By Mark Lorenzana, 8CountNews.com
Paulie "Magic Man" Malignaggi just won against Juan "Baby Bull" Diaz at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago Illinois in their much-awaited rematch. Last time the two fighters met was at Diaz's hometown of Texas. Prior to the fight, Malignaggi had voiced out his frustration regarding the judges. Malignaggi singled out Gale Van Hoy in particular, believing that he would not get a fair shake should the fight go the distance.
After their first fight, it turned out that Malignaggi had been right all along. Sure it was a good fight with lots of action and arguably the decision could have gone to either guy. Personally I was leaning towards a Malignaggi win by split decision. I felt that Paulie did more than enough to win by effectively counterpunching Diaz, and I unofficially scored the fight in favor of Malignaggi, seven rounds to five. But, alas, the official decision left a bad taste in many fans' mouths. The fight was unanimously awarded to Diaz with one judge — Van Hoy, incidentally — scoring the bout a virtual shutout with a 118-110 scorecard in favor of the Baby Bull.
Plain and simple, Malignaggi was robbed. It wasn't even close. If all the judges scored the fight close like Raul Caiz did for instance, who scored it 115-113 for Diaz, then it would have been understandable. But to have scored it 10 rounds to two for Diaz as Van Hoy did, was just ridiculous. Judges awarding wins to the undeserving fighter has been around for decades and it's not helping boxing. For instance, take the recent fight between Ali Funeka and Joan Guzman last November 28 for the vacant IBF lightweight title. Funeka had punished and bloodied Guzman for the entire fight and even managed to stagger the latter several times. In the end Funeka had to settle for a majority draw.
With all of these said, Chicago had proven to be a neutral venue for the fight. And the judges, Mauro Di Fiore, Tom Miller, and Michael Pernick who all scored the fight 116-111 in favor of Malignaggi, proved to be consummate professionals.
Malignaggi actually showed great attitude after his first fight with Diaz by readily accepting his fate albeit showing his displeasure. Malignaggi in effect had no problems moving on so to speak, and he showed that he was indeed the winner in the first fight by dominating Diaz in their rematch. Paulie had realized that, to paraphrase Aesop, there's no use crying over spilt milk.
The bad thing is, to use another expression culled from Aesop, Malignaggi had been sour graping (along with two other boxing people) since reigning pound-for-pound champion Manny Pacquiao destroyed Miguel Cotto.
Let's get to the crux of the matter. After Pacquiao annihilated Cotto, almost everyone from casual and hardcore fans to boxing pundits and writers (heck, even other boxers, both new and established)had been in awe of the Filipino fighter. It seems that Pacquiao's annihilation of Cotto had solidified his spot at the top of the pound-for-pound list.
Of course, there are always those critics who say negative things about Pacquiao's accomplishments and refuse to give the guy his due credit. There's Floyd Mayweather Sr. talking on Fight Hype and Sports Illustrated:"Man, that guy is on something. There's no way in the world he's going to be walking back a big man like that...I know Floyd is the best, but when your opponent uses something illegal, even the best can get hurt."
There's Kermit Cintron talking to Ring Talk: "I just think that... I honestly think that he is taking something, because a lot of fighters coming up in weight like that, 40 something pounds... he just looks ripped like Bruce Lee. A lot of people who come up in weight like that don't look as ripped as he is, they hold a lot of water weight. I just believe he is taking something. I think he is taking something for sure. I don't know what it is, whatever he is taking, its not coming up in the drug test. I honestly believe he is taking something, no 112 pounder comes up to 147, to look the way he does, he is taking something. Definitely, people who come up in weight like that they look soft, they don't look as ripped like when they fought at the way they started. It's definitely questionable."
Then, of course, there's Paulie Malignaggi.
