Canada and USA
Boxing Has a Poet Laureate and His Name is Paulie Malignaggi
Boxing Poet Laureate – Paulie Malignaggi, a former world champion in two weight classes, had a rough go of it in his last fight on American soil. Danny Garcia worked him over pretty good before stopping him in the ninth frame. Off that fight, retirement seemed the proper course of action but the Brooklyn-born Malignaggi, who spent the early part of his boyhood in Sicily, troops on. Tomorrow night the 35-year-old campaigner opposes fellow Brooklynite Gabriel Bracero at the Barclays Center on the undercard of the show that features undefeated featherweights Leo Santa Cruz and Carl Frampton in the main event. His bout will air on Showtime Extreme.
Why keep fighting and risk permanent damage? It’s a question that’s been asked of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of professional boxers. But perhaps no one has answered it as eloquently as Malignaggi. His open letter to the boxing community, in which he explains his need to keep on fighting, reads like a fine piece of poetry. Here it is.
Dear Boxing,
I don’t need the money
I don’t need the fame
But I still need to fight
Even my friends think I’m a little crazy
And maybe I am
Hey, I’d have never been a champ if I weren’t
I know fighters don’t age gracefully
I know fighters get hurt
But I also know in my heart I got to fight
Why? I’ll tell you
Love
Not the normal kind, though
More like a bad girlfriend
She’s broken my heart
She’ll do it again
And I keep coming back for more
I love her despite her treacheries
My mind knows better
My heart doesn’t
And it was my heart that got me here in the first place
You see, boxing loved me when no one else would
I was a kid from Sicily
A high school dropout
Boxing gave me things I couldn’t imagine
Boxing let me dream
And that’s what I want
That’s what I’m fighting for
That chance to dream again
(Yours truly, Paulie)
Boxing Poet Laureate
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