When former
IBF World Jr. Welterweight champion Paul Malignaggi entered the ring to
challenge previously undefeated WBA Welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko
in April of last year Malignaggi did so as an underdog. Malignaggi was after all fighting against an
undefeated world champion and was fighting him in his home country, certainly
not an easy task for any fighter to attempt to overcome.
Malignaggi
responded by dominating the Ukrainian fighter landing crisp, quick combinations
throughout the fight, causing a severe cut and eventually closing the left eye
of Senchenko in route to a ninth round stoppage. Malignaggi had triumphed over
the naysayers to win his second world title in as many weight classes.
In some ways
Malignaggi’s performance against Senchenko was poetic justice for a fighter who
despite not being known for having power has never backed down from a challenge
and has always given everything he had every time he enters the ring. When it was announced that Malignaggi would
make the first defense of his world title against undefeated two-division world
champion and current WBC Lightweight world champion Adrien Broner I was somewhat surprised to hear many fans
and some observers alike not giving Malignaggi much of a chance in the fight.
Broner after
all does have a career knockout percentage of over 80% and was entering the
fight with Malignaggi having scored knockouts in six of his last his last seven
fights. It was understandable to an
extent to see some base their predictions on those statistics. This observer however has often said that I
do not make predictions but try as best as I possibly can to offer a
well-educated guess as to what may happen prior to a Boxing match.
Although it
was clear that Broner had the advantage in terms of punching power I was not
one who believed that this would necessarily be an “Easy” fight for Adrien
Broner. Malignaggi has after all faced
several high profile names throughout his career and it was an arguable point
that he was the toughest fighter that Broner would have faced in his career in
terms of Boxing ability. Despite being
stopped twice in his career by former world champions Ricky Hatton and Amir
Khan, Paul Malignaggi was not someone to overlook or underestimate.
When the two
fighters got in the ring at the Barclays Center in Malignaggi’s hometown of
Brooklyn, New York on June 22nd it didn’t surprise me to see Malignaggi start
the fight at a fast pace. The key to
success for Malignaggi in this fight in my mind was to establish a high work
rate and to be elusive. It would not
have been to the champion’s advantage to be a somewhat stationary target for
the heavy handed Broner. Malignaggi had
to set the pace from the outset. In
contrast I expected Broner to attempt to cut the ring off and neutralize
Malignaggi’s movement. As the fight
progressed an argument should be made that both fighters did exactly what they
wanted to do in this fight. It was a
closely fought, highly competitive contest where both fighters were able to
execute their respected fight plans with effectiveness.
As I have
often said over the years when it comes to close fights it will often boil down
to what a judge prefers in their own individual criteria in how they score a
fight that will ultimately determine the winner. This can and often has led to some
questionable final scores at the end of a fight between three judges. Sometimes
you will see two judges produce similar scores which may fall in line with a
consensus opinion of observers as to how a fight was fought. Meanwhile a third
judge may share the same opinion with another judge as to who won a fight but
will however turn in scores of a significantly wider margin than his or her
respected counterparts.
The criteria
of which all bouts in Professional Boxing should be scored is Clean punching,
Ring generalship, Effective aggression, and Defense. Despite these guidelines
some judges have preferences as to what they look for when scoring a
fight. Some judges will score based on
effective aggression and or ring generalship.
What often gets overlooked by some casual observers is how fighters can
win rounds by being defensive and landing clean punches in spurts. In bouts where there are no knockdowns scored
or point deductions all of this criteria must be considered when scoring a
Boxing match. What can also be overlooked is that Boxing is scored round by
round and this along with the recognized criteria can produce varying scores at
the end of a fight that goes to a decision.
In regard to
this fight all of the facets which are involved in scoring a Boxing match were
visible and are likely to make this fight a topic of debates for years to
come. Paul Malignaggi started this fight
working at a high pace throwing jabs and mixing in quick combinations to the
body. This was complimented by good
lateral movement by the champion.
Although not landing everything he threw, Malignaggi’s greater activity
carried the action for the first two rounds. Broner seemed to be studying his
opponent in the early rounds and had success landing periodic right hands and a
flush left hook to the jaw of Malignaggi early in round three. As well Broner
was able to follow up by landing more solid left hooks toward the end of the
round..
It became
clear that this would be a question of the fighter throwing in greater volume
or the fighter who was more economical with his offensive output but landing
the harder punches. At the end of three
rounds I had Malignaggi ahead two rounds to one. Although Malignaggi was the
more active of the two, Broner was able to deflect a lot of Malignaggi’s
offense by staying in a tight defensive shell.
As the fight
progressed I wondered whether Malignaggi would get the benefit of the doubt on the
official scorecards due to his effective work to Adrien Broner’s body. Although he never really seemed to hurt
Broner, the body punches were landing. It was clear however in the eyes of this
observer that Malignaggi had to continue to use his lateral movement and not
allow Broner to get into position to let his hands go for a significant period
of time in order to maintain an edge in this fight.
In round five
Broner began to open up more offensively landing his right hand and mixing in
flush left hooks. Broner’s gradual pressure and ability to land clean power
punches seemed to turn the momentum in his favor at this point in the
contest. Malignaggi however never
stopped throwing punches and this made the fight very difficult to score as
there were many “Swing rounds” where you could make an argument for either
fighter having won a round. An extremely
difficult task for anyone scoring the fight whether they be an unofficial or an
official judge.
