Of the eight losses Pauli Malignaggi has on his record, more than half of them have come by way of knockout. Throughout his career the former welterweight and junior welterweight champ had his ups and downs, defeating reputable boxers like Zab Judah and Juan "Baby Bull" Diaz, but losing to a better crop of opponents that include the names Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, Adrien Broner, Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia. Cotto broke the orbital bone in his face. The heavy handed Garcia was one of the five who've laid him out. Malignaggi has taken some hard punches in his time, from guys with what he calls "oh my god" power. Over the past several weeks he's been taking some pretty hard blows as he prepares Conor McGregor for his upcoming fight with Floyd Mayweather, thus if anyone can speak on the MMA champ's hands right now, it would be Malignaggi. And his assessment of the Irishman's dukes? "Conor has pop that you have to respect. I'll give that. And that's about where it ends."
"I think Conor's power is the kind of power that he can knock you out cold if he hits you with one shot, but most likely he won't, you know? But if he hits you with one shot and it catches you on the button with 10 oz. gloves, even if it doesn't knock you out cold, it probably rocks you, gets your attention at the very least. Lets you know you don't wanna get hit with that again," Malignaggi said during an interview released by Fight Hype on Friday, July 28. It was a high compliment for a man who is about to take on a guy who hasn't lost a fight in his entire two-decade long career, with a 49-0 record. But while Malignaggi gave McGregor a fighter's chance to land something that could shock the world, the realist in him kept it straight with the audience. McGregor didn't possess the power that one-punch-KO fighters like Mike Tyson, Felix Trinidad, or even up-and-coming bruiser Amir Imam, who he [Malignaggi] says would buzz him from his head to his toes when they sparred.
"It's not oh my god power," says Malignaggi. "It wasn't that kind of power. And I'm not gonna make s**t up just because people wanna hear it."
