Artem Lobov gets his revenge for pre-fight antics done by Paulie Malignaggi!
The highly anticipated five-round Bare Knuckles event between former two-division boxing champion Paul Malignaggi and former UFC journeyman Artem Lobov took place in Tampa, FL!
The build up to this fight involved personal threats, pushing, shoving and even SPITTING! These tactics were effective in promoting the event well enough to intrigue many skeptical boxing fans.
A Simple Game-Plan
From the start, the 38 year-old former champion showed the difference in pedigree when it comes to the art of hand-to-hand combat.
While Lobov elected to stand and trade early, Malignaggi happily stayed on the outside jabbing to the head and body.
The 32 year-old Russian could not keep up with the foot-speed of his opponent and the difference in hand speed was ridiculously apparent.
While he did land a few shots while running in and doing damage in the many clinches that happened early in the fight, Malignaggi did an excellent job of staying out of range.
By the third round, you could see damage on the faces of both men. Although, Malignaggi seemed to control the fight, he had accrued more of the damage due to what Lobov was able to do in the cliches.
There was literally only one way Lobov could win; maul his opponent. However, it looked as if the light-bulb did not turn on until the fourth round. From the start, Lobov attacked Malignaggi and backed him up to the ropes.
He kept this up until the final bell which helped him look good to the judges as the aggressor for the final two rounds. However, anyone that has been around fighting long enough understands the aggression was more so “non-effective.”
The Controversy!
In the end somehow, all three judges thought Malignaggi was handily defeated! 3kingsboxing.com had the former champion winning four rounds to one with a possibility of three to two.
Malignaggi stated after the fight that he wanted to try Bare Knuckles in an attempt to campaign towards a fight with Conor McGregor. However after the bad judging, he stated he will not continue in the sport.
One thing he mentioned that could ring true to many boxing fans was that maybe the judging is completely different in Bare Knuckles. From the perspective of this boxing enthusiast, that would explain in it’s entirety why the decision made absolutely no sense!
By: EJ Williams
