ZAB JUDAH AND PAULIE MALIGNAGGI MEDIA
CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT
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Marylyn
Aceves
Thanks everyone
for joining us today. We have Zab Judah and Paulie Maliganggi available to talk
to you and answer your questions about the fight
Richard
Schaefer
Thank you,
Marylyn. I'm really excited, I've been talking with Paulie and Zab Judah, I know
its freezing cold in New York but those guys are going to heat up the Barclays
Center. It's been a terrific year for SHOWTIME. It has been the best year in
boxing history for SHOWTIME and SHOWTIME is not ending the year with one bang
but two bangs. The first one will be Dec. 7 here with Judah and Malignaggi. It's
a battle of Brooklyn; it's for the pride of Brooklyn.
We also have some
of the best talent in those respective weight classes that are going to be
showcasing what they are all about in meaningful fights. Truly a big thank you
to SHOWTIME for stepping up and delivering this fight card to fans in the U.S.
and around the world.
It's been the
biggest year in their short boxing history for Barclays Center. It was no other
than Paulie Malignaggi who opened up the building last October and every one of
those events since we've seen more and more people embracing the sport and
showing up at Barclays Center. Every show we're going from one record crowd to
the next and that's exactly what I expect for this big night on Dec. 7 - a new
record crowd for Barclays Center.
Pricing tickets
that everyone can afford has become a hallmark for Golden Boy Promotions.
Tickets are an unbelievable deal. We want a record crowd event at Barclays
Center. It's really an unbelievable deal to see this great card.
I want to thank
our sponsors as well - Corona, AT&T, Casamigos Tequila and the Grudge Match,
a movie which will be coming out in December.
I now want to
introduce to you Zab Judah. He's one of the best known names in the sport of
boxing. He's always exciting and that's exactly what this sport wants and needs.
He knows what's at stake here. It's not just the pride of Brooklyn, but the
147-pound weight class is the deepest weight class, the biggest names are
fighting there and that's exactly what Zab Judah wants. He knows he needs to
beat Paulie Malignaggi to move on to those big world title fights in the
division.
Zab
Judah
Thank you,
Richard, I appreciate it. Training camp has been fun. We had a great training
camp here in Las Vegas and a lot of good public relations and I'm just excited
to come back home and be crowned the king of BK.
Richard
Schaefer
Paulie is one of
the most skilled fighters, always comes to win. He has a tremendous personality
outside the ring. I think whatever he does he always strives to be on top and I
think there's no question Paulie is the best color commentator in the sport. But
it doesn't stop there - Paulie still has unfinished business in the ring and he
realizes what a win against Zab is going to do to him in that stacked weight
class. So he's going to come to win.
Paulie
Malignaggi
It's a pleasure
being on with everyone once again. I really look forward to mixing it up with
Zab and hopefully we get a record crowd for Brooklyn at Barclays Center. I know
he's got a lot of support in Brooklyn and I know I have a lot of support in
Brooklyn. We have a great supporting cast on the undercard and I think this card
has the potential to be the best card that Barclays Center has put on yet, and
we've had some great cards there. Hopefully, like Richard said, we get a good
crowd. I would like it to be a sell-out card. I think it is going to be the most
spectacular card that has been at Barclays yet. I look forward to mixing it with
him and seeing who really is the king of Brooklyn for this generation and I've
prepared very well for that.
Q: Dan Rafael
ESPN- Hello guys- good to talk to you today. I'd like you both to answer. You
guys are both from Brooklyn in the same weight class. When did you start to
think this fight would happen?
Zab
Judah
For me this fight
came about after the Garcia fight. In my preparation for moving forward to do
what I do they said Paulie and I said "Paulie, nah, Paulie is my homeboy." But I
was like, 'Hey, you know this is an opportunity that you've got to take for
boxing.' So I guess we're here now. Like I said, this is a fight where there's
no animosity or anything like that. It's just us going in there and representing
for our city.
Paulie
Malignaggi
I'd like to echo
the same sentiments as Zab. For a lot of years I came up behind Zab and he kind
of laid the building blocks for my generation. He was kind of the guy to look up
to and to try to match his accomplishments. It really didn't come to mind, we
were in different weight classes and at different places in our career, but
people started mentioning it and talking around Brooklyn the past year or two.
But I still didn't think the fight had any chance of happening because we were
still in different weight classes and kind of had different goals for our
careers. We each took a competitive loss in our last fight and it's kind of a
situation where you have to take a step back in way from world title fights. But
this isn't such a step back because we're still world-class even with no world
title on the line.
It made a lot of
sense from that perspective and also for us both being from Brooklyn. Until the
fight was made I didn't think it would be more than Brooklyn talk and that's
all. I think in the last couple of years people started getting in my ear that
people in Brooklyn wanted to see what would happen if me and Zab Judah got in
the ring together.
