American bare-knuckle boxer attacks UK's NHS staff, who 'wouldn't be allowed to work on farm animals' in the US, as he suffers from infections following his fight

UK Mail ^ | 7 May 2026 | OLLIE LEWIS,

[dennisw]

'Absolute inept [staff], who were keeping me in the waiting room, not cleaning the blood dripping down my face. I'm hearing them gossiping in the other room — the hospital is almost completely empty.'

An American bare-knuckle boxer has hit out at the quality of healthcare he received from the NHS and claimed that treatment after his most recent fight led to serious health complications.

Paulie Malignaggi, 45, picked up his first win in nearly a decade when he defeated Tyler Goodjohn at a bare-knuckle event in Leeds in October 2025.

The brawl, which Malignaggi won by split decision, saw the veteran former lightweight contender hospitalised with broken ribs and hands, as well as cuts to his face.

And it was the treatment he received for his cuts by staff at Leeds General Hospital which led to his complaints. Malignaggi described staff as 'inept' and said that they 'wouldn't be allowed to work on farm animals' in the United States.

'The cuts [I suffered] would have been just a regular stitch job in a regular hospital in the United States,' Malignaggi said on The Ariel Helwani Show. 'But they have people in the UK that work in the NHS that in America, probably wouldn't even be allowed to work on farm animals. They let them work on human beings in these hospitals. I was in that hospital all night.

'Basically, what I'm getting at is the complications from one of the cuts [on my left eyebrow] has been constantly infected and pussing out up until a few weeks ago.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Health/Medicine
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[dennisw]

+1

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US boxer Paulie Malignaggi has complained about the treatment he received from the NHS

[Persevero]

Volunteer to get pummeled to a pulp, complain that others don’t clean your wounds well.

No fan of nhs but

[Gay State Conservative]

A lot of NHS doctors are graduates of the University of Bangladesh and the University of Malawi.

[Resolute Conservative]

I tend to not have sympathy for morons.

[rktman]

Ah yes. National health care. Ain’t it grand?

[Gay State Conservative]

I’m not a fan of boxing at all...and never have been. But his point may very well be entirely valid.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

A real tough guy would just sew up his own head.

[Jeff Vader]

did he get billed for the treatment, or did he just let the British tax-payer cover it for him?

[Leaning Right]

It reminds me of that car mechanic’s sign. But when talking about health care in the UK and other socialist countries, you can only pick one.

[Libloather]

Dood got knocked upside da hade. On purpose. That’s his hobby?

[libertylover]

And he won?

[stevio]

For 45 and a bare-knuckle boxer, he looks pretty good.

[Organic Panic]

I have a morbid fascination with anatomy and will sometimes watch autopsy and pathology videos. American labs are all spotless and clean. Then there will be pathology labs from those dumps and the place is so filthy that rats wouldn’t even want to live in them.

But it’s FREE

[Organic Panic]

This guy can’t even clean his own wounds? It’s not that difficult.

[Gay State Conservative]

My first job at the world famous hospital where I worked for 25 years was with the hospital's Neuropathologist. While working for him I got to watch an autopsy and got to hold a human brain in my hands. I also got to hold a chimp's mouth closed while one of its kidneys was being removed.

Also,in 1981 I got a tour of the Muhimbili Medical Center in Dar Es Salaam,Tanzania...which was the country's most important hospital in the country. To call it primitive would be an understatement. My guess is that NHS hospitals are quite as bad as Muhimbili Medical Center.

[subterfuge]

All muslim doctors and staff no doubt.

[Getready]

The opinion of a 45 year bare knuckle fighter who had his hands and ribs broken, his eyes poked in a fight and complains about his infected wounds is odd.
He probably had lots of swelling around his eyes and face and I don’t think it is wise to sew up swollen tissue, cause when the swelling goes down the stitches probably going to pull in the wrong directions. They probably waited for a while before sewing him up, or first used adhesive strips to keep the wound from getting more open... We don’t know what the boxer did to his face after discharge so we cannot be sure if he followed Drs. Orders. Guy sounds somewhat “reality challenged”....but yes any guaranteed payment service is going to have performance deficits.
Time to stop fighting, dude.

[rdcbn1]

Back in the day we were inundated with praise for the NHS and the Cuban socialist health care systems and how they should be a model for the US.

The NHS is collapsing and we are going to be stunned at the Cuban healthcare system (or lack of one) when the communists implode the already failing Cuban “economy” in a few months

[Organic Panic]

We directed cadavers in college. None of it grossed me out. The worst was the smell of the formaldehyde. Ech. So gross, and it sticks in your skin pores so even after a week of showers that stink was still there.