The two top junior welterweights in the world faced off in a fight billed as “Power vs. Precision,” and power carried the day as Britain’s Ricky Hatton landed the more telling blows against the brash New Yorker Paulie Malignaggi until Malignaggi’s corner eventually threw in the towel to stop a one-sided thrashing.
The festivities began before the bell as both men brought a few surprises into the ring. Malignaggi entered first, sporting a buzzed head to symbolize his maturity since the dreadlock debacle against Lovemore N’Dou back in May. Accompanied by new trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr., Hatton bounced into the ring, wearing his fat suit to symbolize that he still eats whatever he wants and drinks all the beer he could desire between fights.
Hatton was more effective from the start, winging wild hooks and chopping away at Malignaggi with both hands. But by the end of the first round, Malignaggi started getting into a rhythm and began circling and catching Hatton with crisp jabs as he said he promised to do against what he considered a limited opponent. Malignaggi drilled Hatton with a straight right hand that snapped the British fighter’s head back momentarily with the best punch of the round.
In round two, however, the fight changed for good when Hatton caught Malignaggi with a monster of a right hand that stunned the American and nearly dropped him. Hatton followed up with another right and two hard left hooks as Malignaggi wobbled on unsteady legs, but the American was able to hold on to avoid knockdown, though the point had been made that Hatton could and would hurt him as long as he stood in front of the British mauler. Malignaggi survived the round but went back to his corner with a cut under his left eye.
In a close round three, Hatton continued to bring the pressure until he landed a big left hook on Malignaggi in the final seconds to win it. Round four was more of the same, with Malignaggi going into a shell as Hatton swamped him, landing three big punches in the round but again, enough to win it. A few well placed right hands near the end of the fifth round sealed another one for Hatton as Malignaggi couldn’t box the way he wanted to and began falling behind early.
Surprisingly, Hatton was able to jab on even terms with Malignaggi early in round six and mixed in a hard left hook and right hand on the slick boxer to notch another round in his favor. Round seven turned out to be the best of the fight. A pair of big left hooks from Hatton rattled Malignaggi’s head about. After going rounds without landing a significant blow, Malignaggi finally answered back with a good one-two. Hatton nailed him with a jab in return, but Malignaggi quickly fired back with a counter right hand that knocked Ricky’s head aside. A big right-left combination was the reply from the Hitman, followed by a lunging jab that slammed Malignaggi’s head back. It was Malignaggi’s best round since the first, yet he still lost it convincingly.
Malignaggi opened round eight with his best punch all fight – a straight right hand that knocked Hatton off balance. Hatton went wild, trying to answer, and knocked Malignaggi off balance with a kidney punch. Hatton then caught Malignaggi backtracking with a jab that jolted the New Yorker’s head straight back. Later, Hatton batted a right hand over the top that made Malignaggi wobble. A jab and an uppercut doubled Malignaggi over as he couldn’t catch a breather from Hatton’s relentless pressure. Malignaggi patted in a modest one-two, but without punching on his side, the fight was already becoming hopeless for him.
At this point, Malignaggi couldn’t win on points and looked like he knew it based on his facial expressions. He opened his mouth to stick out his tongue and give a smile after taking a big left hook from Hatton in the ninth, but his dejection was obvious to everyone watching. Hatton continued slashing away at Malignaggi with lefts as the American did his best to hold on. Malignaggi then fought back with a pair of jabs and a left hook, using only one hand to try to tame an unstoppable force. The problem remained that Hatton only needed to land one jarring jab to cancel out all of Malignaggi’s work.
Malignaggi started boxing and moving well to open the tenth round but couldn’t do it for long as Hatton worked his way inside and landed a left hook. Hatton drilled him with a solid jab to end the round just to punctuate that he was better in all areas this night. Between rounds, Malignaggi’s trainer Buddy McGirt threatened to stop the fight if his fighter didn’t show more effort. It seemed like the kind of motivator Malignaggi needed to save face, though it was clear he couldn’t win the bout.
Hatton came out as persistent as ever in the eleventh and landed some jarring uppercuts that doubled Malignaggi over and almost sent him to a knee, but Malignaggi held on once again. Hatton kept punching and fought him off with more uppercuts and some punishing body shots, and that was enough for McGirt to make good on his threat and throw in the towel. A deflated Malignaggi walked to McGirt and pushed him lightly before turning away and shouting, but, like most things Malignaggi does in boxing, it was all a show. He wanted out of the fight ever since the early rounds, and he finally got his wish. Hatton, meanwhile, was paraded around the ring, having gotten another big win.
