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Showtime Championship Boxing Recap

January 5, 2008

Bally's Hotel & Casino-Atlantic City, New Jersey

IBF Junior Welterweight (140 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Paulie Malignaggi (23-1, 5 KO's, 139 pounds) (c) vs. Herman Ngoudjo (16-1, 9 KO's, 140 pounds)

Malignaggiwon this title in his last match via 12-round unanimous decision over then champion Lovemore N'Dou on June 16, 2007 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.Malignaggi dominated the match throwing an average of 40 jabs per round. The average jabs thrown per round for boxers at 140 pounds is 20. For the matchMalignaggi outlanded N'Dou 193 jabs to 65 jabs. On total connects for the match Malignaggi held an advantage of 352 total connects to 161 total connects. Malignaggi won every round on 2 of the judges' scorecards. The Brooklyn, New Yorknativepicked up an additional 2 point advantage from a knockdown he scored in round 9 and a point deducted from N'Dou in 6 for punching behind the head. The final scores had Malignaggi winning the title by the scores of, 120-106, 120-106, 118-108. This match was his second with new trainer Buddy McGirt. Since the change in trainer, Malignaggi has arguably not lost a round. One of the judges inMalignaggi'sfirst matchwith McGirt, scoredthe 10-round decision in favor of Malignaggi, 100-90.

The championhad astrong amateur boxing career, which was capped off by winning the United States National Amateur Championships at 132 pounds in 2001.

Malignaggihas a history of injuries to his right hand. TwiceMalignaggi's right hand has been injured during matches. The champion's power-punching hand has sustained 9 fractures andseveral ligament tears, among a list of problems. Malignaggi has had 3 surgeries on his right hand, and re-injuring the hand in this match is a possibility.In the champion's pre-match interview,Malignaggi said he still has doubts about the durability of the hand during matches.Malignaggitalked aboutthe hand injuries effecting his confidence a little bit. Another hand injury during the match do as much mental damage to the champion as the loss of his right hand.Malignaggi's jab heavy style is partially a result of the hand injuries and a way torely on the hand less.

Malignaggi is the ranked by The Ring magazine as the number 2 contender at 140 pounds to its champion in the weight class, Ricky Hatton.

Ngoudjo had a great amateur career, which was highlighted when he represented Cameroon in the 119 pound boxing division at the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympic Games.

Following the Olympics, Ngoudjo moved to Montreal, Quebec. The province of Quebec has hosted 15 of the challenger's 17 pro matches, all victories. Outside of Quebec Ngoudjo is 1-1, both via spit decision.

Ngoudjo's last match was one of the most memorable matches of the year, but not for the action in the ring alone. The Montreal resident defeated Randall Bailey in a narrow 12-round split decision on June 8, 2007 in Montreal at Uniprix Stadium. The match was held outdoors for an ESPN 2 televised event, and during the match a thunderstormunleashed its fury on thestadium. The ring was covered by a tarp, but the crowd was not. Some of the crowd made a run for the exit, but the majority ofthe boisterouscrowd ran to get protection under the edges of the tarp over hanging the ring.It lead to a great scene of thousands of fan singing, while being rained on standing around ringside as an excellent match continued in the ring. Then the power went out in the building, when the boxers were standing to start another round. The boxers went to neutral corners, while the television showed a darkened stadium. In a moment reminiscent of Samoa Joe vs. Takeshi Morishima, the power came back on with the lights at 50% power, and without any signal from the referee the boxers moved towards each other to resume the action, receiving an amazing crowd pop. With the win, Ngoudjo became the mandatory challenger to Malignaggi's title.

Ngoudjo is unranked by The Ring, but the number 7 ranked boxer at 140 pounds by boxrec.com.

Malignaggi at 28-years-old, is 1 year older then the 27-year-old Ngoudjo. The champion has the height advantage at 5' 8" tall, while the challenger is 5' 7.5" tall. Ngoudjo has the reach advantage with a 73" wingspan, and Malignaggi has a 71" wingspan. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time are available, but IBF rules require the competitors to be within 10 pounds of their official weights on the day of the match. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance. Malignaggi is the 6 to 1 betting favorite.

The unified rules of boxing are in affect for this match. Two of the judges are from New Jersey and the other is from Maryland.The referee is Allan Huggins.

Malignaggi boxes on the outside, displays his speed, and easily wins round 1, 10-9. Malignaggi wins round 2, 10-9. The champion has too much speed for Ngoudjo. This match looks like a replay of Malignaggi's title win. With over 1 minute to go in round 3, thearea above Malignaggi's left eye is beginning to swell. Very close round 3, with Malignaggi landing more punches, but Ngoudjo landed 3 punches that with good power behind them. Based on 3 good punches Ngoudjo wins round 3, 10-9. After 3 rounds, Malignaggi leads on my scorecard, 29-28.

