MY FIRST TIME
have experience, but I know how to throw straight punches, and that’s the fastest way to the target.’ And I have fast hands. “I remember the first shot. He threw a little lazy jab, but it was already in my mind that I was going to throw a one-two, and his lazy jab was too lazy. So I came over the top with a right hand and a one-two. I hurt him with the right hand, hit him dead square. He didn’t roll with it, and he got an eight count. And then from there, I just overwhelmed him. I don’t know if it was his first fight, but it was my first fight, so I didn’t want to be cold. I remember thinking to myself, ‘I’m going to be anxious, I’m going to react and not just be one of those deer in the headlights guys. I know what I learned in the gym. I know I’m tough. I’ve been tough my whole life. I know what I’ve been learning in these months in the gym. Use it. And in case anything hits you, you’ve been in fights and you’ve been sparring. You’ve been in fights all your life in school.’ Nothing to be shocked about, but that night, I didn’t really get hit. I just did the hitting.” MY FIRST PROFESSIONAL FIGHT – July 7, 2001 – vs. Thadeus Parker “I was 20 years old. That time was very exciting for me because I just won the U.S. Championships, and I won the Golden Gloves in 2001. So I was riding on a high. I thought my future was so bright. Little did I know just how much road was in front of me. But when you’re young, you’re so optimistic about everything in front of you. And when I was turning pro, there were a lot of people that were really believing in me. I’m walking into one of the
‘Wow, I’m the star.’ That's how I always approached my four- and six-round fights; even though I wasn’t the main event and everybody’s not here to see me, I’m the star.
best gyms in the world, and everybody in the gym has super respect for me because I’m one of the best fighters in the gym. So it felt good to train every day. It felt good to improve every day. But I almost didn’t turn pro in July of 2001, because having won the U.S. Championships, I had a chance to go to the World Championships, which were in Belfast, Northern Ireland. But I got an opportunity to turn pro on a blockbuster card in Coney Island, which is down the street from Bensonhurst. It was a really tough decision, but I’m glad I was able to get on that card and turn pro on that show in front of people from my neighborhood. And the promotion of everything was in and around my area in Coney Island and Bensonhurst. So it was really a lot of fun. “I always remember being anxious and nervous, but by that point, unlike my first amateur fight where I was angry and ready to show everybody, I knew what I was doing, and I was reminding myself that this was the next part of the journey. When I started boxing, I had these checkmarks in my mind. The first sparring session, first amateur fight, Golden Gloves, national title, Olympics, pro world championship fight. And I remember having these checkmarks,
and obviously I didn’t achieve all of them. For example, I didn’t go to the Olympics. But whenever I would get into the dressing room for one of these checkmark moments, I would remind myself. So I remember getting to the dressing room in the pros and thinking about that checkmark moment, and that was the excitement of everything. Obviously, I was such an unimportant part of the night because the important part of the night is the main event and co-main event, which was Kirk Johnson against Larry Donald and Hector Camacho Jr. against Jesse James Leija. But in my mind, I was building myself up like, ‘Wow, I’m the star.’ That’s how I always approached my four- and six- round fights; even though I wasn’t the main event and everybody’s not here to see me, I’m the star. That’s how I would motivate myself, because my press clippings aren’t going to get me to this better life. My press clippings aren’t going to get me the respect and get me to that place where people know, ‘Hey, you know what, Paulie is somebody. Paulie can fight.’ So that’s why I had all those checkmarks. Looking back, I didn’t achieve all of them, but you know what? There were enough checkmarks there that it kept me always motivated.” (Paulie won by first-round TKO.)
Twelve years after his humble pro debut, Malignaggi battled Adrien Broner in a major headliner.
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