"You just gotta ask him how he came up with that score. Maybe he just thought that Diaz was a better puncher. I don't know. He's gotta have a reason for it, whether he tells you that Diaz just outpunched Paulie Malignaggi in 10 out of the 12 rounds or whether Diaz hit harder than Malignaggi in 10 out of the 12 rounds...If someone criticized me like that, I would just step aside. I don't need that. In other words, what I'm saying to you is that if I were in that position and they criticized me, if a guy didn't want me, I would say the heck with it, tell the Commission I'm not going to work the fight and that's it; no big deal," stated HBO's unoffical ringside judge Harold Lederman as he shared his thoughts on last Saturday's clash between Juan Diaz and Paulie Malignaggi and the final outcome on the scorecards. Check it out!
BT: Hey Harold. I just wanted to get your take real quick on that 118-110 scorecard in the Diaz-Malignaggi fight.
HL: I'm the wrong one to comment on it. What can I say? I really don't want to comment on that score. I mean, if that's the way he saw it, then that's the way he saw it, you know?
BT: Your scorecard was what, 7-5?
HL: Yeah, 7-5 Malignaggi or 115-113.
BT: Just coming from a judge's viewpoint, is there any way you could have seen giving Diaz ten of those rounds.
HL: I mean, I saw Diaz winning five of those rounds (laughing). What can I say? Obviously, very few people agreed with Gale Van Hoy, but I certainly don't want to criticize the man. He's always been a friend of mine; he's a nice guy. You just gotta ask him how he came up with that score. Maybe he just thought that Diaz was a better puncher. I don't know. He's gotta have a reason for it, whether he tells you that Diaz just outpunched Paulie Malignaggi in 10 out of the 12 rounds or whether Diaz hit harder than Malignaggi in 10 out of the 12 rounds, you know? What can you say?
BT: Do you think that it was a bad idea for Paulie to come out and question the integrity of the judges prior to the fight? I know judges are supposed to be impartial, but When that happens, is that hard for a judge to just totally ignore that and put it out of their heads when it comes time to scrore the fight?
HL: Ben, I'll put it to you this way. If someone criticized me like that, I would just step aside. I don't need that. In other words, what I'm saying to you is that if I were in that position and they criticized me, if a guy didn't want me, I would say the heck with it, tell the Commission I'm not going to work the fight and that's it; no big deal. I don't know why people are stubborn like that. I mean, certainly, I would have stepped aside rather than put myself in a position where somebody might jump all over my score after the fight. Hey look, if they object to me, then I would've stepped aside. That's always been my position. There will always be other fights so it's no big deal.
BT: I think it was kind of a sticky situation for both parties. Paulie Malignaggi certainly didn't help himself in the eyes of the judges by making those comments before the fight, but in doing so, he put Gale Van Hoy in the spotlight, which opened up his scorecard to scrutiny. It's really unfortunate too because it was a great fight. Both of those guys fought their hearts and they both deserve some type of definitive conclusion without it being clouded in controversy.
HL: Exactly! I mean, I certainly can't answer for Gale. You gotta call him and see what he says, but you saw what my score was, you saw what his was and the other two judges. As far as if somebody would criticize me before a fight, I just wouldn't accept the assignment. I don't know why a judge would want to put himself in that kind of position. In other words, if Paulie Malignaggi strongly objected to me and I was supposed to judge the fight, I would have just stepped aside. I don't see why they would accept an assignment where some guy is vehemently objecting to you. It just doesn't make any sense to me.
BT: Putting all that aside, I know you had Paulie winning. I'm just curious, what was it for you that made you feel as though Paulie was winning some of those rounds? Was it his ring generalship and the way he was popping that jab in Juan's face?
HL: Yeah, that was a good part of it. After 7 rounds, I had Diaz winning by one point. If you watch it again, you know we're replaying it many times on Monday and Tuesday, but if you watch the fight again, concentrate on rounds 8, 9, 10 and 11. Those four rounds I thought Paulie Malignaggi clearly outboxed him. I mean, his movement, jabs and his combinations just swept those four rounds and those were the key four rounds. In other words, he went from losing the fight to a commanding lead in rounds 8, 9, 10 and 11 by using really, really good movement, good ring generalship and some very, very fast hands, you know? Some really hard jabs and really good combinations. I thought he simply outboxed Juan Diaz in those four rounds and that was the difference in the fight. I thought Juan Diaz and his aggressiveness won the 12th round to make it a little closer, but the key rounds in the fight were 8, 9, 10 and 11. I think Paulie just took charge at the point where he had to because I think he was down going into round 8. In other words, I think he was losing the fight going into round 8. He took charge in, you might want to call them the championship rounds, and that's when he pulled the fight out. If you watch the replay, concentrate very, very hard on rounds 8, 9, 10 and 11 and watch Malignaggi's movement and his boxing and you'll see why I thought he won the fight, but it was very, very close because, like I said, I had him down going into round 8.
BT: I'm pretty sure I had the exact same scorecard as you. I think I had it even after 6 and then Juan was up after 7 and then Paulie just kind of took over. I thought Paulie looked really good. He definitely didn't look like the same Paulie that fought Ricky Hatton or N'dou.
