“I am going to make you love me, or I am going to make you hate me because you ain't me”
Late last night Boxingtalk.com received a phone call from a very angry and seemingly fed up Paul “The Magic” Malignaggi 18-0(5) who says he has had enough. It all started last week when Duva boxing issued a press release bashing Malignaggi and his handlers for pulling out of a verbal commitment to fight Oscar Diaz in January, followed by an exclusive here on Boxingtalk.com with long time rival Al “Speedy” Gonzales’s manager Pat Doljanin saying “Malignaggi has more fluff than substance”, and then the most recent as Paulie calls it “Hatred” came from Mike Michael, advisor of Mighty Mike Arnaoutis criticizing Malignaggi’s boxing advisor Johnny Bos as being overly cautious protecting of Malignaggi. Read on to see what the Magic Man had to say in response to all of his haters.
RC: What’s going on P?
PM: Just chilling, I’m here watching the Yankees slap the Red Sox around.
RC: How’s your hand feeling?
PM: My hand is getting better and I am just chilling, work is in progress as usual. I am doing my thing and getting in shape, and looking forward to December 4 when I get the WBC international title, and we will really get the ball rolling. I will be on the Jermain Taylor-William Joppy under card.
RC: Will this fight be televised?
PM: It will be on the HBO international broadcast, and they might show highlights on HBO in between fights.
RC: Will your opponent still be Sandro Casamonica?
PM: Yeah, I will be fighting Sandro Casamonica
RC: What can you tell us about Casamonica?
PM: I know he is 34-4(21), he is a former European champion, a former world title challenger at Lightweight, and you know people can say what they want. They are a lot of people saying I should be fighting other people, all the guys like these young cats trying to call me out. The bottom line is this, I am in the ratings, I am world ranked and I am ahead of all of these cats calling me out. So there is no need for anybody to keep opening their mouth out of Jealousy. You know what I mean? Sandro Casamonica won five fights in a row to earn the shot at the WBC international title against Paul Malignaggi, that is something Mike Arnaoutis can’t say, that is something Oscar Diaz can’t say, and that is something “Speedy” Gonzales can’t say. None of them have won their last five fights, so they should shut the fuck up, go back to the lab, practice on their skills and open your mouth when they do something. Right now I am in the rankings, they are behind me so they should stop hating.
RC: Have you see Casamonica on tape yet?
PM: I haven’t seen him on tape yet, they are going to get me a tape and we are going to check it out. The bottom line is people need to stop hating, they see me in the ring clowning around and they think I am not for real, but people need to realize that hatred is my number one motivator. All of these people wishing bad on me and doing bad things to me, they can all kiss my ass. I got that hatred that is just burning inside of me; the rage is consuming me and motivating me to prove all of these people wrong, and just to prove everybody that wishes bad upon me wrong. I can only show them once they are in the ring with me, and that is why I do all of those things in the ring. People just see the clowning; they don’t know the hard work behind it, the sweat and the blood behind what I do. They feel the need to hate, but I earned my world ranking, and I am going to earn my top ten ranking once I win the WBC international title. So I am just going to fight back all of the haters, everybody that wishes bad on me and wishing that I would just drop dead, they can all kiss my ass.
RC: Any word on where this fight will be taking place?
PM: Nah they don’t have a venue yet. The Juan Urango fight is going to hopefully take place in the Garden if everything works out on January 21st on ShoBox.
RC: How’s preparation coming along for this fight?
PM: Everything is going cool, just like I said I am getting tired on everybody hating on me. I am just going to hate right back, whether it is in Boxing or in Life, there is just too many haters, too many people wishing bad on me. The shit is just starting to rage inside of me.
RC: It’s obvious you are upset about all of this, but are you ever flattered that some fighters go out of their way to hate on you?
PM: Yeah, I mean it is flattering me in the fact that I know I am ahead of all these guys in the rankings. So when it comes to the fighters they are just jealous that I am ranked ahead of them and they wish they can be where I am at. You got people’s managers, you got the fans, and you just got people that are just regular in my own private life….man haters are every where and I am hating right back. I am going to make you love me, or I am going to make you hate me because you aint me.
Ray this is what the problem is, everybody wants to be like Paul Malignaggi man, seriously, yo they want to be where I am at in the ratings. They want to get the press coverage that I get, so they talk bad about me because they feel they should get more press coverage. Everybody wants to get what Paul Malignaggi’s got, you can’t be Paul Malignaggi, you just can’t do it. There is only one Paul Malignaggi, you can’t even be like Paul Malignaggi, you know what I saying? I am the one and only Magic Man and that’s it. So stop hating, don’t hate, participate, that’s it. That is what the bottom line is, that is what it all boils down to.
