MALIGNAGGI RETAINS WBA WELTERWEIGHT STRAP WITH A CLOSE SPLIT DECISION WIN OVER CANO
By Rich Mazon
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 21 Oct 2012
Brooklyn, NY ? Brooklyn?s own Paulie Malignaggi 31-4 (7 KOs) eked out a close Split Decision win over tough challenger Pablo Cesar Cano 26-1-1 (20 KOs) of Tianepantia, Mexico keeping his WBA welterweight strap at the Barclays Center Arena.
Malignaggi survived an eleventh round knockdown in the fight and hanged on to salvage a successful defense of his title in front of his hometown crowd.
Cano who is ineligible to win this belt because he missed the 147 pound limit at yesterday?s weigh-in, cracked Malignaggi with a vicious right hook that immediately floored the defending welterweight champ. Malignaggi recovered, got up and held to survive his opponent?s onslaught after that.
Malignaggi employed effective jabbing against the advancing Cano in the earlier rounds of the fight, tagging his opponent numerous times in the night.
Cano suffered a cut in his left eye in the 2nd round which became a constant target for Malignaggi.
Malignaggi opened his counterpart?s cut further with accurate jabs and looping rights as the fight progresses. But Cano?s corner managed the wound well which proved helpful as their ward managed to land and hurt the champion in various stages of the fight.
Cano went hard on Malignaggi?s body which prompted the hometown fighter to back pedal after being in the receiving hand of those blows to the torso. The tough Mexican fighter also connected with his left hooks to the head of Malignaggi which shook the champion.
Malignaggi fought from the distance which worked well for him, he out jabbed Cano and maintained a comfortable space which prevented him from getting hit. He poured out 160 jabs against Cano?s 97.
But Cano connected more with his power shots, 262 to Malignaggi?s 217 which the Mexican crowd enjoyed and applauded.
Malignaggi took two out of the three scorecards from the judges at ring side with identical scores of 114 to 113 while a third judge awarded the fight to Cano with a score of 118-109.
This is Malignaggi's first succesful defense of his 147 crown which he won over Vyacheslav Senchenko last April in Ukraine.
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