By Jonathan Shrager

Al Haymon is viewed as the most powerful man in boxing. The manager/adviser has around 150 fighters in his stable, which includes the pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Recently, Haymon parted ways with Golden Boy Promotions, who housed quite a number of his fighters. Haymon is scheduled to begin a brand new television series with NBC/NBC Sports in March. Many of the fighters in his stable are expected to be a part of this series.

Last year, Haymon signed an army of fighters. His high level of activity has continued in 2015.

Former two-division world champion Paulie Malignaggi was at one-time a big critic of Haymon. Since signing with the man he once criticized, Malignaggi has praised the efforts of Haymon and sees him as being a big advantage of any fighter.

BoxingScene.com: You’re currently represented by Al Haymon, who’s a highly intriguing character within the boxing milieu. Can you provide any insights into boxing’s “mystery man”?

Paulie Malignaggi - There are a lot of mysteries about Al Haymon. One thing I always tell people about Al Haymon is that I’ve never seen a businessman in boxing that has the backs of his fighters like Al, and it’s forcing other people to fully back their fighters in order to compete with him. Fighters are gravitating towards Al because they see the honesty with which he treats his fighters.

I’m not telling you he’s going to make everyone into an Oscar De La Hoya type of superstar, because that’s not going to happen. But what Al will do is maximize each particular fighter’s earning potential. And he will constantly and consistently strive to do this for every fighter. In all my years in boxing, I’ve never seen someone put the fighters first like Al does. If you’re not on Al’s side, and you happen to be fighting one of his fighters, it can be very frustrating, as I’ve been on that side of the equation too. But that’s testament to the way in which Al supports his fighters. And nobody else is doing that.

If everyone treated their fighters the way Al does, there’d be a lot of happy fighters in boxing who had maximized their potential, and there’d be a lot more fighters ending their careers on a happier note. I’ve seen both sides of the coin.

BoxingScene.com: I recently read the notion that Al Haymon is effectively going to establish his own promotion for his fighters. Is this plausible?

Paul Malignaggi: I don’t know if that’s possible, but there’s a reason why fighters are gravitating towards Al; they see what I’m telling you. All fighters want is to be treated fairly, given how hard we work in the gym and the sacrifices we make in our lives.

A lot of fighters just get consistently pimped by promoters and managers. Not all of them. I had a very happy relationship with Golden Boy Promotions, and I continue to be happy with them. None of Al’s fighters are pimped. They get treated respectfully.

At this moment in time I feel that I’m maximizing my earning potential as a fighter. My earning potential isn’t what it was going to be when I was 25 years old. At that age, as an undefeated fighter with a lot of upside to my career, I was a very marketable and promotable fighter that could have got endorsements and many other positive things, but I didn’t have Al Haymon so I fell way short of where I should have been. At this point of my career, my earning potential isn’t quite the same as a superstar anymore, but I can still make a very good living and do great things in boxing, and I can maximize that because I’m an Al Haymon fighter.

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