Speaking to Spin Genie, retired boxer and former WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi has predicted that Dana White’s crossover into the boxing world will be a failure.
The American also believes Canelo Alvarez ducked worthy opponents for years, claiming the Mexican kept titles ‘hostage’ at 168 pounds.
Malignaggi believes that Jake Paul’s boxing ability has regressed in his last two fights, but he won’t be surprised if he’s still able to beat Chavez Jr.
Read the full interview below:
50 Cent and Jay-Z failed as boxing promoters - so will Dana White
PM: “How are you going to draw top fighters to your promotion when your [fighter purses] ceiling is not high enough? I don't know how he's going to manage it.
“People make it like this guy can make all the great fights. But the UFC is a locked environment. You can either take the money, or you're going to sit on the bench.
“I think [changing boxing] it’s a more difficult proposition than people think, I have seen these kinds of VIP names come into boxing, not really understanding the model.
“They come in with a big splash like Jay-Z. He did a show at Madison Square Garden. He showed up with a mink coat. He came in with a splash and then went out with a whimper.
“50 cent, as well. I've seen these VIP multimillionaires come into the sport and think they're going to revolutionize the wheel. And ultimately they wind up going out the door with a kick in the ass, an embarrassed look on their face after losing millions.
“I don't know if he's going to be losing millions, I don't know if he's got Turki Alalshiek's money to fund it, but either way it doesn't really matter, because I don't think the model works.”
Paddy Pimblett could command a $20M purse - if he was a boxer
PM: “Paddy Pimblett is a guy that’s now that big that his base [purse] would probably start at 20 million dollars if he were a boxer. Because that's what you're talking about now, he’smaybe one of the biggest, if not the biggest star in MMA.
“So you have to compare him to the biggest star in the sport of boxing that moves the needle like that. And to tell you the truth, MMA guys probably move the needle more than the biggest boxer. Because I think MMA overall sells more pay-per-views. It sells more viewership.
“So that's why I say, at the very minimum, Paddy would be starting at 20 million dollars for his next fight, plus pay per view points. This is the model we have in boxing.”
Dana White will put a ceiling on boxers earnings if he changes the Muhammad Ali Act
PM: “One layer of the Ali Act which is very, very important is the transparency of the numbers. Don't get me wrong, in boxing it's still very hard to enforce the Ali act, but here's the thing.
“If you don't believe your promoter is being transparent with the full numbers, in boxing, you can take them to court, or you can take it to arbitration.
“If Dana doesn't want to show them to you [the revenue from a UFC show], there's no court hearing, because there's no rule or law saying that fighters are entitled to see these numbers or to say they are entitled to a bigger chunk of this money.
“So therefore the UFC can generate as much money as they want. You are only guaranteed what you're told you're making, and that's it. That's the ceiling in MMA.”
I compare Jon Jones to Canelo Alvarez - Alvarez ducked his contender for years
PM: “We've had that problem for years with Canelo Alvarez ducking his highest level contenders and keeping the titles hostage at 168 pounds.
“And that's always the problem with boxing. All the fighters don't fight each other. They sort of run on parallel paths, but never cross each other even in the same weight class.
“If you start doing that in MMA, now you get underpaid, and you're also not getting your fights.
The pros of the MMA model was because it enforces the fights to be made. So now you don't. enforce the fights to be made?
“If Jon Jones is sort of waiting around and killing time and not giving Aspinall a shot and the UFC Is not enforcing the title shot or stripping him. Then what's the difference between the UFC and boxing?”
Conor McGregor would be a ‘very bribable’ government official
PM: “I don't think McGregor will ever come back but he’ll tease it. As far as politics, he’s very bribeable as far as being lobbied. He could use his popularity [to get into office] if he gets lobbied and bribed by the right people.
“If he lets himself be bought by the right people, it's possible. And he'sdefinitely a candidate to be bought by the right people because he's like I said, he's got no backbone.
“But I notice Ireland is sort of holding its own push back against certain kinds of movements.
“Considering all the money he's made, and the potential that he has to help people, even in politics, he’ll only ever be about himself.”
The import of foreign players to Serie A has resulted in the ‘worst ever’ Italian national side
PM: “There are too many foreigners in the League. I started watching football in the late eighties, when only three foreign nationals were allowed on the field at once.
“So you had to have at least eight domestic players on every team in the League, and that helped grow and brand the national team.
“Now the entire league is full of teams that don't even field an Italian player. It has created an issue where you have no national team.
“Italy has gone through ups and downs and struggles with their national team, but this is by far the worst football I've ever seen in my life played by Italy.
“I never thought in my life the United States would have a better football team than Italy, I never thought that was possible.
“There was always a certain number of fans that felt the club team was more important, but for the most part my generation and prior, the national team was everything.”
Turki Alalshik would turn Millwall into ‘contender’ like Man City and PSG
PM: “If Turki can bring that middle-eastern money to Millwall, you can turn Millwall into a contender. But it's not overnight, Newcastle isn't suddenly this monster beating everyone.
“I don't think you turn Millwall into a monster team overnight, but I think we've seen with PSG and Man City being examples of Middle East money and what it can do.
“You're just able to acquire a lot of footballers, a lot of top footballers in their prime, and you're able to revolutionize; hire high level coaches a club like Millwall could only have dreamt of before.
