By Dan Ambrose: WBA World welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KO’s) says he’s no longer going to have twitter discussion with his boxing fans due Malignaggi feeling disrespected by the fans for his recent decision to fight 41-year-old Shane Mosley rather than a relevant contender.
Malignaggi said on his twitter yesterday “I want to let everyone know #TK is retired!!! I will not retweet or talk to the fans anymore. I was disrespected way too much over the Mosley. My twitter will just be used for me to update things about my fights. Thanks everyone. Kind of sad seeing the fans upset, but the #tk had a good run. Good things always come to an end.”
This is kind of funny. What did Malignaggi expect the fans to say when he selected Mosley, a guy that hasn’t won a fight in over four years? Did Malignaggi expect boxing fans to pat him on the back and give him props for making that move? Malignaggi must have a tin ear for what boxing fans are interested in seeing because choosing Mosley to fight gave some fans the impression that he’s just looking to make money off of easy fights.
At the same time it also strengthened the perception some boxing fans that Malignaggi is little more than a paper champion that needs to be carefully matched in order to keep winning. Malignaggi should have recognized this ahead of time and put himself in the shoes of the fans.
Malignaggi didn’t help himself any by making his first defense against fringe contender Pablo Cesar Cano last October instead of taking on a highly ranked contender. Cano had already been exposed by a past his prime Erik Morales in 2011, and the fact that Malignaggi was fighting him just looked like he was looking for easy fights.
Then to go from fighting Cano to fighting Mosley, that clinched it in the minds of some fans. Instead of ending his twitter days, Malignaggi should try and understand his fans. They don’t want to see him fighting fringe contenders or guys that haven’t won a fight in four years like Mosley. They were hoping Malignaggi would fight quality guys after he beat WBA welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko last year in April.
The Malignaggi-Mosley fight is now supposedly finished after the two were unable to reach an agreement during the negotiations. Malignaggi is now saying he’ll be fighting Marcos Maidana. Hopefully this fight happens but I’m not counting on anything until the contracts have been signed. I can still see Golden Boy Promotions working a deal for a Mosley-Malignaggi fight.
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