Danny Garcia-Paulie Malignaggi: Post-Fight Report Card

by Cliff Rold

The pre-fight report card began with a simple question: Who is Danny Garcia?

Is he the fighter who defeated Lucas Matthysse or the guy who had lady luck on his side when the scores were read for fights with Mauricio Herrera and Lamont Peterson? It will take some more fights at Welterweight to find out where Garcia really stands in his new class.

For now, we can at least say he’s the guy who (probably) retired Paulie Malignaggi.

Let’s go the report card.

Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Garcia B+/Malignaggi B+/Post: Same

There was nothing too unexpected in this one outside of Malignaggi not making it the distance. He didn’t appear in immediate danger when the night was waved closed. That didn’t make it a bad stoppage. It was a respectful end for an older fighter who got a chance to see what he had left near the top level and found the answer many have before him.

Malignaggi found out its time to take up announcing full time.

Most assumed that before he and Garcia ever stepped in the ring. It was a hard fight to look forward to and a hard fight to care about as it unfolded; anticlimactic. As he always has, Malignaggi showed guts and made Garcia work for it. He got a lot done for a guy without much of a big time punch.

Garcia, for all the derision he’s taken of late, has gotten a lot done too. While a case could be made that he lost to both Herrera and Peterson, both were world-class foes. Garcia didn’t look fantastic against Malignaggi, but he was efficient and won easy.

After seeing him excel against the likes of Amir Khan and Matthysse, maybe the case of Garcia is that he needs someone who he thinks, before the fight, can beat him. Already the names Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter have been mentioned.

Either fight would make sense. All three men have been in, and won, main events under the PBC umbrella. Garcia and Thurman have both won two. One of the issues with PBC so far has been a lack of logical progression. Winners on one card aren’t being pushed hard to winners on another.

Without progression, it’s hard to establish momentum. It’s harder to create a story. Floyd Mayweather is the king at Welterweight and only Thurman is publicly calling for him. There’s very little of guys calling for each other beyond Floyd either.

It’s hard to be a premiere champion without facing the best guys available. PBC has a big chunk of the real estate in boxing’s deepest, most talented division. Danny Garcia is officially part of that mix.

Welterweight just, officially, got that much deeper.

Now let’s find out where Garcia stands in that pecking order.

Report Card and Staff Picks 2015: 62-15

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at