweight belt around his waist before the credits rolled, Malignaggi emerged from his lifetime dream of headlining Madison Square Garden with a broken cheekbone, a cut eye and a bleeding nose.
Yet in the manner of his unanimous points defeat to accomplished opponent Miguel Cotto last June, the brash 26-year-old Malignaggi ensured he attracted a whole new generation of believers.
On Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, Malignaggi gets his chance to write the perfect sequel, when he challenges tough South African Lovemore N'Dou for his IBF 140-pound crown.
"Your first loss is always a big test for any fighter, especially when you run off 21 straight wins before you get beat," Malignaggi said. "It definitely tested me mentally. But now I have had time to think about it, it just made me hungrier.
"I have something to strive for now. I can strive to fight Cotto again one day. It gives me a new goal to strive to win and look really impressive before anyone can even think I deserve a rematch."
The omens are good for Malignaggi. The week before his fight began with his film being awarded the 'Audience Award' at the Hoboken International Film Festival, further proof of Malignaggi's increasing popularity.
His is the stereotypical story of the struggling Italian-American kid who sought and found salvation through his sport. For Malignaggi's tale see also Willie Pep, Jake LaMotta, Rocky Graziano and countless others.
Born in New York, Malignaggi soon moved to Sicily where he lived until the age of six. Upon his return to America, he could not speak a word of English. His parents split up and he was expelled from high school.
His grandfather got Malignaggi a job in a local factory paying $10 a day. When his prospects failed to improve, he took him down to the nearby boxing gym where Malignaggi's odyssey finally began.
"Paulie's not had the easiest rap in life," his promoter Lou DiBella said.
"He was getting into trouble, not going to school. He said to me, 'Lou, I'm living on my grandmother's couch and I need to start my life'."
A national champion and two-time New York Golden Gloves winner, Malignaggi's early professional career was ravaged by hand injuries. But what he lacked in power - only five of his 23 fights have ended early - he made up for in speed.
With a penchant for earrings, broad headbands and a scattergun street-talking charm, it did not take long for Malignaggi to get noticed.
Just to emphasize the point, he would occasionally resort to periods of outrageous showboating.
"I'm always trying to entertain," Malignaggi said. "Sometimes you get that showboating side of me and sometimes you get the part of me that wants to have fun in there.
"The fights get pretty repetitive at times with guys if I'm winning every round. People think I go in there to clown but I don't do that. But if something comes into my mind I'm going to do it, because that's the way I am."
In August 2003, Malignaggi fought Kevin Watts in New Haven, where a good portion of the crowd was made up of Boston Red Sox fans. He clambered into the ring waving a flag of their fierce rival, the New York Yankees.
"I knew I was going to be hated," he grinned.
Malignaggi's antics split opinions. But against Cotto he dispelled any lingering notions that he was simply an headline-grabbing glamour boy. He had not been given a prayer of victory against the fearsome, unbeaten Puerto Rican.
Cut in the first round and floored in the second, Malignaggi, who could not match Cotto's power, looked likely to be brutally exposed. But he hung on until the final bell, giving Cotto plenty to think about in the process.
He richly deserves his second shot at a world title against veteran South African N'Dou, who won the vacant title over Naoufel Ben Rabah in February after it had been stripped from Ricky Hatton.
Australia-based N'Dou has sought to beat Malignaggi at his own trash-talking game during the pre-fight buildup, but that has cut no ice with a New Yorker who is convinced his time has finally come.
"I don't know what the fuss is about this guy," Malignaggi said. "Every time he's stepped up he's been beaten. I have experienced a world-title fight and I know what it takes."
That Hollywood ending could be yet to come. ...
Roberto Duran and Pernell Whitaker were among the legends inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame during a glittering ceremony in Canastota this week.
The pair, both four-division world champions, were joined by Mexican strawweight Ricardo Lopez, who held his title for over a decade and made 21 successful defenses.
"It is unbelievable, a wonderful feeling, an honor, a dream come true," Whitaker said. "I knew it would come. I just didn't think it would come this soon. It puts a period at the end of 29 great years." ...
Thai prison authorities have kept their word and rewarded prisoner Siriporn Taweeksuk with her freedom after she won the WBC lightflyweight title in a fight behind bars last month.
Siriporn defeated Japan's Ayako Miyano to earn an early release from a 10-year sentence for drug offenses. She is expected to return to the prison to pass on her experience to other aspiring pugilists. ...
Former world heavyweight-title challenger Francois Botha will come out of retirement to fight for the lightly-regarded WBF title in Hammanskraal next month, according to reports.
The 39-year-old South African, nicknamed the 'White Buffalo', has not fought since a draw with Clifford Etienne in 2002, although he has kept busy on the Muay-Thai boxing circuit.
Botha beat Axel Schulz in an IBF title fight in Germany in 1995 but was later stripped after testing positive for steroids. He lost further title challenges to Lennox Lewis, Michael Moorer and Vladimir.
http://www.mmanews.com/boxing/Magic-...o-Rematch.html
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