"Boxers do something wrong, they get suspended, they get fined, but judges, they never ever pay a price for these terrible decision. They're back working the next week. Commissioner, judges, everybody in general never ever ever pay a price, you know what I'm saying? I think if they knew they would be held accountable for their actions, I think they'd be much more careful in making sure they'd do the right thing," stated former jr. welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi as he talked about his controversial unanimous decision loss to Juan Diaz this past Saturday in Houston, Texas. Check out what else he had to say about the fight, the judges, his future plans and so much more.
BT: Paulie, first and foremost, I wanted to congratulate you on the performance. Regardless of the outcome, I think your performance spoke louder than any judge's scorecard.
PM: Thanks man. I appreciate that.
BT: So what did you think of your performance?
PM: I thought I did exactly what I said I would do. I said I would change my trainer to a trainer that knew my strengths and knew to base everything off my strengths and once I did that, I'm a very tough guy to beat. I knew for one, I'm that tough to beat and two, I've seen enough of Juan Diaz to know that he wouldn't be able to beat me, you know? That's what prompted me to make these calls once I figured out these officials and everything else was being messed with prior to the fight.
BT: Did the weight loss affect you at all?
PM: I was very weight-drained when I made weight, but I recovered very well...I was able to use what I had worked on camp.
BT: Yeah, you looked like the Paulie Malignaggi of old. You almost looked even quicker.
PM: Yeah, well I haven't even been that quick in years to the point where people thought I got quicker, but it's a lot like it was a few years back. That same speed is still there luckily. Obviously it's not always going to be there; I'm 28 years old now, but a lot of that speed is still there and it worked out for the best. I told people I just needed to go with a trainer who understood my strengths and weaknesses and I felt like Buddy McGirt just never got that and I got worse and worse with him. I felt like I was back to where I should be on Saturday night with the exception of the crooked judging.
BT: It seemed like that constant jab that you kept in his face prevented him from applying that pressure he's known for. Was that the gameplan going in?
PM: Yeah, yeah, of course. He just couldn't deal with my movement and my angles and I just knew he wasn't going to be able to handle it. I was just too sharp, you know? Everything put together just put together a package where he wasn't able to deal with it. I was blowing everyone up before for a reason because I knew this was going to happen. It prompted me to want to make these calls when I saw these guys were playing games with me.
BT: During one of those last few rounds, it looked like you were saying something to the commentators in the middle of the fight. Can you remember what you were telling them?
PM: Yeah, people thought I was talking, but what I was actually doing was taunting Diaz because his grunts had gotten annoying. He's always grunting while he's fighting. He doesn't breath normal like everybody else does when they throw punches. He grunts and he yells and stuff. By that point, I just had it so much in control, I was having a good time and started grunting back at him. I started grunting at the commentators. I was grunting just to really abuse Diaz more than anything. I felt like I was in total control so I felt like grunting back. I wasn't saying anything in particular. I was grunting at him.
BT: So the fight's over and they start reading the scorecards. What was your initial reaction the minute you heard the 118-110 score?
PM: My initial reaction was...at first, I was scared I was going to get robbed, but when they said 118-110, I actually thought I won the fight because I figured there's no way anybody won this fight 118-110 except me. I didn't think anybody won it 118-110, but if you had to pick somebody to give 10 rounds to, I figured it was going to be me, not him, you know what I mean? As soon as I heard 118-110, you can actually see in the video, I'm telling my guys, "Pick me up, pick me up, pick me up!" Then my advisor Anthony is telling me, "Hold on, hold on, hold on!" I guess he was right; he knew what was going on man. All of a sudden, they said, "Houston, Texas...Juan Diaz." I think even Juan was surprised.
BT: I think everyone was suprised. When I heard that score, I said, "Oh shit! Paulie's about to pull off the upset in Houston."
