Is Malignaggi Looking Past N’dou Towards Hatton Bout?

malignaggi4646355.jpgBy Chris Williams: On the undercard of Saturday’s bout between Ricky Hatton and Juan Lazcano, IBF light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (24-1, 5 KOs) will be defending his title against challenger and former IBF champion Lovemore N’dou (46-9-1, 31 KO’s) in a rematch of their previous fight last year on June 16th, 2007. Malignaggi, 27, used a combination of counter punching and movement to keep the slower, harder punching N’dou from landing any real significant shots. In winning the fight, Malignaggi took N’dou’s title, which he’ll be defending for the second time on Saturday night.

Malignaggi, however, instead of remaining focused on the task at hand of beating N’dou, he’s been preoccupied with talks of fighting Hatton early next year. Hatton has said that he’s interested in fighting Malignaggi, arguably the most popular of the four super lightweight title holders. The fight, if it ever happens, would easily be the biggest payday of Malignaggi’s seven year professional boxing career. This is where the problem lies for Malignaggi, for he seems to be completely overlooking N’dou, as if winning the fight was a foregone conclusion. Though Malignaggi defeated N’dou in a dominating fashion, it was a lot closer than the fin al scores (120-106, 120-106 and 118-108) would have you believe. Malignaggi took some major shots in the fight, and resorted to running in the second half of the fight as he ran out the clock on N’dou.

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Malignaggi vs. N’dou This Saturday

malignaggi45342.jpgBy Michael Liberman: IBF super lightweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (24-1, 5 KOs) makes his second defense of his title on Saturday night against former IBF super lightweight champion Lovemore N’dou (46-9, 31 KOs), whom he defeated by a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision in June 2007. Malignaggi, 27, appeared to be much too fast for the slower of foot N’dou, who unsuccessfully chased Malignaggi around the ring for 12-rounds without much luck. Unless Malignaggi makes a mistake and gets caught without something big, we’ll likely see him come out on top for the second time against the 36 year-old N’dou.

As far as power goes, Malignaggi doesn’t come close to having the same kind of wallop in each fist, but he more than makes up for it by being elusive, making his opponents miss him, while making them pay with fast counter shots each time they close in and try to land. Malignaggi has little power to speak of, to be frankly honest, but he is able to make up for it by landing fast shots, hitting his opponents with flurries and then moving out of range before they score with their own shots. Malignaggi does, however, have problems with high pressure fighters like Miguel Cotto and Herman Ngoudjo, both of whom were able to use heavy pressure in their bouts with Malignaggi to nail him repeatedly despite his constant movement that he used in the fights.

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Hatton against Malignaggi would be ‘Magic Man’

Brooklyn born IBF light welterweight champion Paul Malignaggi has thrown down the gauntlet and declared himself ready to fight Ricky Hatton. Malignaggi, who makes his British boxing debut this weekend, spoke to Setanta Sports News. He said: “I’m always looking for the big fights, I love big crowds and Ricky’s proved here that he draws in an amazing amount of people to his fights. I would be willing to fight anywhere as long as the money’s right.”

Meanwhile boxing promoter Frank Maloney has dismissed calls for the fight to take place at Madison Square Garden in New York because ‘no fight in America has drawn a 55,000 live gate’.

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Is De La Hoya Improved Enough To Beat Mayweather?

delahoya455331.jpgBy Manuel Perez: While watching former welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) giving Steve Forbes a boxing lesson en route to winning an easy 12-round unanimous decision on May 3rd, I couldn’t help but notice how improved De La Hoya was since seeing him last fight a year earlier against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May 2007. De La Hoya, 36, seemed to have regained his speed, foot movement and ring intelligence against Forbes in a fight that turned out to be one-sided. Going into the fight, many people had been saying that Oscar was washed up, that he was over the hill and should consider retiring from boxing rather than prolonging his career and just wasting people’s money.

However, De La Hoya looked more than good, he looked superb against Forbes, a fighter with a style almost identical to Mayweather’s. It was clear, at least to me, that having Floyd Mayweather Sr. working in his corner for the training for his bout with Forbes, which was what was the missing ingredient that kept De La Hoya from beating Mayweather Jr. in their previous bout a year ago. It seems that Floyd Sr. showed De La Hoya how to solve Forbes’ style, and in doing so gave De La Hoya the tool for which to beat Mayweather Jr. Namely, by using fast combinations and sticking to his jab, De La Hoya has the missing factor that he needed in order to beat Mayweather Jr.

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Malignaggi: The Perfect Opponent For De La Hoya

malignaggi4647.jpgBy John Dower: With so many fighters to choose from for his May 3rd tune-up bout, Oscar De La Hoya (38-5, 30 Kos) must feel like he’s in a giant candy store, especially when the opponent is very likely going to be one that he can literally beat the stuffing out of and look good in the process. However, in selecting the opponent, De La Hoya, 35, has to make sure that he doesn’t make the mistake up drifting too far down in the chain for quality opposition, for both the boxing public and general fans will let him know about with complaints.

So far, we’ve heard names like Steve Forbes and Paulie Malignaggi (24-1, 5 KOs) mentioned as potential opponents. The second name, however, Malignaggi, is the one that De La Hoya needs to be focusing on, mostly because of Malignaggi’s already huge popularity, but also because of the fact that he is so beatable. Let’s be clear here, Malignaggi, 27, would seem to be the ideal opponent because of his lack of punch. He only as a pitiful five knockouts on his record, and isn’t likely going to be able to hurt De La Hoya with any of his fast jabs or light punches.

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Malignaggi Decisions Ngoudjo

In a bout that in now reflected the final judges’ scores, International Boxing Federation light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (24-1, 5 KOs) received a gift 12-round unanimous decision over challenger Herman Ngoudjo (16-2, 9 KOs) on Saturday night at the Bally’s Hotel & Casino, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The final judges’ scores were 117-111, 116-113 and 115-113, giving the 27 year-old Malignaggi the decision.

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Malignaggi vs. Ngoudjo

International Boxing Federation light welterweight champion Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi (23-1, 5 KOs) defends his title on January 5th against once beaten challenger Herman Ngoudjo (16-1, 9 KOs) at Bally’s Hotel & Casino, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Ngoudjo, 28, represented Cameroon in the 2000 Olympics, getting eliminated quickly in the first round, is coming off a very controversial split decision victory over Randall Bailey in June, a bout in which Ngoudjo trade knockdowns with Baily, and appeared to lose five the six final rounds of the fight.

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