Malignaggi on Ben Whittaker world level
by Yamanaka: Paulie Malignaggi
Paulie Malignaggi's read on Ben Whittaker is pretty clear: the Olympic pedigree and the raw ability are there, but there are still deficiencies showing at a level below world class. Thirteen fights in, that's not necessarily fatal. Silver medalists tend to get moved quick anyway, and the step up Ergovic represented was so big that it's hard to tell whether Whittaker showed guts or just inexperience. The problem is what comes next. Malignaggi's point is that all of this is happening against pretty good opposition, not world championship opposition, and dragging those flaws up to the elite level is a tough climb. So the real question isn't whether he belongs eventually. It's whether he's ready for that jump or needs more time first.
Transcript (en)
If you have this weakness, at least Atoma showed it against Ergovic. And with Ergovic, it was such a big jump that we still don't know whether it was balls or whether it was just inexperience or whatnot. But with Whitaker, he's only 13 fights, but he's a little big silver medalist. Those guys get moved faster anyway. You're showing these deficiencies at a sub-world-class level. It's pretty good opposition, but listen, this is not world championship opposition. Correct. All of these deficiencies at this level, dude, that's a hard climb. It's a tough climb at a world-class level.
