Doghouse chats with Paulie ‘Magic Man’ Malignaggi
 INTERVIEW by Vikram Birring (Sept 9, 2007) Doghouse Boxing
On June 16, 2007, Paulie ‘Magic Man’ Malignaggi achieved a lifelong dream by capturing the IBF junior welterweight championship of the world with a dominant decision victory over rugged Lovemore Ndou of Australia by way of South Africa. Malignaggi is a unique character in boxing. Not the ordinary Italian-American, he spent his childhood living on the island of Sicily, a place known more for infamous Mafiosi than sporting superstars. He later moved to Brooklyn, where he didn’t know the English language nor the culture, yet quickly adjusted and became known locally for his boxing skills.
After turning professional, he went undefeated until losing a grueling battle against Puerto Rican sensation Miguel Cotto. Malignaggi bounced back, dominating Edner Cherry and then humiliating Ndou, winning practically every round and punctuating the fight with a late knockdown. Malignaggi has reached a zenith, but still he has much to accomplish in his mind, possibly a matchup with Ricky Hatton in the future, but most attractive would be a chance to gain revenge against Cotto. Whatever he does in the future, Malignaggi will forever be a hero to the people of his hometown: Siracusa, Sicily.
Recently, ‘il Siciliano’ took a few minutes to talk with DoghouseBoxing’s own Vikram Birring; a discussion about Malignaggi’s life, in and out of the ring.
P: Vik, how are you man, how’s everything?
V: Hey, what’s up? How you doing Paulie? It’s an honor to speak with you today.
PM: Oh, no problem man. How’s everything going?
VB: Everything’s going well. First of all, I just wanted to say congratulations on your victory on June 16 when you beat Lovemore Ndou. That was a very impressive victory.
PM: Well, thanks man, appreciate that.
VB: I don’t know if you know this, but I spent a month in Siracusa, Sicily. I was studying abroad over there.
PM: Really? In Siracusa? Wow, that’s where I’m from.
VB: The island of Ortigia.
PM: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. My whole family’s up there man.
VB: I lived right by the water over there, right by the rocks. Actually, it was funny, because they have some posters of you on the streets.
PM: Oh yeah? (laughs). That’s cool. I got the fans out there too.
VB: Everybody knows who you are. Funny thing is, when I said Malignaggi, first they thought of your father, because he was a big time soccer player over there.
PM: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was a pro soccer player over there. He’s more famous than me over there because he played soccer (laughs).
VB: Actually, the guy at the Internet Train, the internet shop, he’s very, very good friends with your father. He saw me on the internet one day, and asked: "You know Malignaggi?" "No," I said, "I’m just a fan." “His father is one of my best friends," he tells me. "He lives in Palazzolo.”
PM: Yeah, yeah, yeah, my father lives in the suburbs. Cool, very nice. That’s quite an experience man. That’s crazy, right where my whole family’s from. My mother’s whole side of the family lives in Siracusa.
VB: It’s a very nice place, I hope that I can go back one day.
PM: Cool, cool.
VB: You were born in Italy then moved to Brooklyn at a very early age. How did that affect your childhood growing up?
PM: Well, I don’t know if it had any kind of affect on me. Italian was my first language because of that, at first it was anyway, now it’s not anymore, but at that point it was. When I moved here, I didn’t speak any English, but as far as anything else, it didn’t affect me too much. I was young, you know what I mean. I was just born in Italy, and then I came here, at that young age. At this point, I don’t think I could live in Italy anymore. But at that point, it didn’t have much of an affect on me, besides the fact that Italian was my first language at the time.
VB: Sicilian also, right?
PM: Yeah, Sicilian also, but that’s really just more of a slang, more spoken with your friends and family. Italian is like the proper, when you’re looking for a job interview you’ll need to speak in Italian.
VB: Of course. I noticed when I was there, they don’t speak Sicilian in public, it’s frowned on. It’s more of an "in the house" kind of a language.
PM: Yeah, it’s more of a slang.
VB: Right now, other than the pole vaulter Giuseppe Gibilisco that won a bronze medal in 2004, you are the most famous athlete from the entire island of Sicily. Every time you enter the ring, you represent not only Brooklyn and your family, but you have a whole island of people cheering for you, and really the whole country of Italy also. In Sicily, it’s a little bit closer; Sicily thinks of itself of its own nation in a way. You have the whole island on your shoulders every time you step into the ring. How does that feel?
