"Probably not. You know, you hate to make an emomtional decision. My career started in Brooklyn 14 years ago. If it ends in Brooklyn tonight, at least I ended it at home, you know, where I'm from in front of my fans, the greatest fans in the world. If this was my last performance, I was happy to do it in front of you guys. I'm sorry I came up short, but I lost to a great champion tonight," stated former world champion Paulie Malignaggi, who revealed that he's leaning towards retirement following his 9th round TKO loss to former unified jr. welterweight champion Danny Garcia. Although Malignaggi didn't totally rule out a return to the ring, his analysis of his own performance suggests that he's ready to hang up his gloves for good in favor of sticking to his commentating job.
"You know, I've got a really good job commentating. I love being ringside commentating great fighter's fights, just like Danny and the rest of the big-name fighters. I hope to sit around ringside for a long time. I felt like if I didn't come up with a big performance tonight, then it would be my last performance, and I was trying to hang tough as much as I could," Malignaggi explained during his post-fight interview.
"It was certain rounds where he was getting me with some good shots, I remember thinking, 'Don't give in! Don't give in! Because this is your last night if you give in. Don't show that you are going to give in. If you can show that you're still hungry for it, then you'll convince yourself that this isn't the end.' I wanted to keep showing that I wanted it. Despite a certain amount of punishment, I wasn't going to give in, but little by little, you know, he broke me down," he added. "I have no qualms about the stoppage. It was a good stoppage, but, you know, I was trying my hardest not to get stopped. I wanted to at least see if I could finish it and maybe see if I could turn the pace around in the last rounds, maybe for a moral victory or anything, but I just couldn't get control of it."
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