In the Inner Sanctum by Thomas Hauser;

Author:Thomas Hauser; [Hauser, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781610757836
Publisher: Chicago Distribution Center (CDC Presses)

Malignaggi liked to get to the arena early when he fought and give himself time to settle in. He wasn’t scheduled to be in the ring until 8:00 p.m. on fight night but arrived at his dressing room at five o’clock preparatory to doing battle against Hatton.

Team Malignaggi was with him. Trainer Buddy McGirt, assistant trainer Orlando Carrasquillo, cutman Danny Milano, Umberto Malignaggi (Paulie’s brother), Pete Sferazza (a close friend), attorney John Hornewer, and Anthony Catanzaro (who mentored Paulie outside the ring).

While the others engaged in quiet conversation, Paulie sat on a chair and listened to music through a pair of headphones. It was impossible for the members of his team to know precisely what doubts and fears were running through his mind. But one thing was certain. He knew the taste of defeat. Its sour residue had been in his mouth since losing to Cotto two years earlier. He never wanted to taste it again.

Over the next few hours, Malignaggi stretched, put on his shoes and trunks, had his hands taped, shadow-boxed, and listened to referee Kenny Bayless’s pre-fight instructions.

At seven o’clock, he went into an adjacent room with Carrasquillo to warm up and hit the pads. McGirt stayed in the main dressing area to watch James Kirkland vs. Brian Vera (HBO’s first televised fight of the evening) on a television monitor.

At 7:15, Sylvester Stallone and Chuck Zito entered the dressing room and made their way to Malignaggi and Carrasquillo.

“You look good, man,” Stallone told Paulie. “Better than I ever looked.”

“I’m ready. The plan is to bust him up.”

“Have a good one.”

In less than a minute, Stallone and Zito were gone. For the next half hour, Malignaggi alternated between hitting the pads with Carrasquillo and sitting on the arm of a worn paisley-covered sofa with his head down. More than any of the people around him, he was processing the reality of how dangerous and contingent the next hour would be.

As more than a few boxing insiders had speculated might happen, a fighter got old in the ring during Hatton–Malignaggi. But that fighter wasn’t Ricky. It was Paulie.

Malignaggi had a slight edge in round one as a consequence of superior footwork and his jab. But he wasn’t particularly effective with either, which was a precursor of things to come. He let Hatton get into a rhythm early and never got into a rhythm of his own.

In round two, Ricky became more aggressive and, with a half-minute left in the stanza, stunned Paulie with a chopping right hand. Thereafter, Malignaggi seemed to abandon his game plan in favor of an almost impatient battle. He fought like a fighter with a puncher’s chance instead of a boxer whose only road to victory lay in putting together punch after punch to win point after point, round after round. And he didn’t have a puncher’s chance because he wasn’t a puncher.

Hatton was physically stronger. Malignaggi’s primary defense was movement. He didn’t have the power to keep Ricky off. When he landed, Hatton simply walked through the punches to get inside.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.