Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has responded after American bare-knuckle boxer Paulie Malignaggi, 45, complained about the healthcare he received following his fight in Leeds in October 2025.
Malignaggi beat Tyler Goodjohn at the bare-knuckle event but broke his ribs and his hands, and needed multiple stitches to his face. He later said the injury has left him with ongoing infections.
"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."
He said the cut above his left eyebrow had been "constantly infected and pussing out up until a few weeks ago" and was closed at the time he spoke, though he expected it to reopen during his next fight. He also described the emergency department staff as "absolute inept," saying they left him in the waiting room without cleaning blood from his face while he heard them "gossiping in the other room" in a hospital that was "almost completely empty."
A spokesman for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust apologised, saying: "We're sorry Mr Malignaggi had to wait in our Emergency Department to be treated following his bare-knuckle fight. We do prioritise patients based on clinical need, to ensure that the most critically ill patients are treated first. If Mr Malignaggi would like to contact us, we would be happy to discuss his complaint further."
Earlier social media complaint
Malignaggi had first raised the issue shortly after his win, posting a video update to fans from the hospital.
"I'm still in Leeds General Hospital," he said. "I don't know how it works in the UK. I still have not been stitched up. It's 4:30 in the morning; I got here 10:00." He said staff had X-rayed him without giving results on his hands, and a CAT scan showed broken ribs on his lower left side from kidney punches during the fight. He added that his eyes were still too "foggy" under bright light for doctors to assess the damage.
Malignaggi also said he suffered temporary vision loss from an eyepoke during the fight, but that his eyesight is now "pretty close" to full recovery. He returns to the UK this weekend to fight Rolando Dy in a superwelterweight bare-knuckle bout.