“It's not an overnight success. I think hehas to be patient if he'sgonna have this approach, and sometimes I notice Turki is not all that patient.”
Manny Pacquiao cherry-picked ‘worst world welterweight champion of all time’
PM: “I question whether Pacquiao was ever clean to begin with, so I, personally, don't think he's going to show up clean for this fight, either, but at 46 it may not matter.
“It also depends on the kind of damage you'vetaken in your career. Pacquiao was a high impact fighter. He was not a defensive specialist, so typically those kinds of fighters fade out early.
“The fact that he didn't fade out so early, despite fighting in that high impact style. I told you what I think the reason is. Because usually fighters like that fade out early.
“But I don't think Mario Barrios is very good. I think he'svery, very low, level champion, very low. He's very beatable, and I also think that that's another reason why Pacquaio cherry picked him.
“He may be the worst welterweight champion I've ever seen.”
Deontay Wilder ‘not guaranteed’ to beat Dave Allen
PM: “Wilder wasn't fighting hungry at the end of his career, but we'll see how he comes back. Dave Allen is an interesting one, because Dave Allen is always sort of alow key exciting fighter in the UK.
“He's always got that popularity, and I think that if Wilder could come back and get this win and then beat Dave Allen, which again is not guaranteed. Dave Allen can fight a little bit, but he's always come up short against world class levels.
“If Wilder is Wilder, he should beat Dave Allen, but Dave Allen's a good gatekeeper test at that point. If he beats Dave Allen you can start to rebrand.
“Then Wilder can go after Joshua all over again, maybe that's why they're talking the fight up. I think we get our answer on where Wilder's at in a Dave Allen fight but we won't get it in Wilder’s next fight.”
Jake Paul has ‘regressed’ but Chavez Jr ‘sucks’
PM: “This is a competitive fight because I thought Jake was improving for a little while, but I think for a fight or two, I've noticed he's regressed.
“I don't know if he's got the same dedication he had, because he'sprobably spread very thin. But I still think it'scompetitive as bad as Chavez Jr is.
“Jake will argue for a world ranking if he wins even though Chavez has been inactive, and he sucks - Chavez Jr actually winning a world championship goes to show you that anybody can be manipulated to a world championship.
“Mario Barrios might be the worst world champion. But Chavez comes close, although a win over Andy Lee makes you think he's not a total wash. But Chavez is bad, especially now.
“I used to commentate on some of the MVP shows. They put him on a Jake Paul on the card to start showing him so that he could eventually be a Jake opponent.
“He looked so bad that they went away from the idea altogether, but now they've brought him back, so I think maybe they went away from the idea just to make people forget about him.
“I think they wanted him to look good so that he could build up the Jake fight. But he sucks so bad that he couldn't do it. He's horrible. He has lost to Anderson Silva, so I wouldn't be surprised if he loses to Jake.”
Conor Benn will need the hydration clause to beat Eubank Jr
PM: “Benn might need the hydration clause to make it competitive in the rematch. I don't think Benn is a very good fighter. I don't think Eubank was ever dangerous at the world class level but he could hang at world class level.
“Benn, to tell you the truth, I'm still suspicious of him, even though he beat that drug testing stuff. He never looked the same after those three fights with Samuel Vargas, Chris Van Heerden and Chris Algieri.
“He never looked like that before or after, so I am very suspicious of how Benn can even get to a level like that, so the rehydration calls may make a difference. But he just showed he can't win anyway, at this level to just do the fight. Make all the money.”
Floyd Mayweather did not send me spy on Conor McGregor
PM: “I did not spy on Conor for Floyd. To tell you the truth, I saw Floyd the night before the fight. I was by his gym and we spoke. Floyd put those pictures out to give you the inclination that I had spied, and I was really on his team.
“But Floyd that night he did not ask me a single question about Conor Mcgregor. We just took pictures because we knew it would give the impression of something crazy. And obviously Floyd was trying to sell the fight. Floyd didn't need me to spy on Conor “
Lomachenko is a ‘first ballot Hall of Famer’ not a ‘spoiled western fighter’
PM: “Lomachenko did everybody a favor by not having your standard 15-20 fights to build up your record. He went right into world class level.
“He knew he was too good. He didn't waste everybody's time, so many fighters would waste people's time and take the money and just get the free wins.
“Lomachenko wanted to accomplish more. It wasn't about the money. Obviously money has to do with it, but he's aboutaccomplishing. Some Mexican fighters like this too, they just want to fight the best fighters.
“While a lot of Western fighters are spoiled into giving you the appearance that they're fighting tough fights. But reallythey're not fighting tough fights, but they want to be paid like they're fighting tough fights, and it'skind of ruining the sport.
“He's the first ballot Hall of Famer without a doubt.”
Daniel Dubois’s Intensity can send Usyk into retirement
PM: “Dubois has the Confidence, and also intensity. Intensity tends to overcome the savvy, crafty older fighter who likes to slow the pace down. Intensity sometimes wins even if you're not as good as the older, crafty fighter.
“That's why young fighters tend to beat the older fighters. The intensity tends to overcome the crafty older guy who's trying to slow the pace down, you know.
“SoI think that makes Dubois dangerous because Dubois is very, very intense. I still think it's 65-35 Usyk. But again, when you're that age you could age overnight, and then it's all over, and then you walk away.”
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