Let me start by saying wouldn't even consider myself a casual boxing fan. I watch a few big fights a year.
This whole drama with Paulie Malignaggi fighting Artem feels a bit bush league to me. Or that this guy is starved for attention. I get that he wants a fight with Conor.
I know he won belts in boxing but also know boxing has 100 belts in every division. How good was this guy?
I don't really see any names on his wins besides an older Zab Judah. But like i said not a big boxing fan.
Who could you compare him too in MMA? Just curious cause he's been in the mma news alot.
I’m sure u will get a lot of different opinions on this. I’ll start off by saying I’ve watched boxing since 5 was a huge fan all my life but around the time pretty boy Floyd became money and The Klitchko brothers ruled at heavyweight I gave much more energy to mma. I really only girl interested in boxing again when Fury won the titles and the rise of loma. I hate Floyd with a passion I believe it is his fault for the fights not getting made we want to see and the constant cherry piccing. He created that trend in boxing and it has never recovered. Look bacc to
The 90s and u will see all the great names of the game have losses to one another and their was always a priority to become an undisputed champ. Now that I have that out the way.
I would say that Paulie was a good boxer. B level at best. Is best win was against Judah who was way past his prime and his speed and legs were gone. Besides that Paulie lost to every top level guy Hatton cotto Khan even Broner thou many will Argue Paulie should have one that fight on point.
For his positive attributes he was very fast, had good movement and footwork, decent defense ( he fought ohilly shell a lot and depended a lot on his head movement and feet to slip punches somaa good as he was at defense he got tagged a good bit for his hands down) great jab, was a combination volume puncher, good body work, and a granite chin.
On the negative side everyone will say no power. When u can’t hurt Amir Khan that says a lot. He couldn’t even get Kahn’s respect. With this next lacc of power Paulie was stucc a lot just fighting backwards, grabbing, scoring with a jab, high punch counts to the body, but he was constantly under pressure. Rarely did he set the tempo I would say he did against Broner cuz AB just stands and counters and has an epic low punch count. His defense was good except sometimes Paulie would pull straight bacc and although having good head movement and fast feet he ate quite a few bc he would fight a lot with his hands down philly style but actually a lil lower. Paulie was a decent boxer but not a good fighter. Good fighters have a lot of tools in their buccet. Paulie would come out with a game plan and he had a hard time changes gears he would keep at the same thing even if it was working and would get Down on score cards and was not able to close the show so would have no chance to win. The Hatton fight is a perfect example of this. IMO Paulie coulda had more promise than the did. He got titles but never beat a marquee fighter in their prime. I personally think Paulie thought he was better than he was and failed to close in the wholes I’m his game. He was small for the weight classes he fought in as well and going down might have helped his power vs opponents But then Jiangxi speed wouldn’t have been as much but who knows.
To everyone who feels Paulie will destroy Artem I’m not so convinced. His boxing skills don’t correlate to BKFC well. Now a guy like Tyson who is a high pressure fighter with vicious power explosiveness who can fight on the inside and has a decent chin is perfect. But a high volume point fighter who depends on his jab, likes to work the body, lacks power or pressure and depends on constant movement doesn’t correlate as well. For one more punches will break ur hands. 2 this ring is smaller and going to be harder to move. Next body shots are worthless in a 10 minute fight. Also u need power to hold an aggressive guyblikw Artem off u. Artem will way a million jabs but will keeep coming forward. Paulie might be able to open up that scar tissue thou and win via cut. Also Paulie is accustomed to using larger gloves and doesn’t have the muscle memory to see the smaller opening both on defense and offense. Pulling back like he does he will get caught even by a guy like Artem and then when he brings his hands bacc up his muscle memory will be trained thinking he has larger blocking area which he doesn’t. Paulie is used to fighting boxers who use proper technique and respect the art of boxing. Artem does not do either and will come just winging haymakers and awkward shots which can actually be harder for a boxer to deal with, see Floyd vs Maidana 1. Also at a disadvantage is Artem has more experience in brawl type fights and he also has experience in a war inside that circle. This accounts for a lot. Artem knows how his hands will feel he knows what the bone on bone shots feel like. He has been opened up and knows what it’s like to bleed, he knows the feeling of the ring and the space he has in there and the trap points as well as he understands the energy of the crowd. Artem also isn’t taking Paulie lightly while Paulie is eating pizza and craccing jokes on interviews. This is arrogant and may play out to him not performing on the night. He also is accustomed to a boxing crowd. BKFC attracts more of mma crossover than boxing the same fans that Paulie has constantly put down and called names so the energy will be completely against him which can also affect his performance. Sorry such a long reaponse but I’ve given a lot of thought to this.