With 2:29 to go in round 4, Malignaggi stumbles to the canvas. It was caused by a push and is correctly ruled a slip bythe referee. The action isquickly restarted with 2:24 to go in the round. At the end of round 4, the swelling around Malignaggi's left eye has greatly increased, and a cut has been opened up in that area, as well. Malignaggi's jab went away in round 4 and it allowed Ngoudjo to come in at Malignaggi freely and score with solid punches. Furthermore, Ngoudjo believes Malignaggi's best punch cannot hurt him and is attacking withoutconcentrating on defense. Ngoudjo wins round 4, 10-9. The cut near Malignaggi's left eye appears to have been caused by an unintentional clash of heads. Press row scoring has Malignaggi winning after 4 rounds via majority decision, with two members of the press having Malignaggi winning39-37, 39-37, and the other has the match a draw, 38-38. After 4 rounds, my scorecards has the match even, 38-38. With 1:19 to go in round 5, the referee calls time, because Malignaggi's right shoe is untied. Malignaggi acknowledged the hometown crowd during the 30 seconds his shoe was being tied, before action was resumed. Round 5 is very close, and Ngoudjo may have barely won it, 10-9. Round 6 is close again, mostly because of Malignaggi's inactivity. Ngoudjo is not pressing or doing anything that appears to be preventing Malignaggi from executing his usual game plan of throwing left jabs constantly. However, Malignaggi is not throwing his jab or many punches at all. Ngoudjo has the opportunity to be far more aggressive and decisively win these rounds, but still appears hesitant to work at a heavy pace. Ngoudjo still wins round 6, 10-9. Ngoudjo leads on my scorecard after 6 rounds, 58-56.

Ngoudjo nearly ended Malignaggi night early a few times in round 7 with big right hands. However, the champion was able to hold on and recover from several times when he was in real trouble starting in the first minute of the round. Ngoudjo wins round 7, 10-9. The doctor came and checked to see if Malignaggi was okay to continue after round 7. Ngoudjo wins a close round 8, 10-9. Press row scoring after 8 rounds has Malignaggi winning on all of the scorecards, 77-75, 77-75, 78-74. Al Bernstein on color commentary for Showtime has Ngoudjo winning, 77-75, and my scorecard after 8 rounds has Ngoudjo winning, 78-74. Malignaggi wins round 9 behind a solid jab work, 10-9. Ngoudjo leads on my scorecard after 9 rounds, 87-84.

Malignaggi wins round 10, 10-9. With 1:36 to go in round 11, the action is again stopped for Malignaggi's right shoe to be retied. After a short break the action is resumed. Ngoudjo wins round 11, 10-9. Malignaggi was winning round 11, prior to the break to have his shoe retied. After the break, the momentum shifted and Ngoudjo regained some control of the match boxing on the inside. Ngoudjo wins round 12 decisively over a tired champion, 10-9. Ngoudjo wins the match on my scorecard, 116-112. Bernstein has the match scored, 114-114.

The official decision read by the always "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. that the judges have scored the match: 115-113, 116-113, 117-111, all for the winner and still IBF Junior Welterweight Champion of the World, "The Magic Man", Paulie Malignaggi.

In Malignaggi's post match interview, he said there was ring rust from the lay off on him in this match. The champion did feel he won the match, but this was not one of his better performances. Malignaggi said his right hand was bothering when he threw the uppercut. That was his most effective power punch of the match, but Malignaggi did not begin to use it until late in the match. Therefore, the hand did not bother him until the last few rounds, and he did not have an effective power punch until the last few rounds.

Ngoudjo said in his post match interview that this was a hometown decision. The new citizen of Canada wants a rematch, and Malignaggi said it would happen if the money was right. (Malignaggi's people will make sure that the money is never right to do this match, again.)

Malignaggi was lucky to escape with his title from this match, and the hometown factor probably played a factor in that. The 117-111 score came from one of the New Jersey judges. One member of the press scoring from ringside came up with that same score, he works for the Newark, New Jersey newspaper. It appears Malignaggi got every close round scored for him, because he lost badly in rounds 4, 7 and 12. However, Malignaggi leaves Bally's with the title at 140 pounds that Ricky Hatton never lost. That should put Malignaggi at the top of Hatton's wish list for next opponents on pay-per-view, and in line for a huge pay day. Malignaggi performed well below what he is capable of in this match, and could make a solidopponent for Hatton to beat, around April.

In this match the referee was one sided against Ngoudjo. The decision against Ngoudjo was fairly controversial. However, by not throwing more punches and being more aggressive when Malignaggi was being passive in the middle rounds, Ngoudjo allowed for a bad decision. More seasoning and experience will help Ngoudjo overcome the mental flaws he made in this match, and may take him to the next level of top contender. Until then, Ngoudjo can do very well as a television main eventer on lesser shows developing his skills.

This show is a pretty easy skip. Showtime scheduled 2.5 hours for this show and only had 1 match to air. That necessitated a lot of filler to get the show to 1.5 hours of somewhat frustrating and sloppy action.