Q -Dan Rafael - I
kind of thought this fight would get made a while ago. With the combination of
Golden Boy working with the Barclays Center and Zab signing with Golden Boy it
seemed like this fight was going to happen.
Paulie
Malignaggi
Zab just got
signed after the Garcia fight and this was all a recent thing. Once Zab got
signed that's when the fight got brought up. Up until recently I didn't think it
would happen, but then when he got signed it started to come to fruition.
Q- Dan Rafael -
You both seem to have a chip on your shoulder in past fights. Is it a little bit
more difficult to get motivated for this fight because you guys have a lot of
respect and a good relationship outside of the ring?
Zab
Judah
My motivation
comes from the opportunity. The opportunity of still being here 18 years strong,
to be competitive against young fighters like Paulie Malignaggi and Danny
Garcia, and to still be competing at a high level of boxing. I mean, to be
crowned the kings of BK, that's a very big accomplishment coming from Brooklyn.
There's one thing a lot of people will tell you - there's a pride about being
from Brooklyn. Now we've got the opportunity in a sport that I've been in for
the last 18 years of my life to be called the king of it. I'm excited for this
one and that's where the motivation comes from on my part.
Paulie
Malignaggi
The competition
drives us all. That's the reason we do this and get up in the morning and train
hard for each fight. You need different things to drive you. The competition
always is the driving force. The competitor in me is driven by winning. Winning
means everything to me. Yeah, Zab is someone I respect and looked up to coming
up, but winning means everything to me. I'm a competitor in anything I do,
especially boxing. It's not hard to get up for a fight like this. You can still
respect your opponent and still get up for a fight. Come on man, we're both
wearing eight ounce gloves so I'm sure once someone gets hit we'll both be
throwing arms at each other.
Q- I know you
both want to win really bad. How hard would it be to lose this fight in your
hometown?
Paulie
Malignaggi
I think it's more
for the fans. It's hard to go back to your fans and say, 'Oh man you're not the
best fighter in your borough.' I think the motivation is from there. You fight
guys from other cities and you rep your neighborhood, you rep your city real
well. I get announced as from Brooklyn, N.Y., regardless of where I've lived in
my career because it's a sense of pride. Here, the other guy is announced from
Brooklyn, N.Y., and it's a sense of inner-pride within the city. You have to run
into the other guy's fans. I don't run into Adrien Broner fans in New York or
other people's fans in New York. But I can run into Zab's fans and that is a
mini-motivator itself.
Zab
Judah
Like Paulie said,
the job is the motivation for what we're doing right now. I'm motivated by the
opportunity. I'm motivated by the situation. Paulie is somebody that I've known
for a long time. I've watched him, I've watched him grow and there have even
been a lot of fights where I've supported him. So now, it's kind of crazy to be
going up against each other but it's the sport that we chose and, like he said,
once the bell rings and the leather starts flying I think that anybody would
come to their senses.
Paulie
Malignaggi
It's
a really emotional fight. You want to be king of Brooklyn. It's the kind of
fight you get up for because there are a lot big fights in your career but there
is a lot of extra emotion being able to represent your borough and being able to
be the king of Brooklyn. I know I have what it takes to be a world class
fighter; I know what it takes to get back to the top. Winning a fight like this
and getting myself a chance to get another world championship in my career is
something I don't doubt
Q- Lem
Satterfield- Zab- Paulie told me about a time when you coached him as an
amateur. He said he lost the fight but he's always looked up to you. Do you
remember that and do you remember what you thought of him as a fighter back
then?
Zab
Judah
I thought he won
that fight, from my recollection. Even back then as an amateur he had a heart,
he was gutsy. He came out, he was very scrappy. I recall that, yeah, we kind of
pulled out a lot of champions that year. So yeah, I think that Paulie did win
the fight that year.
Paulie
Malignaggi
I didn't win that
fight but I lost to a big rival of mine. But we won the team trophy. Zab was the
team coach and we won the team trophy at the Empire State Games.
Q- Lem- Obviously
you guys fought at the highest level both at 140 pounds and 147 pounds. At what
point do you think you were at the absolute best in your career?
Zab
Judah
I would probably
say my Mickey Ward fight. I was 15-0 and I was highly motivated. That was one
training camp I remember Ronnie Shields and my dad - we had a tough training
camp. I was only 15-0, I remember taking on Mickey Ward and he had like 34 or
something fights. He was known as a killer at that time, he was stopping guys
with body shots. Everyone was like, 'Zab that's not a fight you should take,
it's going to mess your career up.' And we went in there and we trained very
hard, we had a dog camp and went in there and won the fight.
The first half of
the Mayweather fight I was super sharp. It's different times. Even in my last
Danny Garcia fight I came on very strong at the end. I don't look at one
particular fight and say this was the best fight because every night is special
to me. Every time you step in the ring you've got different things that happen,
you've got to weather through them.
