Paulie Malignaggi proved that he really wanted to be the king of Brooklyn.
Malignaggi dominated and nearly shut out the uninterested Judah in front of a pack house at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. He outworked Zab Judah from the beginning, surviving an early flash knockdown to win a shockinly easy decision.
Malignaggi, 33, connected on 230 of 607 punches, including 122 of 376 jabs. Judah landed 121 of 498 punches.
One judge scored it 116-111, and the other two had it 117-110 for Malignaggi, who is also a ring analyst for Showtime Boxing.
Malignaggi seemed generally stressed over the pressure of the fight. For Paulie, a loss to Judah may have been an anectdote for a permanent job as a broadcaster.
“There was lots of pressure,” Malignaggi said. ” I’ve been in a lot of big fights, But you don’t want to lose at home to another big fighter from Brooklyn.
“I lost the (Adrien) Broner fight competitively but two back to back losses would’ve taken a world title off the table”
Instead, Malignaggi now has options.
Malignaggi boxes for Golden Boy, not Top Rank, and with that comes a deep stable of boxers at the 140 and 147 pound weight classes.
Shawn Porter, who is now the IBF welterweight champion after upsetting Devon Alexander is a possibility. Saturday features four 147-pound fighters in Adrien Broner,Marcos Maidana, Keith Thurman and Jesus Soto Karass.
Malignaggi has spoked of a rematch with Broner, and would provide a solid matchup for any of the four. There is also Danny Garcia, who appears headed out of the 140-pound division.
Paulie made it clear that he would love to be Garcia’s first test at 147 as well.
“Danny is a solid world class fighter and he’s a big 140-pounder, so I expected him to eventually move up to the welterweight division. I have a lot of respect for him. So yeah, if the money is there. I’m not arguing with Danny and his father. Don’t expect that. I have a lot of respect for them. It’s an interesting fight at 147 but so are a lot of others,” Malignaggi told BoxingScene.com.
Malignaggi went from signing a formal full time deal with Showtime to broadcast fights, to probably putting himself in line for at least 4 more big time opportunities.