RC: So you feel that they call you out because….
PM: (Cutting in) Man eventually I get tired of it, there is only so much you can take. At the end of the day I am separating myself from the pack, out of all the young gunners up and coming Paul Malignaggi is moving away from the pack. With the exception of (Miguel) Cotto who already won a world title, I am the 140lbs fighter that is up and coming that you have to keep your eye on, and I am proving my worth.
RC: How do you feel about the comments by Mike Michael from “Team Arnaoutis” published here on Boxingtalk.com?
PM: I mean come on man, the guy is talking about he fought a draw with Juan Urango and he should have won it so I should fight him and not Urango. Player…. Juan Urango is the guy with the top ten ranking in the WBC, why would I fight you? Why would I fight Mike Arnaoutis? He means nothing; he has two draws on his record, one of them to a guy (Ibrahim Aroby) 0-1 in Indonesia or some shit. When I looked that up man, I couldn’t believe this guy even had the balls to call me out. Its ridiculous man, what are you kidding me? Urango is the guy with the world rating, so of course I am going to go after Urango. It is much better for my career; beating Juan Urango being in a top ten position is better for me. Once I win the WBC international title, and defend it against Urango it only betters my shot at getting at getting a world title faster. What does Mike Arnaoutis do for me? He isn’t rated anywhere, he aint shit. He and his manager need to stop popping off at the mouth. They have no worth, they have nothing, they been on television one time in their whole career, shut up man! You can’t beat Paul Malignaggi, again the bottom line is they want to be like Paul Malignaggi, you can’t even be like Paul Malignaggi, and that is it, that is why they cant stand it, because they hate me because they aint.
RC: Give us your thoughts on the press release by Diaz handlers saying you backed out of the fight?
PM: We had a commitment last year, and he went and lost to Ebo Elder, he lost practically every round and he lost the commitment. I mean come on, the guy got embarrassed by Ebo Elder on national T.V. and I am going to fight him coming off of that? What would that have done for me? Ebo Elder completely obliterated him, and made him look stupid on National T.V., why would I go and fight him after that? It was a lose, lose situation for me, if I don’t win all ten rounds against Oscar Diaz they are going to say “Elder beat him better than Malignaggi” what am I going to do that for? You are worthless man, you got your ass kicked, and the fight wasn’t even close. At least I give Speedy enough credit to say something because the fight was close with Hopkins. But Speedy still can’t fight for his life man, but I feel he has more credibility talking than Oscar Diaz, Oscar Diaz really just came off out of no where and started popping off at the mouth, I don’t know where they are coming from with that. These guys value is nothing right now so they need to talk about Paul Malignaggi to get themselves in the papers and get themselves in the media because nobody pays attention to Oscar Diaz right now, and the only people that are going to pay attention to Oscar Diaz is the ones that read about him talking about Paul Malignaggi, because let’s face it all these guys talk about Paul Malignaggi is the one that puts them in the papers. Malignaggi is the reason why anybody even gets written about in the Media. You know what I saying? Because you have to mention Paul Malignaggi’s name when you are an up and coming Jr. welterweight in order to get any media coverage, because everybody wants to pay attention to Paul “FUCKING” Malignaggi.
“Make sure you get all of this Ray”
RC: I got it Paulie, both parties involved are interested in making an Al “Speedy” Gonzales versus Oscar Diaz match up, give us your thoughts on that fight?
PM: Let them fight it each other, which is what bums should do, they should fight each other. That way at least one of them can come out of that bum subject, to solidify their status as something a little better than a bum. Something a little above a bum because right now they are both bums, so at least the winner of that fight, If there is a winner can at least rise a little higher. They will still be way behind Paul Malignaggi, I don’t know what Pat Doljanin and Speedy’s people are talking about Malignaggi in the rear view mirror. Man they are so far behind in my rear view mirror I can’t even see them in it, that is how far behind they are. My rear view mirror don’t see back that far.
RC: Who do you think wins the fight?
PM: I think Oscar Diaz beats Speedy, he is a little more technically sound than Speedy.
RC: Is there anything else out there to the haters you didn’t address?
PM: Like I said already Hatred is my number one motivator. If you hate me, if you have something to say against me, if you wish bad upon on me, whether it is in life, or whether it is in boxing or anything man, hatred is my number one motivator, the fire just consumes me, it is starting to rage inside of me and I can’t even control it anymore man. They are just feeding this hunger, they are feeding this hunger for me to get to the top so that I could laugh in everybody’s face at the end of the night, and that is what I am going to do. At the end it is going to be Paul Malignaggi on top and laughing at everybody.
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