Brooklyn went hard on Saturday night as hometown heroes settled a local rivalry on boxing’s biggest stage. Paul Malignaggi (32-5, 7 KO’s) of the Bensonhurst neighborhood squared off against Zab Judah (42-7, 29KO’s) of Brownsville. Both fighters showcased their strengths early in the fight. Malignaggi, making good use of his footwork and high volume of punches, while Judah countered well and his punches were more powerful. In the second round, just as Judah was landing a left hand, Malignaggi’s leg tangled with Judah’s, causing him to trip. The ref ruled it a knockdown despite Malignaggi’s protests. For the next two rounds, Judah dominated. He landed his jab effectively and frequently followed up with a straight left, reddening the side of Malignaggi’s face.
Entering the fifth round, Judah seemed to be in control, but lowered his punch output. Malignaggi took advantage. Bouncing in an out of range, he fired off a stiff jab and occasional right. His movement prevented Judah from walking him down.
Judah never made the necessary adjustments, and Malignaggi dominated throughout the rest of the fight. The final scores read 116-111, 117-110, and 117-110 giving Malignaggi a UD victory.
“This is an emotional win for me,” said Malignaggi. “It definitely allows me to continue boxing. If I had lost, I don’t know that I would have wanted to continue. But this big win puts me in the right spot to fight in this division for lots of money…lots.
“Walking to the ring was pretty surreal. As a teenager I watched Zab fight and to walk into the ring and fighting against him was very surreal. Not that I never expected myself not to be successful, but it was still something very surreal,” continued Malignaggi. “I felt like this showed that this sport can unify everyone. I looked up to this guy when I was coming up in the sport and he’s one of the greats.”
Judah said, “I came to fight and so did Paulie. It just wasn’t there. This was a great opportunity and a great event. I wanted to be the King of Brooklyn. He wasn’t tougher than me. He stayed on the outside and didn’t engage.”
Shawn Porter (22-0-1, 14KO’s) was an aggressive breath of fresh air on a card that featured defensive minded fighters. He took on title holder Devon Alexander (25-2, 13 KO’s). From the outset, Porter rushed Alexander with high-volume punching. In the third round, hard looping punches landed flush on Alexander’s chin, wobbling him. It was more of the same for Porter in the fourth as he was able to wobble Alexander’s legs again with his hard shots. Things cooled off in the middle rounds. Porter’s style comes with him throwing caution to the wind, and that hurt him, as Alexander was often able to land hard counter punches on Porter’s exposed chin. Still, Alexander’s success was few and far between, and it allowed Porter to hold onto the big lead he built for himself. He won by way of Unanimous decision with scores of 115-113, 116-112, 116-112.
After the fight, Porter said, “This is a blessing. We wanted to come out here and establish that I was the better fighter and we made it happen. I think I was able to control the fight because of my experience and I’m the bigger guy. We did what we had to do. I paid my dues. The opportunity was here and I stepped up to the plate.”
Alexander said, “I’m disappointed. I didn’t do what I was supposed to do. I didn’t follow the game plan. He was rushing in and I didn’t capitalize on that. And that’s what we had planned on.”
In a very lackluster affair, Erisandy Lara (18-1-2, 12 KO’s) dominated Austin Trout (26-1, 14 KO’s) over the course of twelve rounds. Lara was much more mobile and able to pick apart his bigger and slightly slower opponent. The action was very limited except for an eleventh round knockdown scored by Lara. The final scores read 118-109, 117-110, and 117-110 giving Lara a unanimous decision victory.
“I did what Canelo couldn’t do. I dominated Trout and I dropped him. Now we have to make a fight that everyone wants to see which is me against Canelo,” said Lara.
“I’m coming right back,” said Trout. “Who can say that they fought such high caliber fighters as Cotto, Canelo and Lara back-to-back-to-back? His style was tricky, but I don’t sign up for easy fights. He was the better man tonight.”
Sakio Bika (35-2-2, 21 KOs) and Anthony Dirrell (26-0-1, 22 KOs) fought an exciting back and forth affair. Bika started the fight winging wild shots, while Dirrell remained composed and was able to pick Bika off with powerful shots. In the fifth round a hard right staggered Bika badly, and another right sent him down. Bika beat the count, and started off the sixth looking to stage a comeback. With a strong body attack and with Dirrell backing into the ropes constantly, Bika was able to take control of large chunks of the fight; even hurting Dirrell on different occasions. In the eleventh, after a wild throw that went low, Bika was deducted a point. This proved to be significant in a close fight. The final scores read 114-112 for Bika, 116-110 for Dirrell, and 113-113 even, making the fight a split draw.
“I want to apologize to the fans for leaving the ring like that but I was just disappointed,” said a frustrated Dirrell. “He hit low and head butted. I definitely want a rematch.”
Bika felt differently. “I feel like I was fighting the referee as well. The body shot was a legitimate body shot. Not below the belt line. I got him on the belt line, Dirrell just wanted to milk it. I was the busier fighter and now I just want to fight the best ahead of me.”
Julian Williams (14-0 8 KOs) dominated Orlando Lora (29-5-2, 29 KOs) en route to a TKO victory. His combination punching and ability to maintain distance was what did it. The fight was stopped at the 0:34 mark of the third round.
Sadam Ali (18-0, 10 KOs) looked impressive against Jesus Selig (12-2-1, 6 KOs) in their bout. He looked very fluid as he toned down his aggression and worked behind a well balanced offensive approach. After dominating Selig for five rounds, a right hand dropped Selig right before the bell. Selig beat the count, but was met with more damage as the 6th round opened. The referee jumped in and stopped the fight at 0:22 mark of round 6, giving Ali a TKO victory.
Marcul Browne (7-0, 7 KO’s) scored another impressive first round knockout when he faced Kevin Engel (20-8, 16 KO’s). The time of the stoppage was 3:00 of the first round.
Juan Dominguez (15-0, 11 KO’s) scored an eight round unanimous decision victory over Camillo Perez (9-2, 4 KO’s). Scores were 79-73, 78-74, and 78-74.