PM: Yeah, yeah. When I heard 118-110, I thought...I wasn't sure until then. Up until then, I was scared because Caiz had it close. Sutherland had a joke of a scorecard too, but nobody is talking about him because Van Hoy's scorecard was...that guy...honestly man, if you look at round 12, Van Hoy looks like he was sleeping. At one point, I go right by his part of the ring and he's got his hands on his chins. That guy is 100 years old. He's sleeping at that time of the night. It's past his bed time. He shouldn't be watching fights or doing anything at that time, you know? He's 140 years old, you know what I'm saying? But what are you going to do. I complained about the judge, they wouldn't change them...they already knew that they were going to screw me. The funny thing is that I called everybody and let everybody know because I felt like they were going to do that to me. The thing about boxing is that I did that and instead of everybody basically getting my back, most people thought I was making excuses for a fight I was going to lose, you know what I'm saying? The other day, I called exactly what was going to happen. I basically reached out and looked for a helping hand and nobody gave it to me and that's really a sad thing because it wound up happening and it wound up hurting me obviously. It goes to show you in boxing, you have two kinds of people. You have intelligent people who use their intelligence to be crooked and sneaky and then you have the people who are unintelligent so when you try to educate them, they're so stupid that they don't realize they're being educated. So those people never helped me out because they thought I was making excuses and then you have the intelligent people who obviously turned their back on me because they didn't want to help me because they wanted to get done what they wanted to get done, you know what I'm saying?
BT: And then you have the people that are too afraid to help you out because they want to make sure they still get that cushy treatement.
PM: Exactly! That's true, that's true, that's true! All-in-all, nobody helped me out and in the end, I ended up paying the price for it.
BT: Let me ask you this, I know Roy Jones shared his opinion and belief that he felt you won the fight and deserved the decision and as far as fights are concerned, he usually calls it like it is...
PM: (Cutting in) And I'm very appreciative of that.
BT: No doubt. I'm just curious to know if Bernard Hopkins ever said anything to you in the days leading up to the fight or immediately after it, because...
PM: (Cutting in) Nobody ever said anything because Bernard is with Golden Boy, but I have heard through the grapevine that both he and Shane thought I won the fight, you know? It's their company and they're not going to bash their fighter and their company and I don't blame them for that, but they're fighters; they know it. I'm sure that Oscar De La Hoya knows it. He knows how to put on the promoters cap very well and act like a promoter, but at the end of the day, I think everybody knows exactly what happened that night. They were going to job me and they jobbed me. It's a funny thing though man. It's really funny because I called it and nobody helped me. This is just an example of the reason why boxing is and always will be a joke, especially in the United States.
BT: Yeah, I think I was kind of disappointed in Bernard more than anyone just because he always talks about how he's fought the system and did it his way, but now that he's a partner with Golden Boy and he's a part of the system, he really didn't bother to...
PM: (Cutting in) Yeah, that's a good point because I took a page out of his book in criticizing everybody beforehand and really blowing up everybody's spot beforehand and really educating everyone on the crookedness. I took a page out of Hopkins book, you know? Hopkins would criticize officials that he was going to have at his fights.
BT: When you were doing that, that was the first thing that I thought; that you were pulling a Bernard. Bernard has done that in the past, complaining about certain judges or complaining about Cortez. I guess it just happened to work out for him.
PM: Yeah, I basically took a page right out of his book. Hey man, these guys...they gotta make you laugh man. At the end of the day, like I said, this is an example of why...this isn't the first time something like this happened and this isn't the last time it's going to happen, but I'll tell you what this is the first time for; it's the first time that somebody stood up and called exactly what was going to happen before it happened like that. I basically predicted my own demise. I knew Diaz didn't belong in the ring with me...actually, maybe I'm being a little harsh. Diaz belonged in the ring with me because he put up a great fight, I watched him, but at the end of the day, I knew I was better than him, so I knew in order to beat me, they would have to rob me and it happened just that way. Like I said, it's just an example of why boxing is and always will be a joke in this country. They're always like, "Oh, a black eye for boxing. We're killing the sport." These people are such hypocrites. The people who are smart enough to help boxing, they don't want to help because they like it exactly like it is because they're the ones who are benefiting from all the crookedness. De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions can masquerade as the saviours of boxing all they want, that they bring a different light to boxing than the Don King and Bob Arum era and that they're going to change, but they just help their own fighters and they screw everybody else. That's just like how any other promoter has acted throughout the years. They're no different than anybody else. They can hide behind all of Oscar's smile and they can masquerade behind all of his bullshit that they preach, but at the end of the day, it's always the same thing as any other promoter, you know what I mean?