HL: Oh, Paulie was much better. In the Ricky Hatton fight, he hurt his right hand. He was real scared to throw it. He really was afraid to throw a right hand with Ricky Hatton, so he let Ricky Hatton fight his fight. Ricky got inside on Paulie in the fight. This time, I guess Paulie...you know, from what I understand, he's had something like four major surgeries on his right hand and he's definitely afraid of another surgery. He doesn't want that. Somehow or another, with his work in the gym over the past few months, he got himself mentally prepared for a fight. He's not afraid to throw his right hand anymore. Like I said, if you concentrate on those four rounds if you watch it again, I swear to God I think you'll agree with me that he boxed really, really nice in 8, 9, 10 and 11. He wasn't afraid to throw the right hand and he did a good job. If you're in a close fight, those are the rounds where you gotta turn it on. You don't know what the judges have it, you know? When you get into round 8, you gotta say to yourself, "You know what? This fight may go the distance. I really gotta turn it on and start winning rounds and put this fight in the bag." And that's what he did. He really turned it on through 8, 9, 10 and 11 and it's very interesting because those are the rounds that you have to turn it on in a close fight, especially for a seasoned pro like Paulie Malignaggi that knows he's not a big puncher and he's not going to end it with one shot. When it came to the 8th round, he's a seasoned enough pro to know that, "Hey, I gotta turn it around. I gotta take control of this fight." And that's what he did. He went out in that 8th round, took control and he kept it through rounds 9, 10 and 11 with some really good movement, really good boxing, changing direction to keep Juan Diaz off balance, you know? In other words, he moved either way and he just boxed beautifully. A lot of combinations, a lot of hard jabs and I thought he just swept four rounds in a row and that put him on top and no matter what Juan Diaz did in that 12th round short of knocking him out, he wasn't going to catch him.
BT: And that was with a smaller ring too.
HL: Yeah, he didn't have any advantages with that ring. It was a smaller ring. It was probably around 18 feet. It was smaller, there's no question. The ring favored Diaz because he's the puncher. If it was a bigger ring and a harder ring and a faster ring, like the Madison Square Garden ring for example, Malignaggi would have more room to move and Diaz obviously would have tired much quicker. But be as it may, it didn't bother Paulie in the least. He used that ring beautifully.
BT: Yeah, I thought Paulie put on a great performance. I know Paulie is like, "Oh, I'm an opponent now." I don't think he's an opponent. I still think he's a top fighter and hopefully HBO will give him another shot and...
HL: (Cutting in) You know, I gotta tell ya, I agree with what he said afterwards, but now, since he put on a terrific performance, since he put on a performance that will make a lot of people say, "I want to see him again," I think Golden Boy would be foolish, absolutley foolish not to consider Paulie Malignaggi as the next possible opponent for some of the guys that they're working with, like Victor Ortiz for example, who's the big star on the way up, or even if they get him, Marcos Maidana, because you know Golden Boy works very, very closely with Sampson Lewkowicz, who manages Marcos Maidana, and Golden Boy also works very closley with Universum, who's the promoter of Marcos Maidana, and certainly Paulie and Marcos Maidana would be a great fight at 140. I think that Oscar De La Hoya is going to look at this thing and he's gonna say, "Hey, that happened to me in the second Shane Mosley fight and I went to the post-fight press conference and I swore I'd never let this happen again." Well, it happened again and I think Oscar is a big enough man to say, "You know what? I'm going to use Paulie Malignaggi again," and consider Paulie Malignaggi the next time he gets a Boxing After Dark date on HBO. Do you think that HBO would turn down Malignaggi vs. Victor Ortiz at this point? I think they'd jump all over it.
BT: Yeah, I think they would too.
HL: I think that Paulie did enough to impress everybody, impress the public and especially impress Oscar, who supposedly has all these HBO dates, and I think that Oscar is a big enough person, even though Paulie's not his fighter, to say, "You know what? I'd love to use him again against one of my 140-pound stars." Boy, I think Paulie and Maidana or Paulie and Victor Ortiz would be two terrific fights for HBO Boxing After Dark. I think Paulie did himself a lot of good by his performance. I disagree with Paulie when he said after the fight to Max Kellerman, "I have to go back in line. I'll just be cannon fodder for some guy on the way up." No! I think that he's definitely deserving of another big opportunity and I think that Golden Boy is going to recognize this with all the controversy that's going on and say, "You know what? We gotta use this guy again because he's going to get terrific ratings." He's going to do a real nice job with Ortiz or Maidana or any of the other 140-pounders that they pomote, maybe even Amir Khan.
BT: Yeah, all those fights are great and I can definitely see any one of them coming to a future HBO Boxing After Dark telecast. I don't want to hold you up Harold. I just wanted to get your quick thoughts on that main event this past Saturday.
HL: You're not holding me up at all. I'm more than happy that I can contribute. I can't criticize Gale's score. I like Gale; he's a terrific guy. He's a very, very good guy; he really is. I'm sorry to hear all the criticism he's getting because he's a super nice person I've known over the years. I like him very much, but hey, what can I say?
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