RICKY FATTON HUMILIATES MALIGNAGGI

When you hear little tidbits such as Ricky Hatton’s drop of 42 pounds to be on weight for his junior welterweight fight with Paulie Malignaggi last Saturday night, and then you add into account his 46 fights, the abuse inflicted on his 30 year old body, and Hatton’s legendary love for food and drink, it’s not that much of a stretch to pick him to lose at this point in his career. That’s what I told myself when I picked the 2-1 underdog Paulie to win last Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Sooner or later someone is going to look like a genius for making such a prediction, but not this time.

It would seem that Paulie had the tools to do the job — a sharp, quick jab, ring movement, and the heart that allowed him to hang in 12 rounds with Miguel Cotto while taking a beating. In this instance, however, he apparently left his tools at home.

Paulie landed only 66 jabs in the 11 rounds contested, and he clinched and held all night. After round 10 his trainer Buddy McGirt warned him to start throwing punches and stop standing right in front of Hatton or he would stop the fight. Apparently Malignaggi didn’t think that he would and when McGirt threw in the towel at 0:48 of round 11 forcing referee Kenny Bayless to stop the contest Paulie appeared to be crushed and humiliated, even giving McGirt a push. He was trailing 99-91 on all cards yet he was weeping like a newborn child when he realized that he had been stopped.

Malignaggi, who was earning in the neighborhood of $1 million on the night, kept saying after the fight that he was too good to be stopped. Apparently losing every round was fine with him, just so long as it went 12 rounds. Paulie won the first round, then was wobbled by an overhand right in the second frame, and for all practical purposes he was done.

Malignaggi falls to 25-2 (5) with the loss. His promoter, Lou DiBella certainly earned his cut. Anyone who can get a guy with five knockouts main event work on TV with million dollar paydays has to really know something about bargaining.

The IBF wanted Paulie to fight a rematch with Herman N’Goudjo, whom Malignaggi decisioned in January, but Team Paulie decided to blow them off and go with Hatton and the cash. It was a wise move. Who would want to see it?

So instead of keeping his IBF strap and making $1.98, Paulie made a million. Shrewd.

As it is, even with superstar Hatton on the card only slightly over 9,000 were at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night. My advice to Paulie is buy Certificates of Deposit.

Of course we knew weeks ago that the fight wasn’t going to be a sellout when Hatton turned in his ticket allotment. I’ve been told that he did quite nicely with these for Mayweather. Even his reportable income of $30 million wasn’t too shabby.

But as Hatton raises his record to 45-1 (32) there is hope of riches in the future. I honestly believe that the inspiration for bringing in Floyd Mayweather Sr. to replace the departed Billy Graham can be directed straight to Golden Boy. It’s not exactly a trade secret that Hatton is deficient in the area of defense and facing a stylist like the brash Malignaggi might have been considered by some to be a bit of a risk.

So, according to my hypothesis, Mayweather was dispatched to Hatton to make sure that the weakness was addressed. Oscar and the Golden Boy team felt confident that holding all the physical advantages he could defeat Manny Pacquiao without Senior.

It’s just a theory, but you know that down deep inside Golden Boy wanted a Hatton victory so that they would have yet another big money fight with a smaller man in the hopper and ready to roll by spring ‘09. Hatton can make big money with a fight with either Manny or Oscar, but fighting Oscar is like holding a winning lottery ticket.

Mayweather Sr. was only with the Hatton camp for seven or eight weeks, but it should be noted that Ricky was considerably more impressive than he was last May against Juan Lazcano. From that second round right hand to the stoppage in round 11, he chased Malignaggi with ruthless aggression, outlanding Paulie in power punches, 99 to 25.

How a man could land 25 power punches in 11 rounds and think that he could hold off Ricky Hatton is open to discussion.

In any event one thing about Hatton is undeniable. He has true big time star quality and can fill seats, even if he has to bring them over from the UK. The folks that crossed the pond with him may have been fewer in numbers than the Mayweather voyage last year due to the worldwide economy but they remain unmatched anywhere at what they really do best –drink massive amounts of alcohol and make mind numbing noise.

As wonderful as it is to get all that British money in our economy I would trade all of that financial success if they would just leave that damned drum alone.

Thank God there’s only one Ricky Hatton.

NOTES:

In the televised co-feature James Kirkland, 24-0 (21), stopped ex-contender Brian Vera, 16-2 (10), at 1:45 of round eight in a scheduled 10 rounder. The bout was fought at a 157 pound catch weight to accommodate the larger Vera.

Kirkland floored Vera three times and outlanded him 283 to 64. Vera was down twice in the second round and once in the eighth prior to the stoppage.

The amateurish Vera beat blue chip prospect Andy Lee with a seventh round TKO earlier this year, but no such good fortune with Kirkland who was winning every round with ease, landing his shots at a 53% clip.

It’s time to put the young man in with some tough competition now, particularly for an HBO fight. He’s as ready as he is going to get at this level.

Vera landed some good right hands and put a nice mouse on Kirkland’s right eye, but to be kind he was out of his league.