Through nine
rounds the tempo of the fight had switched to Broner. Although many of the
middle rounds were extremely close and hard to score, Broner was able to win
those rounds in my estimation due in large part to his ability to consistently
find a home for his right hand, mixing in some good body punches and uppercuts
on the inside. Malignaggi just didn’t seem to have an answer to avoid Broner’s
right hand and Broner’s ability to land the right both as a lead punch and as a
precision counter punch proved to be troublesome for the champion.
Malignaggi appeared
to get a bit of a second wind in round ten as he brought the fight to the
challenger landing combinations to the body and attempting to land to the
head. As the fight entered the
championship rounds, Malignaggi
continued to throw at a high volume and won rounds ten and eleven on my
scorecard based on his ability to get his punches off first and ability to
bring the fight to Broner. Broner
however was still the fighter dictating the pace and continued to put pressure
on Malignaggi.
Broner seemed
to get the better of what was an extremely close twelfth and final round of
what ended up being a very competitive fight.
At the end of the twelve round championship bout I had Adrien Broner
winning eight rounds to four in rounds or 116-112 in points.
The basis of
my scoring was Malignaggi got off to a really good start and carried the tempo
in the first four rounds. From rounds five through ten however although
extremely difficult to score Broner landed the harder blows and that turned out
to be crucial in the outcome of this fight.
The official
result of a split decision was not surprising.
Frankly although I feel Broner controlled the tempo of the fight from
the fifth round on, it was still a very close fight and a split decision either
way or a draw would not have surprised me.
Judges Glenn Feldman and Tom Miller turned in scores of 115-113 or seven
rounds to five splitting for each fighter while Judge Tom Schreck turned in a
score of 117-111 or nine rounds to three for Adrien Broner making him the new
Welterweight world champion.
In all truth
and honesty although there is likely some anger directed at Tom Schreck for
turning in a final score that differed from the other two official judges it
again boils down to what a judge looks for in their criteria in how they
score. In this fight although it goes
without saying that Paul Malignaggi was the more active of the two fighters
landing 214 of 843 punches thrown to Broner’s 246 of 524 punches thrown
according to CompuBox it isn’t always about who is the more active fighter that
determines who wins a decision.
Adrien
Broner’s defense was outstanding in this fight coupled with his ability to be
accurate when he did throw landing 47% of his total punches to Malignaggi’s 25%
according to CompuBox statistics. What won this fight for Adrien Broner was his
defense and accuracy when he did let his hands go. The difference in power and
how Broner’s punches affected Malignaggi throughout is also something that can
play a factor in the scoring. It is important to note however that the official
judges do not have access to CompuBox statistics while they are scoring a
fight.
Sometimes
statistics don’t tell the whole story of what goes on during the course of a
Boxing match. In this case when you view the fight round by round you can
see both sides of an argument as to who won this fight.
For his part
Paul Malignaggi expressed his anger toward Judge Tom Schreck’s scorecard after
the fight in a post-fight interview with Jim Gray stating quote “ Tom Schreck
is a New York Judge that is in Al Haymon’s (Broner’s Manager) pocket. 117-111 is a disgrace. I'm not saying it
was fixed but the politically more-connected fighter always gets the close
decision."
Although I have a much
respect for Paul Malignaggi both as a fighter and as a Boxing analyst I can not
say that I personally feel that the element of politics played a role in Tom
Schreck’s scoring. Obviously no one
other than Judge Tom Schreck can explain his scoring of the fight however there
were a lot of “Swing rounds” in this fight and a difference in scoring and of
opinion as to who won is not far fetched.
Malignaggi’s anger however
is certainly understandable. He believes
that one judge got it entirely wrong, however once he watches the fight he may
see what many saw that there were numerous “Swing rounds.” For example; the
fourth round Malignaggi came out and I
believe won the first two minutes of the round however Broner finished the
round landing the heavier punches and although he did not land as many punches
as Malignaggi, he landed at a higher percentage. This round easily could have been scored
either way including even.
Many have already criticized
Adrien Broner for not meeting expectations of success that he has had in lower
weight classes. Let’s not forget this
was Broner’s first fight in the Welterweight division and he fought not only a
champion in Paul Malignaggi but a crafty, ring savvy, veteran. One may argue that Malignaggi should be
considered as this generation’s “Willie Pep”, and this observer agrees. Nevertheless
Adrien Broner deserved this victory and has established himself as a
Welterweight champion. Broner is only
twenty-three years old and has already won three world titles in three
different weight classes and is still undefeated at 27-0.
As far as
Paul Malignaggi, he has nothing to be ashamed of and fought a competitive tough
fight. He outworked Broner and if he had
been able to land more effectively, the results of the fight may have been
different.
What’s in
store for Malignaggi and Broner? These days no one can foresee what’s in either
fighter’s future especially when “The Business” of Boxing is involved. In my book, split decisions are as good a
reason as any for a rematch. The fans
enjoyed this one, those of us who covered it enjoyed it, so why not? What do
you say guys?
“And That’s
The Boxing Truth.”
The Boxing
Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau Denison All Rights Reserved.
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Denison on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Beau_Denison
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