In a razor thin fight that was surrounded in controversy long before the fighters stepped into the ring, Juan Diaz edged Paulie Malignaggi with a unanimous decision in his hometown of Houston, Texas.
Just days before the fight, Malignaggi expressed outrage in learning that Gale Van Hoy and Raul Caiz Sr. – two judges from Texas – would be judging his fight, saying he was promised neutral officials before signing the contract and didn’t get them. This meant Malignaggi expected, at the very least, one judge from each fighter’s home state as well as a neutral judge from neither’s. Instead, he was upset to find out that two of the three judges, in addition to Referee Laurence Cole, were local.
Furthermore, the ring was noticeably smaller than most, which would favor the pressure fighter, Diaz, and not the boxer, Malignaggi. And, the bout itself was not a junior welterweight but a catchweight fight of 138.5 pounds. Diaz is a career lightweight while Malignaggi is a career junior welterweight, so they met pretty much in the middle. This wouldn’t be a problem except that Malignaggi already had problems making the 140-pound limit and would have to go down more than a pound more than he was accustomed to.
Malignaggi’s complaints were all legitimate, but, just as Floyd Mayweather Jr. did when taking on Oscar De La Hoya in 2007, he was willing to sacrifice a lot of advantages to land a big fight. It’s no coincidence that De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions promotes Diaz and thus promoted the fight. Once again, politics had interfered with an important fight.
In spite of everything against him, Malignaggi got off to a fast start in round one, pumping his jab and combinations with blazing speed to catch Diaz, who usually overwhelms opponents by punching in bunches, off guard. Malignaggi did suffer a cut over the left eye from a Diaz right hand late in the round but otherwise boxed exceptionally well.
Diaz answered big time in round two, battering Malignaggi’s head around with six unanswered hooks on two separate occasions early in the round, to which Malignaggi responded by shaking his head and sticking his tongue out. Another round of hooks had Malignaggi momentarily rocked as the Houston fans cheered in anticipation of an early knockout. But, just as Malignaggi dominated the first round only to suffer a cut, so did Diaz after taking a well-timed uppercut in round two – over the left eye. And his cut was much worse than the one suffered by Malignaggi.
With both cuts ruled the results of punches, both fighters knew they had to keep up the pace for fear of being stopped. Diaz continued to pressure, but Malignaggi fought a really smart third round, scoring regularly and getting out of the way of most of the return fire from Diaz. While Diaz got his licks in, Malignaggi simply did more and looked a lot better doing it. Diaz bounced back in round four, landing several good left hooks and knocking Malignaggi off balance midway through. Diaz rattled Malignaggi’s head with more combinations over the next minute and a half to notch the round and even up the fight again.
Through the first four rounds, each man had taken turns dictating the fight. But in round five, the action was two-way, with Diaz’ punches proving more effective as he snapped Malignaggi’s head back with combinations. Malignaggi did his share of damage as well, though, at one point knocking Diaz’ head back with a right hand lead. It was one of the more exciting rounds of either man’s career, and, even though he won the round, Diaz’ face showed the markings of a tough three minutes as a second cut on the eyebrow – this one perhaps resulting from a Malignaggi forearm – was rendering his left eye a bloody mess.
To start the sixth round, Cole suddenly ruled Diaz’ second cut the result of an accidental head butt, despite not making the ruling during the round. The announcement reeked of home cooking as the head butt ruling now meant the referee had two cuts to work with on Diaz’ eye – one that would send the fight to the scorecards should he stop it and one that would give Malignaggi a technical knockout win. And there was no question which cut Cole would choose should he decide to stop the fight. Meanwhile, Diaz appeared to edge an action-packed round – the first that could have gone either way – to put him two points up.
After the ringside doctor examined his eye between rounds, Diaz came out and had one of his best rounds of the fight in the seventh, freezing Malignaggi up with some superb body work before targeting the head. Malignaggi came back with some good boxing in round eight, even while his decorated trunks slipped further and further down to the point where they had to be inhibiting his movement. Malignaggi is known for outrageous fashion choices, once having to cut dreadlocks in-fight because they were inhibiting his vision. In an extremely close round that both guys seemed to take off, Malignaggi looked slightly better.
Round nine, on the other hand, was a Diaz round as he got back to landing the meaningful shots. Then, in a complete reversal the very next round, Malignaggi boxed well in the tenth, pecking Diaz from the outside and getting out of the way when it was Diaz’ turn to throw. So comfortable was Malignaggi with the way the round went that he stopped to shout in the direction of the HBO commentators. At the end of the round, he picked a fight with a fan in the crowd, taunting from his corner. However he may have felt things were going, though, he needed both of the last two rounds to really make a case for winning the fight.
Malignaggi boxed his way to winning the eleventh, but Diaz brought everything in round twelve, and, even though Malignaggi stood his ground and fought, Diaz got in the better shots to take the round. At the bell, Malignaggi celebrated as though there was no question who won, and the fans derided him with a chorus of boos. Regardless of how Malignaggi felt, it was a close, hotly contested fight. And, in the end, Diaz seemed to do just enough to win it.
The Houston judges naturally agreed, awarding Diaz the fight unanimously by scores of 116-112, 115-113 and an outrageous 118-110 turned in by Gale Van Hoy of Texas. Even the biggest homer would have to agree that Diaz won seven or eight rounds and no more.
As entertaining as the fight had been, the post-fight reaction of Malignaggi was just as attention-grabbing. Malignaggi put himself at risk by standing in the ring during his interview and claiming no visitors ever got a fair shake in Houston. The crowd booed him throughout, which seemed to push Malignaggi further. He let some expletives fly in expressing his disappointment with boxing, saying he was reduced to being an opponent and fighting for money now.
