Paulie Malignaggi might come out of retirement for one more fight – if the price is right and it’s a strict boxing match.
Mixed martial artist Jason Knight challenged Malignaggi, the former two-division titleholder, to a boxing match on social media Monday. Knight was coming off a fifth-round stoppage of Artem Lobov in a bare knuckle boxing bout on Saturday promoted by Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships. Malignaggi had dropped a controversial decision to Lobov, also in a BKFC match, over the summer.
Malignaggi claimed he broke his hands in that fight and recently swore off making a return. He has had to deal with brittle hands nearly his entire career.
Cognizant of Malignaggi’s hand issues, Knight offered a different possibility.
“I know u don’t want to fight BKFC again but what would u say to a boxing fight??” Knight wrote on Instagram. “I have no prior boxing but I bet I can school you at your own game!!”
Malignaggi responded on Instagram shortly thereafter:
“Well done Jason, solid adjustments Saturday night. I have not yet seen the fight but saw (highlights) and your sense of timing and disciplined game plan was very impressive to notice. You def caught onto a few tactics from my fight and fought smarter.
“I wish my hands could survive the impact again (because) truthfully I enjoyed the experience and wouldn’t have minded facing you after your display. However I have a career history of hand problems and I cannot keep risking them or I’m gonna wind up with permanent damage to them.
“If there are interested parties that are willing to put up enough money I am not against regular boxing though where some protection for my hands is there. Maybe David (BKFC promoter) can do a card where you and I glove up but instead of a ring we can fight in the BKFC squared circle with our undercard consisting of bare knuckle fights.
“Again it’s (dependent) on the compensation. After all, we are prizefighters. Once again though, well done and congrats on an impressive display.”