Bloody Paulie Malignaggi Say He’s Blind in Right Eye After Bare Knuckle Comeback Win
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Comeback Media Boxing Correspondent
New York, NY (October 22nd, 2025)– The Magic Man, Paulie Malignaggi, a former International Boxing Federation World Super Lightweight champion, turned boxing commentator and analyst, cannot stay out of the ring, retired. Malignaggi, 36-8 with seven knockouts, from Brooklyn, New York, who fought professionally between 2001 and 2017, has returned to bare-knuckle boxing at the age of 44. Fighting bare-knuckle for only the second time on Saturday, October 18, 2025, at Leeds, United Kingdom, Malignaggi scored a five-round split decision win over Tyson Goodjohn at Planet Ice Leeds, fought at 154 pounds.
However, the return to the ring, gloves or not, six and a half years after Malignaggi lost a five-round decision to Artem Lobov at Florida State Fairgrounds Hall in Tampa, came with a gruesome and bloody price. Against Goodjohn, Malignaggi incurred a horrific gash to the right forehead running straight his head through his right eyelid.
In the post-fight interview, Malignaggi admitted he was blind in the right eye after the bout. With broken ribs, swollen hands, severe facial lacerations, and eye trauma, one wonders whether coming out of retirement made any sense, given the damage Malignaggi incurred.
“After that eye poke (in my right eye), when I went down, I still can’t see. I’m still foggy on this side. That may be why I got hit with that shot that cut me (on the right eye). I’m still very foggy on this eye after that eye poke. Hopefully, I’ll go to the back and get it taken care of. I wouldn’t say I am completely (blind), but actually I am blind in this (my right) eye right now. Yeah. It’s very foggy (the vision in my right eye). I finished the fight with one (seeing out of my left) eye, essentially because now I can’t see out of this (my right) eye. I just see shadows.”
There are different ways for professional boxers to risk losing their vision. Bare-knuckle boxing brings other names to mind, like John L. Sullivan and Jake Kilrain and Bendigo. Those names were prominent in the sport hundreds of years ago. This is 2025, and not the 1800s. Paul Malignaggi seems to have forgotten his facts, as he risks his vision and his life in the current century. Perhaps the lack of personal challenge in a boxer’s life, perhaps financial reward, tempers aging and done boxers to return to the ring in search of past glories. Some boxers are George Foreman. Others are Jerry Quarry. The outcome of late career comebacks is usually not favorable, but who’s to stop over-the-hill athletes and who’s to say they cannot try to come back. Whatever the case, Malignaggi’s face and injuries incurred in his latest comeback tell the true story, blind to the reality of the risk late-career comebacks pose.
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