(Photo credit: Lucas Noonan/Premier Boxing Champions) By Dan Ambrose: Former WBC 140lb champion Danny Garcia (30-0, 17 KOs) made weight on Friday for his welterweight clash against Showtime analyst and part-time boxer Paulie Malignaggi (33-6, 7 KOs) for their fight on Saturday night on Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Garcia weighed in at 146.6lbs. For his part, Malignaggi weight in slightly heavier at 146.8lbs. Malignaggi looked thinner than Garcia, but surprisingly he was heavier.
This is pretty much the end of the line for Malignaggi if he loses this fight. He’ll still likely get fights against top contenders if he gets beaten, but a defeat here will make it impossible for Malignaggi to get a crack at a world title because he’ll not be ranking in the top 15.
There really isn’t a place for Malignaggi anywhere at 140 or 147 right now. The fighters have gotten better, and Malignaggi has stayed the same. He hasn’t gotten worse. It’s just that there are fighters in both divisions that would have an easy time beating Malignaggi.
If Garcia can’t make easy work of Malignaggi on Saturday night then that’ll be a reflection on him, and a good sign that Garcia doesn’t belong at 147. Garcia’s adviser wanted a soft opponent for him to fight, and he’s got an easy one in Malignaggi. But if he can’t do a number on Malignaggi, then it’ll be a clear red flag that Garcia is going to struggle badly when/if his adviser Al Haymon puts him in with his first solid welterweight.
As it is, Garcia is very likely going to get beaten quickly when Haymon steps it up with him. At that point we’ll see Garcia quickly give up on his experiment at 147 and move back down to 140.
In the co-feature, WBA World middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs weighed in at 159.8lbs for his second title defense of his WBA title against 34-year-old former WBA 154lb champion Sergio “Latin Snake” Mora. For his part, Mora weighed in at 159.2lbs.
You would have to suspect that this is the last chance that Mora will get to fight for a world title. If he blows it here, it’s difficult to picture him getting another crack at a world title in the future. He hasn’t faced anyone good since he was beaten by Vernon Forrest seven years ago in losing his WBA junior middleweight title. If Mora holds to that pattern if he loses to Jacobs on Saturday, then he’ll likely age out without getting another title, because the sanctioning bodies aren’t going to push Mora up the rankings if he’s just going to fight weak opposition over and over again.
Jacobs is making a voluntary defense, his second since winning the WBA title last year, and he’s eventually going to need to face his mandatory challenger or else he’ll get stripped of his title. Jacobs hasn’t taken on a tough foe in five years since he was stopped in the 6th round by Dmitry Pirog in a one-sided fight.
Other weights on the card:
Adam Kownacki 251.4 vs. Maurenzo Smith 258.2
Heather Hardy 121.2 vs. Renata Domsodi 121.6
Travis Peterkin 175.4 vs. Lenin Castillo 173.6
Rafael Vazquez 125.2 vs. Mario Macias 126
Prichard Colon 147.2 vs. Michael Finney 147.8
Titus Williams 128 vs. Micah Branch 130
Thomas Velasquez 127.2 vs. Gabriel Braxton 127.2
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