Malignaggi “I’m too honest that’s the problem”

2
884

malignaggi53Former two-weight world champion and current color commentator for Showtime Paulie Malignaggi(33-6, 7KO’s) borrowed his ear to Thaboxingvoice.com as his eyes flitted between the camera and the action in front of him as he stood in the crowd at a recent boxing show.

Fernando Pimental(@Fern_323) conducted the interview and brought up the fact that Paulie -who has been outspoken for as long as he has had the ability to speak I’m sure- has received some heat for criticising Manny Pacquiao and Bob Arum for what he perceived as their lack of belief in Manny’s ability to beat Floyd Mayweather Jr, therefore demanding as much money as possible when negotiating their fight, which may have prolonged matters. Given that fight has finally been made, does Paulie regret some of the things he has said?

“Nah not at all. Anything I say or have ever said I stand by it. I don’t say anything by accident. I say what I believe, and I’m much more educated than anyone who wants to contradict me that’s for sure.”

“I’m too honest that’s the problem; I got more balls than most people because I don’t care about being criticised.”

As a fighter, Paulie’s explosive mouth adds flavour to his personality and increases his marketability, but now he spends a lot of his time behind the mic commentating on fights his outbursts could possibly have a detrimental effect on that part of his career.

Given his history of publicly taking Pacquiao to task over various issues, it seems his involvement in the upcoming Mayweather-Pacquiao event, which will be co-produced by Showtime and HBO, seems tentative at this point despite interest from other media outlets.

“You know I got a call from my bosses at Showtime that they wanna use me in some way, shape or form because I wanted to let them know that I got a call from one of the British networks, they wanna use me, so I basically wanted to check with my bosses at Showtime.”

Having intimated “BBC Radio” would like to use him in a more central role instead of having him skirt around the periphery, he conceded that Showtime are still unsure as to the extent they will involve him in the biggest fight to ever be made.

“My bosses at Showtime have told me not to jump the gun yet because I’m still the subject of conversation for the telecast, so we’ll see what happens, I’m not worried about it man.”

Given the main announce team on the night will consist of a collaboration between the two networks in Jim Lampley and Roy Jones Jr from HBO and Al Berstein from Showtime. I suppose it all depends on how significant a part Paulie would like to play on the night. If he would rather work the fight itself he may want to answer that call from the UK, but if he would prefer to sit back and soak up the atmosphere I’m sure he will content himself with showing his face once or twice throughout the evening.