Brooklyn’s “Magic Man” Goes Golden Boy

This week, light welterweight fighter Paul Malignaggi signed with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. After a TKO loss to British Amir Khan six months ago – that some suspected my lead him to a quick retirement – Malignaggi, 29, has shown he’s still got more fights in him, and more importantly, that people are willing to pay to watch him.

The announcement came while De la Hoya was in New York, set to give some lesson’s at Gleason’s Gym in downtown Brooklyn. Rumors have already circulated that he’ll be lined up with lightweight Erik Morales.

It came as a surprise to many, including myself after Malignaggi a Benshonhurst native, told me he in August that he wouldn’t be fighting again until the end of this year. He explained to me that he was concentrating on acting at the time. There was also some speculation that Malignaggi, an Italian-American, would head over to Italy for fights.

This also means Malignaggi will be parting ways with Brooklynite Lou DiBella, promoter, and former head of HBO boxing, now owner of DiBella entertainment, currently Argentine boxer Sergio Martinez’s promoter. Malignaggi explained to the Daily News that although DiBella put him up against big names, he didn’t do as much as he would have liked.

The loser in all of this seems to be DiBella who had also been beat by Golden Boy in setting up fights at the Barclay Center in New Jersey, still being constructed. Golden Boy is clearly interested in setting up shot on the East Coast. This is perhaps the first of many East Coast Golden Boy deals.