PAUL MALIGNAGGI believes he has trained better for his fight with Danny Garcia on Saturday [August 1] than he has at any point in the last decade.
The 34-year-old former two-weight world champion faces Garcia at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York in what will be the unbeaten Philadelphian’s first fight at 147lbs.
Although Malignaggi has not fought since his stoppage loss to Shawn Porter in April 2014, ‘The Magic Man’ insists he has still been in deep training.
“If we’re going to talk about the layoff, people are going to talk about the fact that I haven’t fought for a long time,” he said.
“But in reality, I actually haven’t trained this consistently in a decade, literally a decade.
“I do feel the sharpness in a gym. I do feel the timing is really good. Obviously my weight has come down [as well].”
Having fought at welterweight for the past five years and with a style that Garcia has struggled with in the past, most recently against Lamont Peterson and Mauricio Herrera, there are those who believe Malignaggi holds advantages over Danny, despite being the underdog.
However, Paul refuses to make such claims although does feel he will be able to exploit certain areas of Garcia’s fighting.
“I’m not looking at it as having any advantages. It’s just a matter of matching of my skills to his skills,” he said.
“I think styles make fights. From a style point of view there are things that I feel like I’ll be able to do against Danny. But I also expect Danny has made some adjustments since his last few fights.
“I can’t really tell you exactly how I’m going to play it out until I’m in the ring myself. I plan on being the best me possible. I plan on being the sharpest me possible. The plan is to flow this training camp into a sharp night on August 1.”
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