Paulie Malignaggi on Gervonta Davis: “Very good boxer but he is not a world champion in many weight classes”
By: Hans Themistode
Paulie Malignaggi sits back and reminisces about the good old days. Having spent nearly half his life in the glare of professional boxing, Malignaggi recalls the time when world championship was once a sacred and rare achievement.
Throughout his career spanning nearly a decade and a half, Malignaggi beams with pride as he talks about winning his world title. In 2007, a year after losing his first title to Miguel Cotto, Malignaggi dethroned former IBF lightweight champion Lovemore N’dou.
About five years later, Malignaggi began his second championship reign with a ninth round victory over former WBA weight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko.
Although that championship ranks near the pinnacle of Malignaggi’s track and field career, he believes that with the rise of world titles in this day and age, the rare achievement has been lost. go splendor.
Malignaggi said on Paulie TV: “Now, you are making the extra belt of the same sanctioned body belt. “You’ve got a hit with the WBA and Regular titles but you’ve never seen those two play against each other. At one point, there will be a need for number one and two to fight each other, and they will want to fight, or at least the one without a belt will want to fight.
“Now, in everyone there is a belt generation, people just say ‘hey, you know what? I don’t need to fight him. I can march on my own on the network that I fight as a world champion and the network that I fight with will call me a world champion.”
To better explain his point, Malignaggi sees Gervonta Davis as a prime example of the bizarre traits associated with the sport of boxing.
Case in point, Showtime calls Gervonta Davis a three-division world champion. Although he has never won the world title in the 135-pound class and he has also never won the world title in the 140-pound class. He was the champion at 130 pounds. ”
Davis, 27, has spent many years of his career competing in multiple weight classes. After a seventh-round win over Jose Pedraza in 2017, Davis successfully hugged the 130-pound IBF title around her waist.
Since then, however, Davis has not been able to compete for an official title. In December 2019, Davis scored the winning goal in the 12th round against former champion Yuriokis Gamboa. In the process, Davis won the vacant 135-pound WBA “Regular” title.
In 2021, Davis blatantly usurped the home of former WBA “Regular” champion Mario Barrios at £140. Despite struggling early on, Davis found the finishing touch in the 11th round. As a result, Davis once again won the secondary world title.
Although Davis was repeatedly mentioned as a multi-tournament champion, Malignaggi shook his head in disgust. While the former two-division champion has the utmost respect for Davis and his overall skill set, he firmly disagrees with anyone who believes he is a multi-division champion.
“This doesn’t take away from the fact that he is a very good boxer but he is not and has never been a world champion in many weight classes.”