"I think there is something up with Manny Pacquiao. I am not going to get into it. I think people will understand what I am saying. Full blown welterweights don't take those type of punches from Miguel Cotto the way he took them with total disregard for his power nor do they hurt him with every punch they hit him with. These are full blow welterweights I am talking about. This guy is coming up in weight and doing all these things. There is something up with this guy but that's as far as I am going to go into it. Floyd Mayweather (Senior) has gotten into it a little bit. There have been other fighters who have mentioned it. I am not going to get into no controversy. I am going to leave it at that. There is something that seriously makes me feel weird about Manny Pacquiao. I am going to leave it at that," Malignaggi said in an interview with BoxingScene.
But there's more. In an interview with Fight Hype, Malignaggi continues his tirade against Pacquiao, and even questioned and criticized the drug and urine tests boxers regularly undergo to detect the use of prohibited performance-enhancing drugs. "We only have your standard urine tests here, so what are you really going to catch? What are you really going to catch if someone wants to beat it, you know what I mean?"
Then there are Malignaggi's most recent statements, courtesy of the Examiner's Michael Marley and an interview at The Boxing Truth Radio Show:"Look at what Manny is doing. He is absolutely crushing world class killers. And here he is, this little midget.
"He gets a broken eardrum and yet he is walking around afterwards like he was dodging spitballs. There are things (drugs) out there that can do that.
"You're hiding under a rock if you can't see what I am talking about. This is a guy who was life and death with Juan Manuel Marquez at 120 pounds and now he's got 15 to 17 pounds of muscle on him. Look at how short he is, he didn't get taller, did he?
"It's not about hating Manny or being jealous. I think other fighters use performance enhancing drugs. I don't mean diuretics because those are used to make weight, not to enhance your performance. I'd say the bigger men (heavyweights) are doing it because they are not worried about making weight.
"First and foremost, you talk to body builders they'll tell you themselves, it's very hard to put 15-17 pounds of body muscle in a year and a half. Let's remember Manny Pacquiao fought at 130 pounds against Juan Manuel Marquez in '08. He fought in November of '09 against Miguel Cotto 15 to 17 pounds heavier. He looked exactly the same out of "rippedness" and "shreddedness" his body did at 130 pounds. So you're telling me, this guy 6 foot 4, 6 foot 5, body builder telling me that it's impossible to put on that kind of muscle mass in a year and a half naturally.
"You're telling me this little midget, 5'5" or 5'4", 5'6" at the most, put on 15 to 17 (pounds) in natural weight and his team is going to try and explain it saying he eats 7,000 calories a day and he just burns it. If you eat 7,000 calories a day and you're 5'5", 5'6", my man you are not going to look ripped, you're going to look a little bloated."
You have to admit, these guys, especially Malignaggi have a few valid points, but there are also a few flaws in their arguments.
Regarding what Malignaggi said about what bodybuilders told him that it is difficult for someone to put on muscle in such a short span of time, it actually depends on a person's body type. Remember that there are three different body types: Ectomorph, endomorph, and mesomorph.
Ectomorphs are the classic hard gainers. They are lean and fragile and delicate. These people actually need to work hard for every ounce of muscle and every bit of strength they can gain.
On the extreme opposite side of the spectrum are those who have the endomorph body types, which are characterized as round and soft. Endomorphs gain muscle quickly but they also gain fat just as easily. For this body type, losing weight, specifically fat, is very difficult.
Then we have the mesomorphs. People who are characterized as mesomorphs have a hard, athletic, and muscular body and they gain muscle more easily than the two aforementioned body types.
If you are a follower of boxing the past few years, you will easily notice different boxers who have their own characteristic body types. For example, fighters who have ectomorphic tendencies include Erik Morales and Paul Williams. Both guys are lanky and relatively lean for their respective weight divisions. Morales in particular before he got older — and before his metabolism slowed down that he would gain weight in between fights— held on to his lean frame for the most part of his early career.
On the endomorph side, you have Juan Diaz, who, despite his dedication to boxing, still looks soft and chubby even during weigh-ins. Sure he makes weight every time, but it's plain to see that he has more body fat in him than muscle.