Paulie
Malignaggi
I'd say there
have been a couple different times in my career when I was at an elite level or
getting there. There was a moment in 2003 and 2004 where I thought I was really
coming into my own, starting to win fights and starting to look impressive. I
was getting to fight high level contenders and then I had a real bad hand
injury. My hand was shattered and it set me back a lot and hindered a lot of my
progress. I always wonder how I would have kept progressing if I didn't have
those injuries. You have a lot of youthful enthusiasm at that point in your
career. I can pick nights where I've been sharper than others but I can't pick
one night where I've been my best.
Q- How do you
capture that moment or those moments in this particular fight? Do you feel that
you're motivated given that you're fighting in your home town?
Zab
Judah
I'm highly
motivated and I'm ready to come in there and do what I do. Like Paulie said, I'm
a very competitive person. As everybody can see throughout my career, I hate
losing. Some of my early losses I kind of went crazy. I've learned to control
myself over the years but losing is something that's not in my arsenal right now
and it's something that we're not looking forward to doing and we looking at
progress and moving forward. This is why we teamed up with Golden Boy and Super
Judah Promotions with Golden Boy. We're ready to take on the world. I think
Golden Boy and SHOWTIME are the two biggest- you've got the biggest promoter and
you've got the biggest network out there and this is a place where Zab Judah
needs to be. Zab Judah is pound-for-pound the best fighter in the world, hands
down, and I am going to show the world that I am the best. Give me the
opportunity and I'll show you.
Paulie
Malignaggi
I think the
motivation has to always be there. I think if you try too hard to summon it you
fight yourself out. I look at the hard work and dedication I've put into my
career and I try to put my best game face on fight night. If you think about
trying to match your best performances you probably won't because you'll be
thinking about the wrong things. The focus has to be to concentrate and focus on
the person in front of you. You have to focus one round at a time, one minute at
a time. And from there you put on some good performances without evening knowing
it. I don't think the goal is to put on a good performance, I think the goal is
to execute a game plan when you go in there. Sometimes it comes out beautifully,
sometimes it doesn't. But you can't go in there trying to put on a good show,
you go in there trying to execute. That's what I go in there trying to do.
Richard
First of all I
want to say that both of those guys are rejuvenated because of all of the
opportunities at 147 pounds. For both of them, one of their best fights is
actually their last fight. When Paulie fought Broner he fought a great, great
fight and I think he surprised a lot of people. Most people had it as an easy
fight for Broner and look what he did. And that's not because of what Broner
didn't do; it's because of what Paulie did. I think he's right there at the top
and he knows what this win can lead to and how important this fight is. The same
goes for Zab fighting Danny Garcia- most people thought it would be a one-sided
affair. And look what Zab did, he turned back the clock. That's as good of a Zab
as I've seen. When Zab wants something he goes for it and I know he wants this.
Their biggest fights, their best fights were actually their last fights and
that's why this is such a meaningful showdown.
Q- Mike Woods-
This question is for Paulie- You've made no secret that in the last couple years
you've thought about if you want to do this anymore. What are your thoughts
now?
Paulie
Malignaggi
You don't give
yourself a definitive answer when it comes to something so serious. If I accept
the fight then I accept the fight and go in and train 100 percent. Sometimes
between fights I'll be thinking, 'I don't know if I'm up to train for a fight
again.' But once mentally and physically I decide to fight I kind of erase the
negativity. Its full speed ahead, you step on the gas and you go. Don't get me
wrong, in the beginning of camp when you're trying to get back into shape you're
like, 'Man, why did I do this?' But once that competitive juice comes back and
you start getting in shape, you start feeling sharp, you start feeling good and
you realize why you do this. You realize the things that spur you on, that
motivate you, that drive you to do this. The adrenaline rush, the excitement as
a fight approaches and all of a sudden you're not thinking about those negative
things anymore and you're thinking about all the positive things and all the fun
this brings. Don't get me wrong, it's hard fight fighting at this level. But, at
the same time, it's a situation where I'd rather be here than anywhere else.
Q - Does it make
it more difficult because you've become such a highly regarded commentator?
Because you always have something to fall back on?
Paulie
Malignaggi
No, not the
training, the training I work hard. Anything I do, I do it wholeheartedly. But
sometimes before camp starts you wonder, 'Do I really feel like getting up and
starting another training camp?' But once I'm in training camp, I do the miles
and I put the hours in the gym wholeheartedly. There's never a time where I say
I don't want to train today because I could fall back on something. I'm not the
kind of person that does something half-assed. If I know I won't do it
wholeheartedly I won't do it. When I accepted this fight I knew what that came
with.
Q- Zab - do you
ever stay awake at night and say, 'Man I'm 36 old this really could be my last
fight?'
