Paulie Malignaggi: “I Think Floyd Has Too Many Weapons For Manny”

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mayweather-pacquiao-2ThaBoxingVoice YouTube channel caught up with Paulie Malignaggi and asked him for his prediction for the upcoming Mayweather – Pacquiao super-fight. Never one to have been particularly fond of Pacquiao, including some veiled steroid allegations a few years ago, Malignaggi sees Mayweather as the clear favorite.

“I think Floyd has too many weapons for Manny at the end of the day you can talk about ‘can Manny make this adjustment or that adjustment and how motivated Manny is but Manny Pacquiao is who he is, and he’s not gonna change in the next two or three months… I just don’t think he’s varied enough to give Floyd much trouble.”

Of course, many of us know that Malignaggi is now an “Al Haymon guy” and as such, has become the de facto mouthpiece for spreading the merits of fellow Haymon guys and the Haymon brand. Paulie countered this perception by letting ThaBoxingVoice know that he’d prefer being wrong about the fight for the good of the sport.

“I kinda hope I am wrong man, because it’s such a much anticipated fight and so many fans that aren’t boxing fans will be tuning in that if it’s a dud you’re not gonna make any new fans… if you have a great fight on that night, all the people that don’t usually tune in for boxing that are tuning in for that night will wanna watch more boxing.”

I haven’t agreed with a lot that Malignaggi has had to say in recent years, but he’s right about that last point. This fight needs to be great. A major letdown in any form will cast a dark cloud over the renaissance I am expecting boxing to experience over the next few years.

Nationally televised boxing on major network television basking in the afterglow of an excellent Mayweather – Pacquiao super-fight would be a major boon to the sport. Unfortunately, although not unexpectedly, Malignaggi expects something a little less exciting.

“I hope that it is a great fight, but I don’t predict that it will be, I think Floyd wins it pretty handily, but we’ll see, we’ll see what happens.”

You can see whether Paulie Malignaggi’s Twitter account will be put to the test or not on May 2nd when Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao clash in The MGM Grand Garden Arena.