By Warren Rodriguez
In a P.C. world, it can be refreshing to watch a boxing press conference.
Two modern day gladiators hyping their bout with crass, rude language and showing each other little respect is often the case.
Sometimes though, the trash talk can go too far, as was the case of the press conference for Adrien Broner and Paulie Malignaggi's upcoming bout. Little was said about their June 22nd welterweight matchup, as the two men focused on accusations of domestic violence and sexual conquests.
Broner got the fireworks started by telling a story about Malignaggi’s ex-girlfriend “Jessica,” and even called her on the phone so she could listen and laugh with Broner as he told the story. The story consisted of Broner consoling Jessica after Malignaggi had slapped her because she said he was a light puncher and didn’t even know how to hit it hard in the bedroom.
Broner also implied that two are now dating because he is a heavy hitter.
With families and children in the audience already looking appalled and Showtime’s head of sports Stephen Espinoza shaking his head likely embarrassed, Paulie Malignaggi took to the microphone to clear the air,
“There’s girls that are closer to you and then there’s girls us guys call weekend p*ssy”, Malignaggi said to a packed house of mortified onlookers. “Jessica was weekend p*ssy. That means Jessica can f*ck anybody she wants and when I’ve got time on the weekends, I’ll do what I want to do. And she loved it. Adrien doesn’t understand what it’s like to be good looking”,
Malignaggi said of the two time division champion. “Where you get regular p*ssy, weekend p*ssy and you don’t pay for none of it. That’s the life I live.”
And for Malignaggi’s finale about Jessica,
“Not only that, she loved getting hit when we slept together, Adrien, if you f*cked her you know it.”
With Jessica finally out of the way the insults continued to be hurled and a misogynistic tone continued to swirl in the air as the two argued over who’s name was more feminine and which man was going to make the other his b*tch.
I don’t think this is the kind of press conference Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer had in mind.
“I didn’t particularly appreciate (it)," Schaefer said. “There were some kids here and some females. It was a bit over the top. It was really not necessary.”
Golden Boy and Showtime, an alliance currently locked in a cold war of sorts with Top Rank and HBO, has to be a little concerned. Boxing more so than other sports is dependent upon the marketability of the fighters and with both fighters coming off as misogynistic and crude, viewers aren’t likely to be cheering for either one of them and may just tune out. Golden Boy is prepping Broner to be the next big star in boxing and take the spot of Floyd Mayweather as the cash cow of the company when the superstar ultimately decides to hang the gloves up, but talk like this isn’t going to endear him to viewers.
With tensions now seemingly running high, it should be a pretty exciting fight. Expect Broner to win big even though he is moving up two weight classes to fight the WBA welterweight champion. Malignaggi doesn’t have the strength, quickness or boxing IQ to last a full twelve rounds with Broner. Both fighters definitively have something to prove, so expect them to come out swinging to win back the hearts of boxing fans and, of course, the heart of Jessica.
2 comments :
Well written article - you held back no punches. Men acting like children.
Trash talk has been part of competitive sports for as long as it has existed. From touching sensitive subjects like mothers to whatever it takes to throw your opponent off. But keep it in the place of combat, in other words trash talk to your opponent when he can react to your words, on the court, on the field or in the ring.
For some reason it brings out the best or worst out of athletes. I respect Broner and Malignaggi for their talents, but they certainley need to polish up on sportsmanship skills. Great article Warren.
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