Given Houston’s shady history in both scoring and officiating fights with local boxers, Malignaggi shouldn’t have even accepted the fight in Houston if he was so sure going in that he would be robbed. Maybe he had the choice of either fighting in Houston or not fighting Diaz at all, but, if he was so worried about it, he shouldn’t have taken the fight. Or, maybe he should have gone out and made more of a statement in the close rounds, like round six, to create a more substantial argument that he won the fight. Either way, he needs to accept some blame for the way things unfolded. He went into the fight with a preconceived notion he would be robbed, so that’s how he reacted when it was announced he had lost.
More than his ability, Malignaggi’s mouth has really gotten him to where he is today. He promotes himself better than any other fighter, whether it be his pre-fight trash talk, his absolutely ridiculous hairstyles or his now notorious wardrobe malfunctions. For a fighter with no pop in his punches, he built himself into a name fighter by creating an unrealistic image that he was some master boxer. He is a good boxer, yes, but he is no master. For a guy like Malignaggi to win rounds, he either needs to outland his opponent severely or hit and not be hit. He does neither against elite opposition, and he did neither against Diaz.
The next move for either is a bit difficult to say. If a rematch happens, great, but don’t expect to see it. Golden Boy will put Diaz in the best money fight they can get now. Diaz wants a rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez, who knocked him out in February, but Marquez is on a higher stage right now, with Mayweather coming next and possibly Manny Pacquiao or Miguel Cotto after that. If Marquez has moved up for good, Diaz is the man in the lightweight division, or he could move up and try to conquer junior welterweight.
GUERRERO OUTWORKS KLASSEN FOR IBF TITLE
On the undercard, Robert Guerrero won the IBF Junior Lightweight Championship from South Africa’s Malcolm Klassen with a unanimous decision.
Klassen took the fight as a chance to showcase himself in the United States rather than face a mandatory contender. But his dream debut turned into a nightmare as he had to deal with an opponent who averaged 100 punches thrown per round over the course of the fight.
Guerrero scored early and often, winning the first four rounds on activity. Even though he only landed about one out of every five punches he threw, Guerrero’s strategy seemed to be enough to keep Klassen from ever getting going. And it worked to perfection, as Klassen was only able to arguably win three or four rounds, one of which was round five, where he scored with clean right hands to the head of Guerrero throughout. Guerrero bounced back well in round six, knocking out Klassen’s mouthpiece with an uppercut at one point.
Round seven was another rough one for Guerrero, who was beaten around the ring at times by Klassen’s stronger punches, suffered a cut over his left eye from a head butt and was clearly hit after the bell by a straight right from Klassen. Round eight was a close one, but Klassen’s harder shots may have nicked it for him. And Klassen dominated round nine, landing the only damaging blows. But, after that, it was all Guerrero.
With the fight close going into the last three rounds and bleeding from the cut, Guerrero finished strong, taking the last three rounds on volume and activity – he maintained his average of 100 punches a round and appeared to have won no less than seven rounds.
The judges saw it that way too, awarding Guerrero the unanimous decision by scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 116-113. CompuBox’s final punch tallies saw Guerrero throwing exactly 1,200 punches and landing only 200 – less than 20%. In fact, despite throwing 700 more than Klassen, he only landed about 60 more over the entire fight. It was a truly horrible statistic but the kind of numbers that allowed Guerrero to keep the hard-hitting Klassen from ever getting into a rhythm.
The fact that Guerrero had persevered through a cut en route to his workman-like win went a long way in erasing the doubts left about him when he quit after suffering a cut against Daud Yordan earlier this year. In that fight, Yordan was getting the best of Guerrero, who was considered to have taken a way out while he still could. A good next move on Guerrero’s part would be to give Yordan a rematch.
JACOBS DEFEATS SMITH IN UGLY BUT ENTERTAINING FIGHT
Opening the televised festivities, undefeated middleweight Daniel Jacobs won an ugly decision over longtime contender Ishe Smith. Smith landed the better blows throughout the fight but was too inactive for long stretches to put enough rounds in the bank, instead letting Jacobs win them with a high volume of pitter-patter punches.
Things heated up when a hard fought third round ended with Jacobs firing a right hand at Smith after the bell, to which Smith responded by trying to go after Jacobs. Jacobs showed uncanny discipline for a 22-year-old by simply staring Smith down while Referee Laurence Cole held him back. Smith didn’t let the mishap go as he had some words for Jacobs throughout round four, even while being hit. But Jacobs stayed on his game and had one of his better rounds.
Smith was losing round five until stunning and wobbling Jacobs in the final thirty seconds. At the bell, Smith had him pinned against the ropes, but Jacobs gave him a rabbit punch, almost as if he was trying to anger Smith into losing a point. Smith immediately retaliated, trying to pound in two rabbit punches to Jacobs in the corner as Cole tried to separate them. Smith then put his forearm to Jacobs’ throat, pushing the younger fighter’s head over the ropes until Smith’s corner men pulled him away. Cole came to Smith’s corner and threatened to take a point away if his behavior continued.
True to his word, Cole took a point from Smith at the end of round nine, despite Smith landing a shot on Jacobs right at the bell rather than after it. It was a bad call, but Cole must have felt like Smith had enough warnings all night – for low blows and other fouls – to warrant at least one point being taken away.
After ten rounds, Jacobs walked away from his first real test a unanimous decision winner, but it had been close. Two of the three judges delivered perfectly acceptable scorecards of 96-93. Meanwhile, Judge David Sutherland is probably still at the arena, trying to find someone who would agree with his card of 100-89.
