Anybody watch the fight. The fight was at the Toyota Center. I thought it was a good fight but the score cards were crazy. There was no way it was a 118-110 fight. There were a lot of close rounds, but Malignaggi got hosed.
I agree completely that Malinaggi got hosed. It was close, and Malinaggi was more under control during the course of the fight with his movement and jabs.
I am big Juan Diaz fan, but this decision was ****ing terrible. No way in hell anyone with atleast one working eye would score this fight 118-110! That is giving Paulie only 2 rounds!! This kinda **** really pisses me off, I am glad that the hometown guy won, but this is terrible for the sport. Even worse, I doubt they will want to let Diaz or even Juarez fight in Houston. So basically, no more big fights at Toyota Center. r****ded ass judging, it cheapens Diaz as a champion, it makes the sport look bad.
Kind of reminds me of the Cotto-Clottey fight... I thought Clottey performed better that night, but didn't get the decision, though I don't remember the scorecard being outrageously lopsided.
Yea I was just telling my cousin about that same fight. I remember one scorecard being 116-112 for Cotto. This stuff really upsets me, I love boxing but this is unbelievable. There should be a new rule, nobody fights in their hometown anymore. Unless its a fighters last fight or something.
Clottey had a badly cut Cotto in front of him and didn't throw any punches the last two rounds. I was at this fight live and Malignaggi won 4 rounds clearly and to give 5 would be generous. But I guess it's different watching on television since the crowd goes wild on every landed Diaz punch.
i'm sure all you guys heard Malignaggi's post-fight interview in the ring, but it was classic. somebody needs to post it. not sure i've ever heard any fighter cry foul like that.
Yeah, I was there. He went off on something about the scoring. I had no clue what the **** he was saying though. I told him that I needed closed captioning. That dude reeks of Sicilian stereotype. There were atleast three fights during the HBO Broadcast. Two around section 116/117. One in section 121. Pure awesomeness.
I was there as well... The fights outside the ring were ridiculous. It was like a circus. The first (and biggest fight) I heard someone got stabbed. But to Diaz vs Malignaggi, I kinda feel bad for Paulie. Pretty much what everyone else says, there is no way it could have been scored 118-110. And the interviews at the end, when they asked if he wanted a rematch Malignaggi replies, "Boxing is $**t" Diaz said he would love a rematch with Marquez but I think he would get demolished. A lot of boxers at the fight of course DLH also Hopkins, Mosley, Winky Wright, Andre Berto, Lennox Lewis. Aaron Brooks was also in the building as well!
Good, I know I wasn't going crazy. I heard Aaron Brooks. I cheered, and didn't see him. Can't wait to download it. err watch it on HBO. Damn, someone got stabbed.!
check out Yahoo's homepage. http://sports.yahoo.com/box;_ylt=Ai_LfGuYn576O3WiYcgU35s5nYcB The Caption says this. Juan Diaz (above) beat Paulie Malignaggi in a unanimous decision in his hometown of Houston for the NABO junior welterweight title. edit.. guess it was for a belt.
I was there as well, saw the guy who got stabbed come out on a stretcher with blood running down his chest. Crazy.
Here's the interview afterwards...classic: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/e-R22GtjDxA&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/e-R22GtjDxA&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
He got robbed and I could understand him being pissed. The interview didnt help him though. Houston fans booing him? He wasnt complaining about them. Wish there could be a rematch.
They should make boxing matches held outside of everybody's hometown.. Is that so hard to do? They should all fight in Vegas...
Not gonna happen because of the money involved. Guys like Diaz and Cotto likely draw a significantly bigger crowd at their hometowns than they would at a "neutral site." It's a good payday for everybody.
Interesting take on the fight by a lot of people. I'm part of Team Jacobs (Danny fought Ishe Smith on the first televised fight of the evening) and Paulie's trains out of the same gym. I scored the fight 115-113 for Diaz from ringside. Have not had a chance to watch it on TV yet. Everyone went back to Brooklyn at 7 am this morning and Malignaggi and other members of his team felt he won 115-113 (sweeping most of the later rounds). Which means it was a close fight. With a fight as close as it was, many of those rounds could have went either way. Juan landed a ton of body puches. Paulie fought using an effective jab, shoulder roll and giving Juan angles. Hopefully there will be a rematch. Diaz is a draw here and Paulie generated enough heat from the Houston crowd to make a rematch look very appealing. A few interesting things on Paulie: he had a smalll cut Thursday night while doing mit work. He entered the ring with a cut essentially. For those who are wondering where that performance came from, his new trainer Sharif completely changed his style. For the fans that say a fight should never be in a fighters hometown, that is extremely unrealistic. One of the major elements in boxing is bulding up a following closest to a fighters hometown. Paulie and Juan couldn't draw anywhere else but Houston. If you put this fight in Vegas you're looking at a paid gate of maybe 1200. You can't pay for a card that way (especially one that had 14 fights like this one). It's just the way Boxing works. For those who were there also, what did you think of Hylon Williams? I felt it was by far the best performance of his young career. He seems to be putting it all together. Hylon is a local kid who trains out of Savannah's (Juan's gym).
