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N’dou
strictly business for champ Malignaggi
SIRACUSA, Sicily (May 1, 2008) – IBF junior welterweight champion Paulie
“The Magic Man” Malignaggi has shifted training camp from Vero Beach
(Florida) to Sicily in preparation for his May 24 rematch with Lovemore
N’dou on the Ricky Hatton-Juan Lazcano card in Manchester, England.
Malignaggi (24-1, 5 KOs) captured the IBF title last June by defeating
champion N’dou (46-9-1, 31 KOs) by unanimous 12-found decision. Paulie
successfully defended his belt this past January with a 12-round decision
against No. 1 contender Herman Ngoudjo (16-1).
Fighting an opponent he thoroughly outclassed (120-106, 120-106, 118-108)
less than a year ago, flooring him in the process, has all the makings of a
potential trap fight for Malignaggi, especially with a potential mega-deal
on the table to fight Ricky Hatton this fall in New York City, pending wins
May 24 by both fighters.
“I’m just working on getting the job done May 24th,” Malignaggi explained.
“I’m focused on doing my job on this card, not looking any deeper than I
have to. I’m training in Sicily to get acclimated to the time change (like
England, 6 hours difference from the East Coast of the U.S.). I have
connections here and everything was set-up for me, including my sparring
partners. I trained two weeks in Vero Beach with Buddy (McGirt, head
trainer) and he’ll catch up with us in Sicily.
“N’dou is a pressure fighter who fights at a high pace. I just have to stay
consistent and fight like I did our first fight. I’ll force him into making
adjustments. He has to try and get to me, come to me, not stay on the
outside. He’s been the same fighter for a long time and I don’t expect
anything much different this fight.”
Malignaggi was born in Brooklyn but his Italian immigrant parents moved back
to Siracuse, Sicily when Paulie was only a few months old. Six years later,
the family decided to move back to the United States, but Paulie’s
professional soccer playing father, Nello, stayed only a few weeks before
returning to live in Siracuse.
McGirt predicts Malignaggi will be ready for N’dou once again. “N’dou
brought in Boza Edwards to train him and I know they’ll be concentrating
more on a body attack,” Buddy said. “They’ll judge Paulie off of his last
fight (against Ngoudjo) and try to do a couple of things differently. Once
things don’t go his way, hopefully, N’dou will go back to fighting the way
he always does.
“Paulie won’t be looking ahead to Hatton. He never mentioned Hatton’s name
in the two weeks he trained here (Vero Beach). Paulie learned a tough lesson
against Ngoudjo, looking ahead to talks about fighting Hatton. There’s no
Hatton fight unless he wins this fight. Paulie will be ready.” |
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