Adrien Broner made Paulie Malignaggi’s ex-girlfriend Jessica Corazon a central figure in the buildup to their Saturday fight at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and he continued to taunt Malignaggi over the issue after their fight ended.
In May, Broner introduced Jessica to the media by calling her on his cell phone and putting her on speakerphone during a press conference. Broner also brought Jessica to their press conference on Thursday, causing a shouting match between Broner and Malignaggi, according to the New York Daily News.
Jessica even did an interview with The Ring:
“[Being the center of attention is] a little crazy,” Corazon told The Ring. “I think Paulie’s crazy, I’m just here to support Adrien, and that’s what I’m doing.”
Corazon also explained her relationship history with Malignaggi.
“I dated Paulie for like six and a half, seven months, then he got a little physical, and I stopped talking to him. He’s embarrassed because obviously I’m fighting his opponent,” she said, likely meaning supporting instead of “fighting.”
In an interview with iPressFilmz, Corazon said she met Malignaggi at a club and that they went out on some dates after that. She says the two continued to talk as Malignaggi trained in Los Angeles, and she says she even attended the Brooklyn native’s November fight against Pablo Cesar Cano.
But at some point things went sour between the two, and Jessica now supports Broner.
“Adrien’s a really great person. I think he’s an exceptional boxer,” she told iPressFilmz.
Malignaggi has a different view of their relationship. He gave his side of the story in an interview with Thaboxingvoice.com.
Malignaggi told Thaboxingvoice.com that he has multiple women and that Corazon was only one of the women in his circle.
“The reason I got agitated about the Jessica situation is this is a chick that wanted to get closer to me,” Malignaggi explained to Tha Boxing Voice. “She was in my circle. You play your position, you’re going to get taken out, you’re going to get your gifts. When I’m in town, it’s all good. It’s lovely. I may hang out with you one night, I may call another girl another night.”
Malignaggi says things with Jessica went south when the young lady didn’t understand that she was just one of many women.
“At the end of the day, Jessica wanted more, and it got a bit uncomfortable to the point it got stalkerish.”
Malignaggi says Jessica put a picture of the two of them on her Facebook page, changed her relationship status to married, and faked a pregnancy with him. Malignaggi says he had to talk to her and push her to the side because she was taking things too far.
In his interview with Tha Boxing Voice, Malignaggi called Corazon an “idiot,” “wannabe,” and “moron,” and admonished the media for giving her press. He also said that Broner and Corazon are not together, and that Broner is just using the woman as a prop.
Despite what Malignaggi says, Corazon maintains that she and Malignaggi were closer than Paulie lets on and that she was pregnant with his child.
In an interview with 78 Sports TV (seen above), Corazon said she and Malignaggi talked “every single day” and “did everything together.”
“[I] definitely was not a side chick,” Corazon said of her relationship with Malignaggi. “We just stopped talking. I started talking to Adrien, and I guess that he’s really taking it to heart.”
When asked if she was ever pregnant with Malignaggi’s child, she answered, “I was.”
Corazon hinted to 78 Sports TV that she got an abortion.
“I don’t want to get into too many details, but it just wasn’t a good idea. And obviously we don’t have a child together.”
Corazon said she and Broner met through mutual friends and started talking and have continued to talk. She says they are just friends, but not in a relationship.
All of this happened in the lead up to the fight, but things revved up again when Broner decided to bring up Corazon in his postfight interview.
After winning by split decision, Broner took a shot at the former champion.
“I beat Paulie. I left with his belt and his girl!” Broner proclaimed.
Malignaggi went berserk after hearing that.
“Don’t brag about taking my side piece! Don’t brag about taking my side piece though!” he yelled back at Broner.
[Related: Paulie Malignaggi implies fight was fixed]
So how did Broner manage to get Jessica on his side? Was she bitter like Malignaggi says she was? Did Broner get a hold of her as a ploy to tick off Malignaggi leading up to their fight? Or is Broner actually together with Corazon now?
It’s hard to tell, because Broner’s relationship status is uncertain.
Broner made headlines last year for faking a proposal to his girlfriend, Arie Nicole. As recently as early June, Broner was referring to Arie as his fiancee, but that may have changed.
Broner started saying on Twitter that he is single, and he deleted Instagram pictures that involved Arie.
Head over to page 2 of the story to see all the tweets he and Arie sent. [Page 2]
