The analyst in Paulie Malignaggi came out during his early years, shortly after the angry young teenager joined a boxing gym with the intent of learning how to win street fights. After a few months of training with mixed success, he made the breakthrough realization that if he could corral his emotion and exercise more discipline, more success would follow.
It did. Malignaggi saw immediate results, success that paved the way for his technical style and led to boxing world championships in two weight classes.
His combat sports career appeared to reach its end in the spring of 2017.