On Wednesday night at DiBella Entertainment's Broadway Boxing show, Paul Malignaggi received the IBF junior welterweight championship belt he earned a few days earlier via unanimous decision win over Lovemore Ndou. Although Malignaggi covered the eight stitches over his left eye with sunglasses, he was anything but unapproachable at the mid-Manhattan venue, happily greeting even casual acquaintances and posing for pictures. The significance of the date of his victory, June 16 was not lost, as Anthony Catanzaro pointed out that Paulie won his title 58 years to the day after New York-Italian legend, Jake La Motta, captured the middleweight championship against Marcel Cerdan. OK, La Motta was from the Bronx and Malignaggi from Brooklyn, but nonetheless, Malignaggi has joined some exclusive company. --Scott Shaffer