Zab
No, as far as the
age, my age is great. I'm highly motivated. You've got one of the best
pound-for-pound fighters in the world, Floyd Mayweather, he's older than me.
You've got Juan Manuel Marquez, he just knocked out Manny Pacquiao with one
punch, he's older than me. You've got Bernard Hopkins, one of the baddest
fighters of today's era, he's my grandfather. So when you say old, what do you
mean by old? Old by what, longevity? I've been in the game since I was 18
years old and I've been world champion multiple times in different weight
classes. Is that what you mean by old? I mean as far as age goes, I'm far from
old. I mean, some of the best of the best of the world today are way older than
me and I'm just highly motivated the opportunity. I want to thank Richard
Schaefer and the whole Golden Boy staff and team for just even allowing
themselves to do business with my camp and myself and I think we're going to
have a phenomenal time. I think that when people say your last time or your last
fight is your best fight, this is nowhere near my last fight. This is the
beginning of a turn of a new leaf. I am going to go in there and come out of
this fight successfully.
Yeah Paulie and I
have a great respect for each other, but at the end of the day there can only be
one winner and I am going to take that route. I'm going to take that medal of
achievement and I'm going to step up and do what I've got to do. Is there any
beef or anything? No, there's no beef. But we're both two competitive athletes
and Paulie's supposed to say his skills are better than mine and I'm supposed to
say that my skills are better than Paulie's. That's what's going to make Dec.
7th a fantastic night of boxing. That's why all of Brooklyn and New
York City and the tri-state area and New Jersey and Connecticut need to come out
and watch a great night of boxing. You are going to watch two of the best guys
to come out of the tri-state area put on for you guys. So be there.
Q- What do you
admire most about each other?
Zab
Judah
Number one, I
admire Paulie because he's from Brooklyn. He stands up with that Brooklyn pride.
He represent Brooklyn wherever he goes, he talks about it and keeps it fresh in
people's ears and eyes. Number two, he's a fighter. I respect that every fighter
has the heart and audacity to climb into the ring and take on competitive
fights, so you've got to respect him as a human being. Yes, I do.
Paulie
Malignaggi
The admiration I
have for Zab came from trying to follow in his footsteps coming up. I saw him
accomplish things that I had the goal to accomplish. I watched Zab accomplish
each and every one of them before me. It was an admiration and a motivator to
see someone my city, from my borough accomplish these things and get some
credibility and notoriety doing the same thing that I do. When somebody does it
so close to home they automatically get that admiration when they're older than
you and you see them accomplishing those things and you kind of want to follow
in their footsteps. That admiration comes from being that younger fighter
looking up to someone like that.
Q - Gina Caruso -
What's your comfort level now coming back into the ring with someone you know
and respect so much.
Zab
Judah
I don't know,
it's the situation. It's nothing personal against Paulie. It's something that
we've got to go in here and do. This is how we feed our family. This is the game
that we chose. My greatest motivation in this situation is I just fought a
25-year-old undefeated young fighter, one of the best young 140-pound fighters
today and I hung in there. Everybody said if there were 30 more seconds the
fight would be different. So that's where my inspiration and motivation comes
from. Just being able to still go toe-to-toe with the young boys like this and
just show that when I do step up and when I do focus my mind and focus on
getting these guys I just go in there and get them. With that kind of motivation
I am the best pound for pound fighter in the world.
Paulie
Malignaggi
I
think with me, the approach I always take is in boxing you have to have a short
memory. No matter how much you've accomplished or how low you can go as far as
downfalls, you have to forget about them and you have to move on no matter what.
I put whatever happened behind me, the Broner fight is done. The opponent now is
Zab Judah. As Zab said, there's nothing personal as far as a competitive aspect
is concerned, but that's the guy in front of me and that's the guy I intend to
be successful against in two weeks. The game plan is focused on that and nothing
else. In reality you can only look forward. The past can't be changed, only the
future can be changed.
ABOUT
"JUDAH VS. MALIGNAGGI":
Judah vs.
Malignaggi is a 12-round fight for the NABF and
NABO Welterweight titles taking place on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013 at Barclays
Center in Brooklyn, New York. The event is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions in
association with Super Judah Promotions and sponsored by Corona, AT&T,
Grudge Match and Casamigos Tequila. In the co-featured bout, Devon Alexander
puts his IBF welterweight title on the line in a 12-round bout against Shawn
Porter, Erislandy Lara defends his interim WBA Super Welterweight title in a
12-round fight against Austin Trout and Sakio Bika defends his WBC Super
Middleweight title against Anthony Dirrell in a 12-round bout. The SHOWTIME
telecast begins at 8:00 p.m. ET/ 5:00 p.m. PT immediately following ALL ACCESS:
Broner vs. Maidana which begins at 7:30 p.m. ET/ 4:30 p.m. PT. The telecast will
be available in Spanish via secondary audio programming (SAP).
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