PREMIER BOXING CHAMPIONS ON SPIKE
BROOKLYN MEDIA WORKOUT QUOTES & PHOTOS
Photos From Ed Diller/DiBella Entertainment
BROOKLYN (May 13, 2015) – Former two-division world champion Paulie “The Magic Man” Malignaggi (33-6, 7 KOs)held an open workout at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn Wednesday before he takes on Danny O’Connor (25-2, 9 KOs)on Premier Boxing Champions on Spike, Friday, May 29 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT live from Barclays Center.
Also working out at Gleason’s Gym on Wednesday was undefeated bantamweight contender Heather “The Heat” Hardy (12-0, 2 KOs) and undefeated Brooklyn heavyweight Adam Kownacki (9-0, 9 KOs).
These fights will be part of an explosive evening headlined by boxing superstar Amir “King” Khan (30-3, 19 KOs)who faces tough New Yorker Chris Algieri (20-1, 8 KOs). Doors at Barclays Center open at 6 p.m. ET.
Tickets for the live event, which is promoted by DiBella Entertainment and Star Boxing, are priced at $250, $150, $75 and $45, not including applicable service charges and taxes, and are on sale now. Tickets are available at www.barclayscenter.com, www.ticketmaster.com and at the American Express Box Office at Barclays Center. To charge by phone, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. For group tickets, please call 800-GROUP-BK.
Here are what the fighters had to say Wednesday:
PAULIE MALIGNAGGI
“I know Danny O’Connor pretty well. He’s a good boxer who had a good amateur career. He can be pretty slick and he’s a real intelligent guy. He’s not going to just hand it to you so you have to use your mind against him.
“O’Connor is going to come hungry. With the situation he’s in, he’s really been looking for this opportunity in his career. I expect the hungriest and best possible Danny O’Connor.
“I’m going to go out in the first round see what I’m looking for. I’m not going to go out and expect something from him, but we’ll make adjustments. If I see some of his patterns that I’ve seen on video, then I’ll know what to do. I’m going to look to take apart what’s in front of me.
“Gleason’s Gym is the first place I ever learned to box. I learned to throw a jab in here. I learned to throw a right hand in here. All of my fundamentals came from here. I didn’t have a clue about boxing before I came to Gleason’s. I owe a lot to this gym.
“There was a good six months where I didn’t really care about coming back. I was satisfied. But then I just started to miss being a competitor. I was keeping busy but the competition was missing in my life. Once I got back in the gym and started hitting the bag and I felt good I knew I wanted to get back out there.
“It’s been tough balancing the schedule out with my announcing. It’s a mental challenge to make sure you’re still training despite all the other responsibilities. To me that proves that I still have the passion to fight. I still wanted to train no matter how busy I got.
“I’m thankful to be able to be a part of something really big like this. Sometimes you take a bad loss in your career and you can take a big step back but I’m thankful to have an opportunity to be on a highly elevated show like this, it’s really cool.
“I’d still like to fight for a world title and take on big names. If I could win another title I feel like I can put myself into the position to go into the Hall of Fame as a fighter. I’ve been fighting at a high level since 2006, a good percentage of them have been world class opponents.
“PBC is really amazing, I think it’s great for the sport. It’s going to build up new stars because fighters are going to be on your television constantly. I think people are going to start to really follow it. You’re going to see a lot of different kinds of fights and fighters, there’s something for everybody.”
HEATHER HARDY
“Training camp has been very good, this is probably the biggest fight of my career so far against Noemi Bosques. I’m fighting the number two bantamweight and I’m really excited.
“I haven’t changed my training at all. I go into every fight to win and I always give 100 percent.
“I’m really happy to be back in the ring so quickly. I was winning my last fight and I was ready to knock this girl out, but then the head butt stopped it prematurely. There was an unfinished feeling after the last fight, almost like a sparring session.
“I know I’m facing a tough fighter, she can box but she’s also an aggressive fighter. We’re going to do what we do against every fighter, which is make adjustments.
“Me being on the undercards for these PBC shows has been great for women’s boxing because it’s got a lot of great media attention.
“I love fighting at home. I watched them build Barclays Center and I thought about how much I’d love to fight there. It’s a dream come true. Barclays Center is special.
“I’m still on the steps looking up in my career. There’s a lot more to go. I don’t feel like I’ve reached the highest that I can reach. I’m going to keep fighting and winning and giving the fans a reason to come back.”
ADAM KOWNACKI
“I was born and grew up in Brooklyn so it’s a real treat to fight at Barclays Center. I can’t wait to perform there. It’s going to be an amazing night.
“It’s really a dream come true to be fighting at Barclays Center. I’m so glad it’s finally here. Hopefully one day I’ll be the main event.
“I’ve fought recently in Chicago and Philadelphia, but I’m really excited to be back home and have a lot of people come out to support me.
“I come to fight, if the knockout comes it comes. Hopefully the knockout comes again on May 29.
“I want the fans to keep looking for me, I’m going to get tougher opponents and tougher fights and more exposure that I’m so excited for.
“I bring excitement to the ring. I throw a lot of punches and my defense has improved with every fight.”
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