BT: Yeah man. Immediately after the fight, I checked out a lot of the message boards and comments in articles and the majority of fans had you winning the fight. They were pissed, they thought you won the fight and...
PM: (Cuttin in) Yeah, I basically saw most of everything was for me. I saw a couple of reporters in the media saying that Diaz might have pulled it out because he threw the harder punches, which just makes me really laugh because what makes Diaz's punches harder than mine? Because he's yelling?
BT: Becuase he's grunting.
PM: I busted him up more, I cut him up worse. I lumped him up. His whole face was lumped up. His forehead looked like he got pounded into cement, you know what I mean? I opened him up with uppercuts. I opened him up with a right uppercut on the first cut and a left uppercut on the second cut. I saw it myself. He got beat up. Obviously I hit him harder also, not to mention I was busier. It's funny because some guy is like, "Oh, he threw the harder punches." What made him throw the harder punches?
BT: Yeah, I saw Gale Van Hoy was saying something like that.
PM: Well Gale Van Hoy was just trying to defend himself because he didn't know what else to say, but he's so stupid because he's digging his own grave. I mean really. First of all, I threw 300 more punches and they weren't all jabs, number one. Number two, if they were that soft, they wouldn't have stopped Juan Diaz's output. Okay? Juan Diaz's ouput stopped! He couldn't get off at all because of the jabs. For a guy who depends on winning by outpunching his opponent, he was outpunched by 300 punches, outboxed, outslicked and he was definitely more lumped up and cut up. Gale Van Hoy has no explanation. The guy is 140 years old; he could die in his sleep at any minute, I mean, he's that old, but yet, they're still calling him for boxing because he's still got hometown scorecards. Dicky Cole, the hypocrite that he is, went up to the podium at the press conference on Thursday of fight week and says, "I promise everybody a fair shake," and then proceeds to fuck me in my ass. After the fight, he comes up to me as I was giving the urine test, he comes up to me in my ear as I'm taking a piss and says, "I thought you won that fight," with that redneck southern accent that they got down there. I said, "What does that do for me? You picked the judges bro. What does that do for me?" You know? Like I said, boxing is and always will be a joke and this is another example why.
BT: So are you taking steps? Are you guys going to file a complaint?
PM: We're going to protest the fight just because it's a process, but they don't overturn decision in boxing. We're going to protest just because it's part of the process, but I think we have a lot more than protesting in mind. I'm getting together with my team and we're going to have a plan of attack because Gale Van Hoy, for one, should never judge another fight again, but even Darren, David Sutherland, Darren, whatever the hell his name is, the other guy, he's not under the radar. He thinks that because Van Hoy's scorecard was so bad, nobody's talking about him. Don't worry motherfucker. I didn't forget about him either. 8-4 for Diaz is also a joke and a disgusting scorecard as well. Caiz, at least he knew if he was going to screw me, he knew to make it close so it wouldn't look so bad, you know what I'm saying? The other guys are so stupid, they couldn't even get that right.
BT: (Laughing)
PM: It's funny, but it's like a bad joke in a way too. At least Caiz, if he's going to screw me, he's going to make it close. Sutherland knew he was screwing me. He had such a guilty conscience, that he didn't give me round 11, a round I had dominated, but then he gave me round 12 because he already knew he had Diaz way ahead so he could afford to give me round 12. All that is is a guilty conscience. You don't give me round 11, which is a round I dominated, but you give me round 12, which is probably a round that could have gone either way. To me, that's a guilty conscience because you already know you have Diaz way ahead so it's not going to cost him the fight by giving me the 12th round, you know? But don't worry about it. I got enough for everybody man. I got enough ammunition for everybody. We're going to take the proper steps, but in the meantime, we're going to protest the fight and we're not going to win it. The decision will probably be upheld, but we're going to do the proper steps to do certain things. Boxers do something wrong, they get suspended, they get fined, but judges, they never ever pay a price for these terrible decision. They're back working the next week. Commissioner, judges, everybody in general never ever ever pay a price, you know what I'm saying? I think if they knew they would be held accountable for their actions, I think they'd be much more careful in making sure they'd do the right thing.
