Boxing

44-Year-Old Former Boxing Champion Set To Fight Again - Without Gloves

Former world champion Pauli Malignaggi looks to make a ring return

Joseph Hammond|
Dec 7, 2013; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Zab Judah (red trunks) and Paulie Malignaggi (black trunks) hug after their NABF Welterweight Title bout at Barclays Center. Malignaggi won via unanimous decision. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
Dec 7, 2013; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Zab Judah (red trunks) and Paulie Malignaggi (black trunks) hug after their NABF Welterweight Title bout at Barclays Center. Malignaggi won via unanimous decision. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

Pauli Malignaggi, a former world champion, is set to return to a three-sided boxing ring without gloves.

Malignaggi has inked a three-fight deal with Bare Knuckle Boxing (BKB). His first fight under the agreement is scheduled for September 6, when he will fight an opponent to be named at BKB 45 in the English town of Bristol.

The former New York boxing standout rose to become the IBF super lightweight champion. His boxing career was at times brilliant and at times brutal, including notable fights with New York rival Zab Judah, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Shawn Porter, and Adrien Broner. After leaving the ring, he served as a boxing commentator known for excellent technical analysis.

Now, Malignaggi has announced an unlikely boxing return after having not competed since 2019. That year, he came up short against former UFC fighter Artem Lobov in another bare-knuckle fight, BKFC 6.

" I could easily use my position to jump right back into a title fight. But you know what? That's not what I'm going to do. I respect the fighters too much," said Malignaggi in a media interview.

Other fighters from his era, including Sugar Shane Mosely and Victor Ortiz Jr., are eyeing their own boxing matches in the United Kingdom this year.

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Joseph Hammond
JOSEPH HAMMOND

Joseph Hammond is a veteran sports journalist with extensive experience covering world championship fights across three continents. He has interviewed legendary champions such as Julio César Chávez, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Gennady Golovkin, Oscar De La Hoya, and Bernard Hopkins, among many others. He reported ringside for KO On SI in 2024 for the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk bout in Riyadh - the first undisputed heavyweight championship in 24 years.

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