PAULIE Malignaggi, the former two-weight world champion who fought Ricky Hatton, Amir Khan and Miguel Cotto, is going to fight again – in bareknuckle boxing’s trigon.
Malignaggi has signed a three-fight deal with BYB Extreme and is expected to fight in the UK in September.
His last gloved boxing match was in London, an eight-round KO loss to Sam Eggington at the O2 Arena on the undercard of Tony Bellew-David Haye in March, 2017.
That left his record 36-8 (7).
Malignaggi has fought once in bareknuckle before, a loss to MMA fighter Artem Lobov in June, 2019, and is returning at the age of 44 looking to become a world champion at a second sport.
The news comes as a surprise given that he had hand injuries throughout his gloved career.
On possibly the best night of his gloved career, ‘Magic Man’ headed to the Ukraine to upset 32-0 Vyacheslav Senchenko for his WBA welterweight championship in 2012.
Boxing News called it “the win of the year.”
Malignaggi had previously won IBF honours at 140lbs and made two defences before taking on Hatton for the IBO belt and being beaten in 11 rounds.
Malignaggi has had a successful career as a commentator since he retired from competing.
He was an analyst for Showtime and has worked on BYB Extreme shows in the States.
He will be in Nashville, Tennessee, on Saturday night when Lorawnt T ‘Smash’ Nelson, one of the top pound-for-pound bareknuckle boxers on the planet, looks to reverse the only loss of his pro career when he meets Samuel Liera.
Malignaggi says that despite his connections with the promoters, he won’t look to jump straight into a title shot.
He said: “I could use my position to jump right back into a title shot, but that’s not what I’m going to do.
“I respect the fighters too much.
“There’s good contenders in the junior middleweight division and I want to earn my spot.
“I don’t want to jump the line. I’m a competitor, I’m a contender. Even at 44, I still have the goods.”
