"It doesn't matter what he tries, man. I'm ready for it all. I was sharp with all kinds of sparring partners. No matter what he wants to bring to the table, I will be ready for it...I'm very focused for Saturday night. I'm really looking forward to it. I think it's going to be a good night for me and I'm ready for anything Broner brings on Saturday night. The time for talking and all that bullshit is over. It's time to put up or shut up," stated WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi, who gave us an update on his training camp went and made it clear that he's more than ready and can't wait to step into the ring this Saturday to defend his title against undefeated challenger Adrien Broner. Check out what else he had to say!
BT: What's up Paulie? Fight week is here! How did training camp go?
PM: I feel good about my training camp. We got a lot of rounds of sparring in. We had some good work in here. I feel everything's coming together real good. We've been executing real good. It's just a matter of getting through this last week with no hiccups. I'm very confident going into the fight.
BT: What are you expecting from Adrien come Saturday night? Do you think he's going to be pressing the action looking for a KO?
PM: It doesn't matter, man. We had different kinds of sparring partners for different things he might try. It doesn't matter what he tries, man. I'm ready for it all. I was sharp with all kinds of sparring partners. No matter what he wants to bring to the table, I will be ready for it.
BT: Who did you spar with to prepare for Adrien?
PM: Karim Mayfield, Keandre Gibson, and Steve Forbes was one of our main guys. I had some good work.
BT: How did the USADA testing go? Did they test you a lot? Was that a distraction for you as you trained?
PM: Yeah, they came a few times. They were actually just here. I just got back into New York a week ago and they just showed up Saturday morning actually. They got me a few times in Cali as well. You know, it's not a pain in the ass, but sometimes it is. For example, I remember they showed up to my hotel June 8th, the morning of the Maidana fight, at 8 AM. I had to be ready for rehearsal for the Maidana/Lopez Showtime show at about 12:30, so I had planned to do a workout at 10:30 real quick for an hour and then get ready and be downstairs in the lobby to head straight to the Home Depot Center to do the rehearsal for the show later that eveneing. Well USADA showed up to my room at 8 AM, and they never just test you. They gotta go through a whole bunch of protocols where they gotta read you a bunch of instructions every single time even though you heard them the other three times they came. You know, you gotta sign off on a bunch of stuff and they gotta test you, urine and blood, so it ends up taking over an hour. By the time they got done, I fell back asleep. By the time I woke up, I overslept and I had to run and get ready, so I missed my workout. It's little things, but it's not the end of the world, you know. Like Saturday morning, they showed up at 6 AM. I mean, 6 AM is kind of early for me. I don't know about everybody else, man, but I'm getting some good sleep at 6 AM. The positive thing about that is that's when you got the most amount of urine, so you're ready to go and hopefully get them out of the way quick. But still, like I said, it always takes over an hour with the whole protocol on everything. Overall, it is a little bit of a pain in the ass, but it's for a good cause. At least you know, or you hope that everybody's clean. I don't mind doing it as long as everybody else is doing it. [Note: Shortly after this interview, Malignaggi received yet another visit from USADA, the 3rd in 9 days.]
BT: Do they let you know how many times they test your opponent?
PM: Nah, I'm not allowed to know at all about the opponent's testing unless he fails. I asked them and they were like, "No, we can't discuss that." I assume Broner can't ask about me either, but, you know, I will say they came a few times for me.
BT: How can you feel confident that your opponent is getting tested as much as you? I mean, for all you know, they could be testing you, but not testing him at all and you wouldn't even know.
PM: Oh, of course that went through mind. I don't even see what the problem is with asking when, what time, and where Broner was tested, or if he was even tested. I don't see what the problem with that is, but regardless, I mean, if it's a no, it's a no and I'm not going to keep dwelling on it because I gotta focus on the fight, you know.
BT: The smack between you and Adrien got kind of quiet for a period, but it seems like things got amped back up during that conference call last week. Was that by design or did something happen that kind of set that off again?
PM: Um, no. I think we were supposed to have our own turn at the conference call and, you know, they told me to call in at this time, so I said alright, just text me. I said, "They're not going to call me? I gotta call in?" They said, "Yeah, you gotta call in." So I said, "Alright, just text me when I gotta call in." So they texted me to call now with this name and this code. I called up and Broner was still on the phone. That kind of irritated me if that's my time and Broner's on the phone, so I kind of gave him a piece of mind. Then everybody gets mad at me, so I'm just like, "Yo man, so you call me then and stop trying to make me call in." If you're going to make me call in just to keep my mouth shut, that's not going to happen. It wasn't really by design.
BT: With these last couple of events coming up prior to the fight, like the final press conference and the weigh-in, are you expecting Adrien to pull some crazy stunts to continue to try and get under your skin?
PM: Um, I don't know. You know, he might or might not. At the end of the day, at this point, we're at fight week, so we got a fight Saturday night, so I'm kind of focused on that and having a good closing out week to my training camp. It's been a good camp and I feel good and I feel ready. I don't want to put any dampers on that, so whatever might happen this week is really unimportant to me as much as the fight is important. It's really about Saturday night and executing the game plan that we have in place, because we're going to do a number on Broner Saturday night. Trust me!
BT: During the conference call, you suggested that even though the fight is in your hometown, you actually have the better chance of being robbed because Broner is an Al Haymon fighter. Is that a legitimate concern of yours going into the fight on Saturday?
PM: You know Al Haymon fighters don't get robbed, so it's not about "does being in my hometown give me an advantage with the judges", because it doesn't. The judges are, one of them is from Ohio, Tom Miller, and one of them is Glen Feldman, who admitted that he made a mistake in the last fight himself and gave the fight to Cano, which is why I really haven't complained. I figure, okay, if he admitted it himself, I feel like he might score the fight correctly this time around. I'm not looking for any favors. I'm just looking for people to score the fight right. If you score the fight right, I'm confident I'm going to win the fight Saturday night, so I don't have a problem with it. Then again, if there's anybody at risk of getting robbed, I feel it's me and not Broner.
BT: Well I know you just finished up a workout, so I don't want to keep you. Is there anything else you want to let the fans know before I let you go.
PM: I'm very focused for Saturday night. I'm really looking forward to it. I think it's going to be a good night for me and I'm ready for anything Broner brings on Saturday night. The time for talking and all that bullshit is over. It's time to put up or shut up. I'm ready to put mine up and see what he's got.
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