This leads us to the mesomorphs. These guys have no problem gaining muscle weight, and that's the category where you can easily put Pacquiao in. He eats protein, he takes in supplements, he puts in time at the gym, and he gains weight easily, most of which is pure muscle.
We also have to remember that although Pacquiao started at light flyweight, he was still 17 years old back then, with no access to proper nutrition, protein supplements, and scientific training. Needless to say, this of course changed as he began taking in bigger purses and was now able to afford better and nutritious food, not to mention the expensive supplements. Alex Ariza's physical training techniques also need special mention here. And we also have to remember that the first time Pacquiao drastically moved up in weight (from flyweight to super bantamweight), it was prompted by a knockout loss from Medgoen Singsurat who fought a severely weight-drained Pacquiao. So even then, we could see that Pacquiao's body was rapidly changing, and was growing as he began filling out. Here we also see a first glimpse of how Pacquiao's body was getting stronger whenever he went up in weight as he won his first fight at super bantamweight via TKO. He then went on a tear at 122, with eleven of his 12 opponents failing to reach the final bell. He left the super bantamweight division when he gunned for Marco Antonio Barrera's Ring Magazine Featherweight strap, and we all know what the Pacman did to the Baby Faced Assassin.
When you come to think of it, all these criticisms on Pacquiao by Cintron, Mayweather Sr. and Malignaggi actually cast a bad light on them, rather than on Pacquiao's accomplishments. The criticisms actually make them look like sour grapers. Cintron for his part, seems to lack the drive and perhaps the championship caliber to cross over into superstar status as he lost by TKO and knockout respectively in his two fights against Antonio Margarito for the latter's WBO and IBF welterweight titles. And in Cintron's first fight at light middleweight for the interim WBC light middleweight title against Sergio Gabriel Martinez, he only managed to get a majority draw.
Pacquiao, with help from Freddie Roach, embarrassed the trash talking Mayweather Sr. by knocking out Ricky Hatton. Remember that Mayweather Sr., in one HBO 24/7 episode prior to that fight, labeled Pacquiao a "mule", and Hatton a "racehorse". When you think about it, it was indeed Hatton who was the racehorse in that fight; he was faster. Faster in the sense that it was the fastest ever that he kissed the canvas in his entire career.
For Malignaggi's part, perhaps it's eating him that he was punished severely by Cotto in the course of 12 rounds in their fight for the latter's WBO welterweight title, the same Cotto that was later annihilated by this "midget" that goes by the name Manny Pacquiao?
Regardless, in a report over at Sports Illustrated, Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, says that Pacquiao underwent a couple of urine tests before and after his fight with Cotto and the Filipino passed with flying colors.
In any sport, criticism, especially of the constructive and positive kind, is absolutely welcome. In fact, it can actually behoove the athlete to work hard and improve on his or her performance.
But when the criticisms just border on the libelous and are just plain old batty despite strong evidence to the contrary, then that's another story.
I'm sure if Pacquiao were asked to comment on Malignaggi's win against Diaz, he'd gladly congratulate the Magic Man and even say that it was a good fight and a great performance.
Im pretty sure as hell Pacquiao won't say: "I think there is something up with Paulie Malignaggi. I am not getting into it, I think people will understand what I am saying. Boxers who have a 16.67 knockout percentage, boxers who can't even hurt a five-year-old kid can't knock down and win a unanimous decision against bull strong fighters like Juan Diaz. I am not going into no controversy. I am going to leave it at that. There is something that seriously makes me feel weird about Paulie Malignaggi after this win against Juan Diaz. I am going to leave it at that."
No, Manny Pacquiao is just too damn classy for that.
The same, however, cannot be said for those critics who accuse him of taking steroids or performance-enhancing drugs.
Those guys need attitude-enhancing drugs.
Source: 8countnews.com
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