PM: It may seem like a lot of pressure, but for me, I enjoy that man. I feel like I get a lot of support, a lot of fan support, from both sides of the Atlantic like you’re saying. For me, it’s not so much pressure as it is more of a boost, it’s a bit of a confidence boost, when I get that kind of support. It motivates me really to perform at the highest level and put on the best performance possible each and every time I’m out there.
VB: Your father came to your last fight. I know you’ve had your differences throughout the years; you were estranged and then you didn’t speak for many years. Yet, the first person that jumped in the ring after you won the fight was your father. He must have been, even though maybe you’ve had your problems in the past, he must have been so, so proud. Your son is always is your son. To see his son as the champion of the world, he must have been so proud of you. Explain that moment.
PM: Yeah, he doesn’t stop talking about me over there in Sicily, he’s like my main PR guy (laughs). He was really happy and excited for me. Through the years, we were kind of estranged, you know, so the relationship is being worked on. But like you said, the father-son relationship is always the father-son relationship at the end of the day. It made him very happy that his son is successful, in athletics of all things, just like he was.
VB: I think it passed on through the blood. Maybe if you ended up living in Italy, you would have become a soccer player instead of a boxer.
PM: Yeah, yeah, most likely. I used to love soccer when I was a kid. If my parents didn’t get divorced, I would’ve probably grown up playing soccer, probably become a soccer player.
VB: Do you have any plans of defending your title in Sicily one day?
PM: Most definitely, most definitely. I want to really let it simmer for now, let it really develop, so that when I do go out there and defend the title in Sicily, it will be in a stadium or something like that. I want the anticipation to go up to the point where everybody is going to come out to the fight when I do fight out there.
VB: Catania, Palermo, especially Siracusa, that whole city knows who you are.
PM: Exactly.
VB: Let’s talk about your career a little bit. You were undefeated when you went up against Cotto. You fought a very, very brave fight, but unfortunately you didn’t come out on top. Some people had written you off after that, but also you gained a lot of respect for the way you fought. You didn’t come just to box, you fought him toe to toe like a man. After that, people were wondering about your confidence, but you came back, you dominated Edner Cherry, you dominated Ndou. You were the favorite over Ndou, but nobody expected you to beat him like that, to pitch a shutout.
PM: Well, you know, I pretty much picked up right where I left off before the Cotto fight after the Cotto fight. I was dominating all my opponents before the Cotto fight, won every round handily, and I pretty much picked up right where I left off and dominated the opposition right after Cotto. I kind of got stuck in the wrong fight with Miguel Cotto. Call it a lack of experience, call it a couple of other factors maybe, but at the end of the day, I had never fought on a big stage like that. At the end of the day, it was the wrong fight I fought against him. You can chalk it up to a lack of experience, chalk it up to a lot of other things. You know, in the end, when you look back at the Cotto fight, it was a valuable lesson learned, a valuable experience. I hope to one day get another chance to fight Miguel Cotto.
VB: I don’t think it was that; I believe in the first few seconds, you got cut up a little but.
PM: The whole reason I even got cut up was the fact that the ring was so small. I wound up trying to smother him instead of using the ring, which I usually do. I saw the ring was small, and said, “You know what? I can’t move around with this guy. I’m going to keep it close, so that he can’t get leverage on his punches, and smother him,” and I got bloodied because of that. At the end of the day, I complained about a small ring, you can complain about all these negative excuses, but at the end of the day, I got cut because of the small ring. I would’ve never thought of the fight being so close had the ring been normal size. Therefore, I wouldn’t have got cut so early.
VB: You can never plan for something like that. When a wrench gets thrown in, you have to adjust, I guess.
PM: It’s an experience, man.
VB: How about Buddy McGirt? After the Cotto fight, you parted ways with your own trainers, who you were with for some time, and then you went with Buddy. Has he fine tuned your game a little bit, maybe polished up some rough spots?
PM: Definitely, most definitely. Buddy’s great in the gym, in the corner especially. Along with my co-trainer Orlando Castillo, I have a great team again. I felt very well-prepared about these two fights. I felt very confident going into them, especially at a time when people might have thought I lost a lot of confidence because of the Cotto loss. I felt ultra-confident because of Buddy and the way we were training in the gym, and I was training with Orlando also; he’s not a bad guy. At the end, the combination of the team I got around me is a big key to the success I’m having.
