Over the last 20 years, the popularity of Boxing has rapidly declined in the United States, mostly due to the precipitous drop in the amount of American talent and the decline of the Heavyweight division. However, there are still certain fights that will draw my attention, especially if they are being broadcast for free - such was the case this past Saturday, when "The Magic Man" Paulie Malignaggi defends his WBA Welterweight Title against Adrien "The Problem" Broner on Showtime.

Going into the fight, I was well aware of the drama preceding it. In the pre-fight media conference call over a week before the fight, things got extremely personal between the two fighters to the point where Malignaggi had to have his phone muted until Broner finished his portion of the call. Then, during the pre-fight press conference the week of the fight, both men did a lot of trash talking and continued to make things sound more personal than business.

But after going the distance in a 12-round boxing match, things seemed to be peaceful and calm between the two fighters when Malignaggi visited Broner's corner to shake hands with the entire entourage. Needless to say, I was dead wrong - take a look at the post-fight interviews once Broner's split-decision victory was announced in Malignaggi's hometown of Brooklyn.

There is so much to analyze that I have to do a bullet-point breakdown, so here goes:

  • The "gimmick" of Broner having his father brush his hair before AND after his fights is complete arrogance and stupidity, to the point where he even says, "Hey pops, brush my hair."
  • To say, "... He couldn't hit me, he was shadow boxing" when Malignaggi landed DOUBLE the amount of punches is absurd on Broner's part.
  • Who the hell does a 12-round boxing match with an 18-carat gold grill in his mouth?!
  • Telling the few fans boxing has left that they can pick your next opponent just because you have this anger towards people who says you hand-pick your opponents isn't exactly flattering.
  • Nothing exudes the textbook definition of class better than, "I beat Paulie... I left with his belt AND his girl!"
  • I don't mind Malignaggi taking issue with Broner saying that about his "side-piece," but he needed to be a little cooler about that, could've been handled a little better on his part.
  • Malignaggi does a great job breaking down the fight from both his and Broner's approaches, you can see why he works for Showtime as a boxing analyst for their other boxing broadcasts.
  • A now-former World Champion questions a boxing judge for his scoring of a bout - this is nothing new, corruption has become a pretty common practice in the sport on an international level, but I also know Paulie is wrong by saying he won the fight.
  • The looks on the faces of Mauro Ranallo, Al Bernstein and Bernard Hopkins when they go to the desk with Brian Kenny after the interviews - priceless!

Overall, while entertaining as can be, this video shows a few things that are wrong with boxing: the awful scoring done by judges in fights all over the world (look up Tim Bradley's "victory" over Manny Pacquiao) and the pompous attitudes of certain boxers in the sport (i.e. Adrien Broner). In my eyes, this is just more evidence as to why I think Mixed Martial Arts needs to be legalized in the state of New York, where judging isn't quite as skewed on a regular basis and there's more of a mainstream acceptance for the sport right now.

More From 104.5 THE TEAM