BT: So what's next for Paulie Malignaggi?
PM: I said after the fight that I don't have the luxury of picking out a winner of any fight because I didn't get the decision; I came up on the short end of the decision in the Diaz fight, but I am probably going to be used as someone's opponent in somebody's hometown, which doesn't always make for a bad payday, but it makes for a tough situation in terms of getting a decision. That's pretty much where I've been stuck at now. The funny thing is, after the fight, the rumors are me and Amir Khan. I hit it right on the head when I was speaking to Max Kellerman. If I were to fight Amir Khan, I would have to go to England and fight another up-and-coming top guy who actually has a world title in his hometown and probably get treated like I did in Houston. It's a funny thing because I get stuck in almost a whirlpool of the same thing; I get flushed down the same way, you know? If I want, I know that's pretty much the only choice I have. I'm not going to fight for ten thousand dollars, I'll tell you that much, so if I want to have any kind of money and make any kind of money fighting, those are the kind of fights I have to take. I have to take the kind of opponents and the kind of situations that I just went through last Saturday in Houston. Fighting Amir Khan in England is probably a similar situation. It probably would bring good money if it happend, of course this is all speculation, nothing is in negotiations or anything, I'm just giving that example, but fighting Khan in England is just another example of basically another Houston situation where I'm fighting a fighter in his hometown.
BT: The good thing for you though is that 140-pound division is pretty deep. There's mad guys out there, Timothy Bradley, Nate Campbell, Devon Alexander...
PM: (Cuttin in) The fight that I really wanted, if you want to know the truth, the fight that I would really love...I would love a Ricky Hatton rematch or I would love a Juan Diaz rematch. If they give me the Juan Diaz rematch, we'll make a trilogy out of it. Everybody would win and I'll tell you why. The first fight was a great fight in general. Boxing fans loved it so everybody would want to see the fight again. I would win the rematch because I won the first fight so I'd would win the rematch even easier. And then we'd make a third fight, we'd end up making a trilogy and I'd win that one also, but at the end of the day, everybody would make money, the fighters would be happy, the fans would be happy because you'll end up with three great fights and HBO would be happy because you wind up with three great fights that would probably get a lot of ratings. But I'm not so sure if Willie Savannah of Team Diaz is going to be so crazy about the idea because Willie Savannah made my life hell in the negotiations as far as making the ring small and the weight, he was constantly going back and forth between 137, 138.5, 137, 138.5; he was honestly always looking for little things to break my balls about because he was terrified of me. If anything, the deal breaker will probably be Willie Savannah; I don't see Willie wanting to go anywhere near Paulie Malignaggi ever again as far as Juan Diaz is concerned.
BT: Yeah, I think they're hoping to get Ricky Hatton out of hiding.
PM: I actually think he'll beat Ricky Hatton. I think Diaz beats Hatton. I think he's too busy for him. I don't think Hatton really has the boxing skills to really keep Diaz off of him and I don't know if Hatton has the toughness to really deal with Diaz's pressure because if you stand in front of Diaz, he will throw 100 punches a round. He didn't throw a hundred punches against me because he couldn't get off. I punched him, popped him, gave him the angles and it confused him. I take Diaz over Hatton if they fought. I would love, absolutely love to get either of them.
BT: Well look, I don't want to hold you up anymore bro. Is there anything else you want to say to the fans in closing? Maybe another last shot at Gale Van Hoy or something?
PM: Nah, in general, I just want to tell people I think I proved my point. I think I proved my point when I told people that the best of me, you hadn't yet finished seeing. I needed to get back with a trainer who knew my style, who knew what he was doing with me and I think I got that. I think I showed there's plenty left in the tank. I can compete with any 140-pounder in the world and I hope that the politics of boxing don't dictate that I wind up continually being an opponent because I have enough talent and enough skill to seriously do some serious damage to any world champion I get in there with.
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