Malignaggi showed some tears as he went to McGirt and protested. It was a bad stoppage in that Malignaggi only had another round to go to make it the distance. In McGirt’s defense, three minutes is a long time in this kind of fight, and Hatton wasn’t going to go any easier on his man in the twelfth. Still, it’s a rough blow if you’re trying to become one of those rare fighters to finish a career without ever being knocked out. Shame on McGirt for that. Upset with his trainer, Malignaggi found some comfort in talking to Floyd Mayweather Sr., who cradled the defeated fighter’s head.
This fight revealed that Hatton still has the passion to continue his career after the humbling knockout defeat to Floyd Mayweather Jr. this time last year. He is the best junior welterweight in the world and doesn’t need to prove that to anyone else. Fights against Timothy Bradley or the winner of the rubber match between Ricardo Torres and Kendall Holt would be a waste of time at this point in Hatton’s career. Hatton deserves another big fight to end his career even if it ends up being against Oscar De La Hoya in a fight that would be almost as big of a joke as De La Hoya’s bout against Manny Pacquiao is going to be.
Malignaggi, on the other hand, didn’t pan out as the terrific boxer he is so often billed as. After three difficult fights throughout this year, his master boxer persona has turned out to be the product of great marketing on the part of his promotional team. Unlike his 2006 fight with Miguel Cotto, Malignaggi didn’t show a great deal of heart after being hurt in the second round against Hatton. In the Cotto fight, Malignaggi was not only dropped but also had his jaw broken in the second round, yet he continued the fight fairly strongly. To get down to it, Malignaggi didn’t do anything to earn the fight with Cotto in the first place. He has gotten two big money fights based on things he has said rather than done, and he should be happy he came as far as he did with no power and good but not astounding boxing ability.
KIRKLAND POUNDS VERA
On the undercard, rising undefeated junior middleweight contender James Kirkland pummeled Brian Vera for eight one-sided rounds before Referee Vic Drakulich picked an odd time to stop the fight.
The hard hitting Kirkland, who has 21 knockouts in 24 victories, pressed Vera from the outset, hunting him down and landing huge power punches from the southpaw stance, but Vera stood in and took the blows.
Vera is a crude fighter with a great chin who made his name by knocking out the highly touted prospect Andy Lee. But in with Kirkland, Vera was never in the fight. Kirkland dropped him three times in the fight. In the second round, Kirkland landed a straight left hand to the body that knocked Vera backwards on wobbly legs. A hard right hook and left hand sent Vera down in a corner on the seat of his pants. Vera got up, bleeding from a cut on top of his head but smiling. Just before the end of the round, Kirkland landed a hard straight left to the head, followed by a right hook that turned Vera around and sent him collapsing onto a knee and into the ropes. Vera quickly got up, smiling once again, more embarrassed than actually hurt.
Kirkland gradually poured on more and more power punches over the next six rounds before landing a body shot and a right hook over the back of the head that knocked Vera to the canvas again. It shouldn’t have been a knockdown, but Vera hadn’t come close to winning a round yet and needed a knockout to win anyway. Instead, it was Vera who scored the knockout moments later, landing a straight left that snapped Vera’s head back, followed by one to the body against the ropes. Kirkland added a right hook and uppercut, and Drakulich jumped in to stop the match even though Vera remained unhurt.
It was a poor stoppage, considering Vera had made it to the eighth round after absorbing similar or worse combinations and only needed two more rounds to finish the fight. He had been catching Kirkland with big punches as well during the exchanges but never really hurt him. Still, his chin had held up impressively, and he deserved a chance to score a come-from-behind knockout.
Kirkland looked great and is probably ready to step up and take on the best challengers at 154 pounds. The champions there appear to be the weakest of any division, so Kirkland’s chances of grabbing a title in the next year are pretty good. His defense is lax, but the way he keeps everyone on the defensive, his offense might be his best defense anyway as was the case with Kassim Ouma a few years ago when he won a title in the same division. And Kirkland hits a lot harder than Ouma ever did.
