Buddy McGirt Out as Paulie Malginaggi's Trainer

Buddy McGirt Out as Paulie Malginaggi's Trainer

By Brandon Estrict for DoghouseBoxing.com (April 21, 2009)

Just ahead of Light Welterweight contender Paulie Malignaggi’s comeback fight this Saturday, I’ve just learned that long-time trainer, Buddy McGirt has been fired.

This upcoming bout will be Malignaggi’s first since being dominated last November by the division’s kingpin, Ricky Hatton. Though Malignaggi had lost all but one round on official judges scorecards that night, he was only visibly shaken once by a right hand early in the fight and seemed not to have taken as

much punishment in the bout than he did two years earlier against current Welterweight Champion, Miguel Cotto, the fight that he built his name off of displaying a tremendous amount of fortitude, albeit in a losing effort.

Against Hatton though, McGirt saw the fight as being so uncompetitive that he decided to intervene by calling for referee, Kenny Bayless, to put a holt to the action in the 11th round, a move that didn’t sit well with the previously unstopped Malignaggi.

“You don’t do that, I’m better than that!” a disappointed Malignaggi stated after the fight. Although the bout had gotten so out of hand that the stoppage may have been understandable to some, Malignaggi didn’t appear to be in imminent danger when it was waved off.

When I asked Paulie about his apparent rift with McGirt, here’s what he had to say:

“Buddy is out. He’s been fired and I’ll be trained by a guy from New York that you’ll all know (soon).” (*Thomas Gerbasi of MaxBoxing reports: Taking over for McGirt will be Brooklyn trainer Sherif Younan.)

Malignaggi, 25-2 (5), will take on Christopher “Kid Kayo” Fernandez, 16-6-1 (9), on the untelevised portion of a Showtime Championship Boxing undercard, headlined by Carl Froch defending his WBC Super Middleweight Title against Jermain Taylor, next Saturday the 25th of April. The broadcast gets underway at 9 pm, est, with a returning Allan “Sweetness” Green taking on Carlos De Leon Jr.

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