By BOB HURST, Houston Chronicle
CHICAGO — Paulie Malignaggi finally got his revenge, and let the world know that he still has a lot left.
Malignaggi, from Brooklyn, avenged his controversial Aug. 22 loss to Houston’s Juan Diaz at the Toyota Center with a unanimous decision in front of a crowd of 4,906 fans at the UIC Pavilion on Saturday night. He claimed the NABO junior welterweight crown with the win.
The Chicago venue was more to Malignaggi’s liking, after he felt that he didn’t get a fair result in the first meeting with Diaz. Before the Aug. 22 bout, Malignaggi voiced his displeasure with the selection of judges. Diaz won a unanimous decision, but one of the judges, Gale Van Hoy, scored the fight 118-110. The other two judges scorecards were closer. Malignaggi complained after the fight, and eventually earned a rematch.
This time, judges Mauro DiFiore, Thomas Miller and Michael Pernick each scored the fight 116-111 in favor of Malignaggi.
“Juan fought a good fight,” Malignaggi said. “He’s such a cool dude. I feel vindicated. I feel that I’m a better fighter than Juan. Juan and his team were victimized by the fact that they thought I was finished. They got themselves into this mess, and it’s an honest mistake.”
Malignaggi (27-3, 5 KOs) lost just three rounds on the judges’ scorecards. He delivered a punch in the third round that cut open Diaz’s right cheek. In Round 10, Malignaggi delivered a blow that caused Diaz to take a standing eight-count, and opened up Diaz’s cut again.
The cut was deep enough to cause Diaz to miss the press conference after the fight.
“It came together tonight, and I think it can come together sharper, better than it did tonight,” Malignaggi said.
Fans of both boxers chanted their names near the end of the first round, with Malignaggi acknowledging his fans by pumping his right fist into the air. After both fighters missed landing several punches in Round 1, Diaz and Malignaggi came out more aggressively in the second frame.
In Round 5, Diaz (35-3, 17 KOs) put Malignaggi in the corner early, and later delivered a couple of hooks and a left punch to the “Magic Man” against the ropes.
Malignaggi shook up Diaz in Round 6 by landing a couple of rights and an undercut. Always the entertainer, Malignaggi toyed and taunted at the end of the round, which Diaz didn’t appreciate.
Diaz, wearing baby blue trunks with black trim, and Malignaggi, sporting sliver trunks with bright green socks and red and black shoes, put a charge into the fans in the eighth round. Diaz put his opponent against the ropes, pounding away with jabs. Malignaggi fought back in center ring with a right to Diaz’s head, who followed by driving Malignaggi to the ropes once again.
The fighters put on a show in the 12 th and final round that brought the crowd to their feet. They landed a flurry of combinations.
In earlier matches, Argenis Mendez, of Brooklyn, won a unanimous decision over Kenya’s Morris Chule in an eight-round junior lightweights bout and Cuba’s Erislandy Lara defeated Luciano Perez of Chicago in another unanimous decision in a 10-round junior middleweights fight. Also, in the welterweight division, a pair of Californians, Victor Ortiz, of Ventura and Antonio Diaz of Coachella, squared off. Ortiz won on a technical knockout in the seventh round.
Source: chron.com
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