‘Barrios sucks’: Malignaggi says Pacquiao benefiting from weak welterweight division

Although he questions Manny Pacquiao’s physical condition, Paulie Malignaggi says a watered down 147 lb division creates this opportunity for Pacquiao.

Paulie Maligaggi puts his analyst hat on to discuss the upcoming welterweight title fight between Mario Barrios and Manny Pacquiao. When asked about what he thinks of Pacquiao being afford this opportunity straight after years out of the professional fight game, here’s some of what Malignaggi had to say on the subject.

“I think none of us should be bigger than the sport and I stand by that,” Malignaggi said. “I feel that you always have to respect the sport first. But nonetheless, some guys will take that upon themselves, they have a bigger name and you can just come into a title shot.

“We know boxing never follows the rules, but you’re not supposed to fight for a world title if you’re coming off a loss and you’re not supposed to fight for a world title if you’re not in the rankings. And to get into the rankings you need to fight, you can’t be inactive. So we’ve broken a bunch of rules to make the Mario Barrios fight with Manny Pacquiao.

“When you get older your legs are not the same. You may have very good legs for a few rounds but as you drag out a long fight your legs start to betray you. I felt that later in my career. I would get into shape but now all of the sudden Round 10, 11, 12, my legs are dragging ass...That was a big reason for my decision-making to go BKB, which is only five, maximum of six rounds.

“Pacquiao, having not fought in a while, being 46 years old, a lot of tough fights, a lot of wear and tear on Manny Pacquiao...Many had 70 pro fights and he wasn’t a defensive specialist. A lot of impact, a lot of back and forth impact...So how are his legs going to be? That’s my biggest thing because Manny was a range-changing fighter, he was that style, in and out.

“An in and out guy needs his legs, and he needs his legs the whole fight — unless he lands something big. I will say I think Mario Barrios sucks, bro. I think he sucks. I think he guy is horrible...I can’t get it out of my mind, Barrios is a front foot heavy and he’s 5’10”. Like you’re just going to eat every shot, you’re 5’10” and front foot heavy — and that’s what he does, he eats every shot. He gets hit with every jab, every straight right or every left hand. What did get dropped twice with that guy Ramos last fight?

“I don’t understand how a 5’10” front foot heavy guy who’s not the biggest puncher becomes a world champion. Think about how much that weight class has to suck for that guy to be world champion. So there is a space that Manny sees for himself. I think if the welterweight division was as deep as it was a few years ago, I don’t know that Manny Pacquiao would make this decision.

“I think he sees — just like me when I observed and I said ‘you know what, maybe there’s a space I can enter here,’ I think Manny also sees it the same way where he’s like ‘I’m looking at this welterweight division, I think there might be a space where I can enter here.’ So I think that’s part of his thinking pattern.

“I do think it’s a risk, I think he looked really bad in that exhibition with the Korean guy...If I’m Manny and I look at Mario Barrios I almost don’t blame him. I almost don’t blame him bro, because I feel like I can beat Mario Barrios, too.”