by David P. Greisman

Paulie Malignaggi was glad to get the win — his third in a row, his first in the United States since 2013, and this one, like that last one, coming at Barclays Center in front of his hometown Brooklyn crowd.

“I felt alright. I’ve had better nights,” Malignaggi told reporters after his decision over Gabriel “Tito” Bracero.

“With Bracero, I’ve known him for so long, I know he’s just a counterpunching trap setter. I didn’t want to overcommit to anything. It was like we were waiting on each other to come out of each other’s shells, but I felt like I could be a better potshotter. Once I put him behind on the scorecards, I felt like he was going to have to come out of his shell. I definitely have had better nights for sure.”

Malignaggi said one thing he felt was missing was a consistency with his style.

“I would’ve liked to put together some more combinations, better combinations,” he said. “Some of that has to do with Tito not giving me a lot to work with as far as him also being a counterpunching sharpshooter. He tries to punch with you. That’s how he knocked out [Danny] O’Connor. I noticed him trying to punch with me as well, so I tried to mix in feints, touch and go, wait on him to shoot with me and then counter his counter.”

Malignaggi has been mulling over his career for some time. It was no different after the Bracero victory.

“It was a good night for me. It felt good to get the win. I’m not sure how to progress from here, it’s three wins from here — or if I do progress or maybe call it a night. We’ll see. I have a lot of thinking to do,” he said.

Boxing, after all, is a dangerous sport, especially to those who stay around too long. That’s not news to any fighter.

“I’ve had a lot of family and friends talk to me about that,” Malignaggi said. “I get it. I understand it. It’s coming from a good place most of the time. We’ll see. I’m a grown man. I make my own decisions. That doesn’t mean I’m going to fight again. But whatever decision I make, I make it.”

The hard thing is that boxing becomes a part of one’s life from the time they are young amateurs.

“It’s just something you do, and then you get this sensation, it’s almost like a vice,” Malignaggi said. “You know it’s got to go away. When you’re young, you realize it is going to go away one day. But when the time starts to creep up on you that it’s time for it to go away, you don’t want to really accept it. I always felt like when the time came, I would easily be able to walk away.

“I’m wrestling with it as I give you this answer,” he said. “I can’t say yes or no. I know I’m the mandatory for the European title right now. That’s one thing I always wanted to close my career out with. But then I’m saying this would’ve been a nice way to walk away, at Barclays Center. I don’t know. I got to go home and think about it.”

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com