On Tuesday, June 17, 2025, Former IBF Junior Welterweight Champion and former WBA Welterweight Champion Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi inked a three-fight deal with BYB Bare Knuckle Boxing (BKB). The Brooklyn-born champion will fight in the league’s super welterweight division.
The ProBox TV personality is no stranger to the sweet science, securing 36 wins in his 16-year professional career. However, the “Magic Man” will encounter a few new aspects of combat when he returns. Most noticeably, he’ll trade the eight or ten-ounce standard boxing gloves for simple wraps. Also, he’ll move out of the standard square-shaped ring for BKB’s patented triangular ring, the Mighty Trigon – the smallest fighting surface in combat sports. Third, he’ll go from fighting ten and twelve-round bouts to six-round bouts. Malignaggi, however, feels these changes will work to his advantage at this stage of his career.
“Having sat ringside at BKB for three years, taking in these amazing fights, I’m always thinking, ‘These guys are impressive, but you know what? I think I can still do that.’ I used to fight [10- or 12-round fights]. I can still do 5 or 6 rounds,” he said in a press release. “Ultimately, I want to prove something to myself. I’m in the best shape I’ve been in in years, and being able to say I’ve been at the top of the game in two sports would just solidify my legacy in fighting. I don’t know who my first opponent will be yet, but I am confident that BKB will give me someone I can really test myself against.”
Malignaggi will make his BKB debut at BKB 45 on September 6, 2025, in Bristol, England.