VB: Any plans to fight later this year?
PM: I definitely want to fight one more time this year. I won the title in June; I definitely don’t want to wait a long time and get stagnant, or get stale so to speak. HBO told me they don’t have a lot of dates left – they don’t have any dates for that matter – so I’m probably going to go on the shelf with HBO, which is kind of disappointing. I kind of wanted to develop on HBO. They gave me an opportunity after the Cotto loss; they put me on their network twice. I put on two good performances, two dominating fights. It’s a little bit disappointing that they would do that to me. At the same time, they’re talking about maybe being on Showtime November 3, and if Showtime picks up the slack, lets me fight on their network, then I have no problem becoming a star on Showtime.
VB: Any opponents you’re looking at?
PM: Most likely it’s going to be Herman Ngoudjo, who is the mandatory of the IBF. I got to get rid of this mandatory so the IBF doesn’t break my chops.
VB: You’ve been in a war of words with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Panchito Bojado, Demetrius Hopkins, and even Junior Witter’s been talking bad about you recently.
PM: I’ve always been somebody who’s pretty much in a lot of people’s mouths, people want to talk about me a lot. You know, when I was coming up, I used to have a lot of beefs with fellow prospects. People don’t want to realize the talent level I’m on. They see me with a pretty boy face, a clown, they’re thinking, “You know, this kid is nothing.” Time and time again, I’m always the one with the target on my back, I’m always the one people are trying to fight. Even now, with the title belt, obviously you’re going to have all these guys calling me out again. I’ve had a war of words with a couple of fighters, but at the end of the day, I want to see the money, I want to see what fights the fans want to see. If it makes dollars, it makes sense.
VB: At the end of the day, what’s your goal in boxing? What do you want to accomplish in your career, when it’s said and done?
PM: I want to leave a legacy, I want to leave my name in history. When I first turned pro, I told myself, I want to be in the Hall of Fame when it’s all over. I’ve kind of grown disgusted with the business a little bit, with boxing itself a little bit. I don’t love it as much as I used to. My main focus has become more the fans, making them happy, making my fans happy, and keeping them satisfied. They’re the ones that come out, they’re the ones that spend money on me, they’re the ones that come out and support me no matter what, when I’m down, when I’m up. Definitely, my main focus has shifted from becoming a Hall of Famer to really making sure the fans are satisfied. I’ve grown disgusted with boxing itself. I could care less if I make the Hall of Fame or not. I want to leave a legacy with my fans and make sure that when it’s all said and done, that they can appreciate me.
VB: It’s a twisted business. It’s always been like that, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon.
PM: It definitely is.
VB: Who’s your dream opponent, Ricky Hatton maybe? You’ve always been saying you want to fight him.
PM: At this point, my dream opponent is definitely Ricky Hatton. I think he’s a bit overrated, he’s a solid fighter, but I think he’s a bit overrated. But at the end of the day, the opponent I want more than anything is Miguel Cotto again, he put the only loss on my record. If I don’t get a chance to avenge that, it’ll kind of feel like a void in my career.
VB: What’s your favorite Italian movie?
PM: Favorite Italian movie? Probably one of these mafia movies I guess (laughs). If you want Italian like Italian speaking, I like Johnny Stecchino.
VB: Life Is Beautiful?
PM: That’s a good one too, with Roberto Benigni.
VB: If it was your last meal of your life, what would you pick?
PM: I like penne vodka.
VB: Your favorite place to visit?
PM: Siracusa, without a doubt. My whole family and friends are there.
VB: Good luck in your career. When I was in Sicily, the people had a lot of love for you. The Sicilian people are very, very proud of you. You have a lot of fans in Brooklyn, a lot of fans in Sicily.
PM: I count my lucky stars every night for having all of those fans.
VB: In bocca al lupo.
PM: Thanks man, appreciate that, grazie. Take care Vik.
A special thanks to Dmitri of Nature’s Grill of Brooklyn who made this interview possible. You can find more information about Nature’s Grill at http://naturesgrillcafe.com/
Also, a huge thank you to IBF junior welterweight champion of the world Paulie Malignaggi, who graciously took time out of his busy schedule to conduct this interview.
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