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11/02/2024 03:45:13 pm

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Boxing News & Rumors: Paulie Malignaggi Withdraws From May 29 Fight After Suffering Deep Cut Above Eye

Paulie Malignaggi's comeback bout against Danny O'Connor (25-2, 9 KOs) is postponed after he suffered a severe cut right above his eye during training on May 14, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.

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Malignaggi (33-6, 7 KOs), a former IBF Light Welterweight and former WBA Welterweight champion, was forced to back out of his May 29 fight against O'Connor as the cut was deemed by his team too deep for him to be able to compete safely and at his best.

Lou DiBella, Malignaggi's promoter, said that the cut was "in a bad place above his eye" and that "he could not fight."

The fight is supposed to kick off the highly-anticipated 12-round welterweight match between Briton Amir Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) and American Chris Algieri (20-1, 8 KOs), which highlights that day's Premier Boxing Champions card to be televised live on Spike TV.

It was also supposed to be Malignaggi's comeback performance after being sidelined for 13 months, but fans would have to wait a little longer because of the accident. He was knocked out by Shawn Porter in four rounds during his last fight in April 2014 and had been a Showtime TV analyst since then.

According to Scott Christ of SB Nation's Bad Left Hook, the replacement fight will be between two up and coming junior lightweights, Bryan Vasquez (34-1, 18 KOs) and Javier Fortuna (27-0-1, 20 KOs), which was initially slated on May 23. Christ added that this is actually a "much better fight" than the former.

O'Connor, meanwhile, is left to fight a still unknown opponent on the undercard of Premier Boxing Champions' May 23 event in Boston, as cited in Boxing News 24.

The decision of Malignaggi's corner to withdraw because of an injury evokes an eerie recollection of Manny Pacquiao opting to still fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. with a bum shoulder earlier this month.

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