Now anybody that knows me knows that the boxers are the first priority in my mind when it comes to this game. I appreciate and respect everybody else but I have a special feeling and bond with the guys that actually do the fighting. So the fight between Paulie and Cotto ends and as the fighters are heading down the alley way towards the tunnel back to the dressing rooms a bunch of people go to stand by the railing next to where the boxers will walk by so our group heads over, too, to check out the scene. Paulie is up on the ring apron acknowledging the crowd who, for the most part, are supportive of him and yelling up encouragement. "Hang in there, Paulie. You'll be back." Stuff like that. His face is swollen pretty bad, looks like he might have a broken jaw or a broken bone near his eye and he has some blood in his nose, but he's still standing there accepting the night for what it was. I mean, these things happen in the hardest game in the world, you know? Every night just isn't your night, no matter how bad you want it to be. So he stands there facing it all just as he would have had he won the fight and usually when people yell up to him he gives them a sheepish look back, like he is feeling bad about the night but he wants to show appreciation to them for still being there in what amounts to his darkest hour as a pro. So finally he has friends and assistants with him and they begin the walk back towards the dressing room and as he begins to head down the tunnel towards us there is this big mouth Puerto Rican girl, maybe 27 years old, who is laughing and pointing at Paulie and as he gets closer she gets up on a chair with the assistance of her boyfriend and she is looking down and saying things, obnoxious things, and it is very, very clear that she is more than happy that Paulie not only lost but is in pain both mentally as well as physical. The annual NYC Puerto Rican Day parade is less than twenty-four hours away and the fans representing the Island are especially proud tonight as their man has come through with a huge victory. She is also very clearly a Cotto fan. Fine. Be the fan. But when Paulie gets right underneath us, literally less than ten feet below us, this laughing, ignorant girl leans over the railing and yells something obviously nasty and negative to Paulie as she very gleefully sticks her middle finger right in his face in front of about forty or fifty people. Well, I don't know, I already was not too happy with her big mouth, her obnoxious attitude and her laughing and her disrespect of a guy that just showed the kind of heart and will that she likely could never in her life even relate to. In those first seconds after she put the finger in Paulie's face it became a very real possibility in my mind that I would nudge her slightly and send her over that railing right down the ten or fifteen feet to where Paulie and the guys were walking by. I could have done that, too, and not felt any remorse at that time but my better judgement grabbed hold of me and I immediately changed gears and instead of sending her tumbling down where she may have broken her neck, instead of that, I turned to my left away from where she was and I jammed my right elbow straight back into her thigh and sent her tumbling off the chair onto the floor (she grabbed another chair to stop herself from splattering all the way onto the floor). It felt good, too, I admit it and I expected it to, but the best part of it all for me was that when she landed and realized what happened? She immediately started using that big mouth of hers to cuss out her boyfriend, blaming him for being "stupid" and bumping into her and knocking her off the chair. Then we all turned and walked away and out of the Garden onto 7th Ave, leaving her there, hopefully, to at least feel a little of the lingering effects of pain just like she tried to intentionally leave something not too nice with the warrior (Paulie) that just went through misery, in effect, for her enjoyment. In my world fighters always get the last word.
I love it, stupid bitches these days get away with everything. Im glad you taught her a physical lesson, I wish some girls would just keep there big mouth shut especially when there trying to disrespect someone who put there life on the line for your enertainment
great story, you should have just pushed the ***** over, and if her boyfriend had a problem you should have given him a left hook.
I know a lot of people hate on Paulie but on that night he showed the heart of a champion and gave Cotto one of his toughest fight in his career. It didn't matter what Paulie did that night that stupid ***** would have hate on him anyway. You should have push her off.
Yea, Paulie showed a lot of guts and heart... and I will never forget how he stood there afterwards and faced everybody face to face even with that terribly swollen jaw. I didnt want to ACTUALLY hurt the girl...but I couldnt just let her nastiness go without something happening to her
Good story, Ice - even if I am not into physical punishment - she still deserved something. Malinaggi fought like a warrior in that fight, and deserved nothing but praise. Some fans are just too stupid to realize, that if they pick on the opponent, they also pick on their idol.
Gives a special meaning to blood, sweat, and tears. No matter the record, not many in the world can ever say they had the guts or nerve to step into a ring in front of crowd and give everything they had to win.
I'm Puerto Rican and I have to admit, PR females are ignorant at times... Swear the world owes them something..
Good story. Did you happen to post this on the Cotto forum last year? I could have sworn I remember reading something similar to this on there.
Good for you. No fighter who gives the sort of effort Paulie did in that fight should have to suffer that kind of abuse - from anyone!:-(
Whats funny is that I talked to Paulie about a month later and I told him what happened etc and he didnt even remember her giving him the finger like that. Just goes to show that what I always say is true.,..those moments following a fight are uually a blur.... you will say and do things and have no recollection of it afterwards