Boxing
Hearn blasts 'dumb' ex-Cotto rival over Joshua-Prenga remarks
Moses vs Hrgovic: Watch only on DAZN PPV - Aug 29
Eddie Hearn has hit out at Paulie Malignaggi as the finish from Anthony Joshua’s second round win over Kristian Prenga rumbles on despite the fight being two weeks old.
Last month, Joshua endured a horrible first round as he was dropped twice by the Albanian banger and seemingly looked on the verge of another defeat with a Tyson Fury fight looming on the horizon.
Joshua went back to his corner with his career on the line, but he recovered brilliantly to land a huge knockout in round two.
The difference in performance from both men has since brought wide scrutiny with former world champion Malignaggi even suggesting that Prenga may have been told to hold back so his potential win would not derail a showdown between Joshua and Fury.
"I've gotta put the thought out there, at least. There's a lot of money riding on AJ vs Fury. A lot of powerful people make a lot of money if you make AJ vs Fury,” opined Malignaggi when appearing on Talksport .
From the way it looked, possibly somebody went into the Prenga corner and said: 'Hey man. Listen. You've never made any real money in your life. If you go easy in the second round, maybe we'll throw you $100,000 or something."
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A fighter with vast experience at the highest level, Malignaggi shared the ring with Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, and Amir Khan, so he has a fair idea of how boxing works after spending so long in the sport.
His experience in boxing has surprised Hearn even more when listening to Malignaggi’s thoughts and the Matchroom boss, Joshua’s promoter has come out to counter Malignaggi’s theory
“I’ve got to be honest with you as i like Paulie Malignaggi, but I thought Paulie Malignaggi comments were absolutely just dumb,” said Hearn when speaking to IFLTV .
“What Paulie Malignaggi insinuated...and that’s Paulie, Paulie’s a fighter. Everything's recorded, everything's on audio. Do you honestly think someone is going to creep around to the corner and go ‘don’t try now and we’ll give you a £100k.’ What planet are these people on?”
Moses vs. Hrgovic - exclusively on DAZN PPV
Watch Moses Itauma attempt to become the youngest world heavyweight champion since Mike Tyson against Filip Hrgovic on Saturday, August 29, only on DAZN.
Buy as a one-off PPV or included along with Romero vs. Lopez (Aug 22) and Canelo vs. Mbilli (Oct 31) PPVs with a DAZN Ultimate Tier subscription.
