Tommy Zbikowski shared the dais Wednesday with junior welterweight champion Miguel Cotto and challenger Paulie Malignaggi, getting a close-up view of how title-fight combatants handle the pressure of counting down the hours toward the opening bell.
The Notre Dame football safety will make his pro boxing debut on the undercard of the Cotto-Malignaggi main event Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.
Although the 5-foot-11-inch heavyweight is technically part of promoter Bob Arum’s team headed by Puerto Rican Cotto, who holds the World Boxing Organization 140-pound title, Zbikowski’s non-stop nature is more akin to that of Brooklyn-born Malignaggi.
No one onstage could match Malignaggi’s high-speed rhetoric. He promised “a few tricks up my sleeve” for the title bout, reacted to Cotto’s criticism of his lack of big-fight experience by warning, “I play around, but I’m no one to play with,” and crowed, “I can’t wait to get my hands on this guy.”
Cotto kept his response terse but testy. Translated from his Spanish, he said that after he beats Malignaggi, “He’s going right back where he came from, all those ballrooms and club fights.”
Cotto began boxing at 11 in his native Caguas, Puerto Rico. His five title defenses include a knockout victory last year over tough Muhammad Abdullaev, who beat him en route to winning a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The power-punching Cotto’s 26-0 record includes 22 knockouts.
Like Cotto, Malignaggi is 25 and unbeaten. But the slick boxer has only five knockouts in 21 bouts. And he has faced lesser opposition than Cotto. His foot and hand speed have frustrated opponents since he turned pro five years ago.
On Wednesday, Cotto continued to critique his opponent as a fighter who has not earned this title shot. The champion, who will be fighting in New York City on the eve of its Puerto Rican Day Parade for a second consecutive year, repeatedly has said he believes Malignaggi will continue to rely on elusiveness rather than power. But he won’t be able to sustain it for the scheduled 12 rounds, Cotto assessed, and “if Paulie slows down, he’s going to go to sleep quick.”
Countering orally after the news conference Wednesday, Malignaggi said: “I think I can hurt him. If he keeps trying to walk me down, he’s going to walk into my power shots.”
Calling Cotto a “big, physical but one-dimensional fighter,” Malignaggi predicted he would frustrate him until “he has to decide whether he loses the title on his back or by decision. He has a choice. But either way, he’s going to lose.”
The opponents’ polar styles were evident as they posed for photographers. An animated Malignaggi pulled up his polo shirt to reveal his taut abdominal muscles, while Cotto stood impassively in a gray suit.
Saturday’s card also will feature Chicagoan Freddy Cuevas (25-8-1) against Irish John Duddy (25-0) in a middleweight bout.
Zbikowski, the 21-year-old Notre Dame senior, got caught up a bit in Wednesday’s hype. In his turn at the microphone, he said, “I plan to put on a show of speed, skill and power the heavyweight division hasn’t seen in a while.”
His opponent, Robert Bell, 32, is 2-2 as a pro with all his bouts ending in knockouts. The Akron, Ohio, native said he is an Ohio State fan and will wear that school’s football jersey into the ring. Realizing Notre Dame fans and teammates will be well represented, Bell said: “I will just shut the crowd up. When I lay him down, I will shut them up.”
Angelo Dundee, who has trained Zbikowski recently, worked “mostly on the kid’s jab and to get him to bounce less to improve his power. You will like what you see.”
Easily swept up in the occasion, Dundee drew on past imagery from Notre Dame football exploits. He predicted Bell “is going to feel like he got hit by the Four Horsemen.”
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mhirsley@tribune.com
