Former two-weight world champion and current commentator Paulie Malignaggi was brought in by Conor McGregor’s camp to serve as a sparring partner in preparation for the boxing match with Floyd Mayweather on August 26. After a twelve round sparring session on Tuesday, things were positive.
After a second twelve round sparring session on Thursday, Malignaggi quit. The announcement came via his social network.
I just wanted to clear the air,” Malignaggi wrote on Instagram. “I am leaving the McGregor training camp today. I came with the best intentions and intended to help out. Just the chance to be part of such a big event in this capacity excited me.
“I believe Conor and I have mutual respect inside the ring, earned from each other with some good work over two sparring sessions. It’s some of the stuff outside of the ring and some ways some things were handled in training camp that I didn’t agree with that made me come to this decision. It’s not my place to dictate terms in a training camp that is not mine. But it’s my place to decide if I want to be part of it.
I will not give away anything tactical that I saw in two sparring sessions with Conor. For what it’s worth, they have my word.
The things that upset me though I will speak about in time. I wish team McGregor well in the rest of their preparations and look forward to being back in Vegas to work fight week on ShowTime.
The issue apparently centers on images from the sparring session that McGregor’s team released. It appears to show McGregor knocking down Malignaggi, perhaps with some flying technique. Based on comments, fans are convinced that McGregor knocked Malignaggi down with 16 ounce gloves and headgear.
https://twitter.com/ConormcGregor5/status/893259037520912384
The former world champ says it shows a slip, and bitterly expressed his frustration on Twitter.
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Prior to the release of the image, Malignaggi confirmed what had been reported by referee Joe Cortez, among others – it had been very hard, spirited sparring.
“Lot of violence,” said Malignaggi to ESPN Staff Writer Brett Okamoto. “I went in there to prove a point. I didn’t like the fact I had to fly across the country on Monday, and they have me scheduled for 12 [rounds] on Tuesday. I thought it was a little bit of a setup.
“Usually all sparring is private. I show up at the UFC headquarters and Fertitta is there. Dana White is there. So, I’m thinking these guys are thinking they’ll catch me right off the flight, set me up for him to look good in front of his audience. I didn’t like that. I kind of went in with a chip on my shoulder.”
Now, Malignaggi pointed out that any time you take two world champions — McGregor is also a two-weight champion in the UFC — and put them in the same ring, fierce competition is to be expected.
“Conor wants his presence to be felt. He’s coming to win, right? He wants you to know you’re in a fight. He doesn’t want you to think it’s a picnic. So, any time he’s in the ring, he’s trying to make it as rough as possible — be it roughhouse tactics, be it trying to land hard shots.
“There was a pushdown yesterday. Conor on the inside, he can get a little rough. He shoved me down, you know, but no knockdowns. Obviously, 12 rounds, you’re gonna see there’s a mark on my face. Very, very hard work for both of us. I was starting to get in a groove in the middle rounds, starting to land some good shots. Conor really came on strong in the end. It was back and forth.””We’re like, I think the gist from Conor is we’re like ‘frenemies.’ I think somewhere in the middle,” he said.
“We’re like, I think the gist from Conor is we’re like ‘frenemies.’ I think somewhere in the middle,” he said.
“I don’t think we’re going to be best friends any time soon, but there was a lot more mutual respect after that kind of work last night. It was a lot more intense than the first one.”
Despite videos of McGregor training at the UFC Performance Institute and a number of heroic seeming images of McGregor sparring, there is no video what so ever on what he actually looks like. The last unedited footage was released by former sparring partner Chris Van Heerden, who like Malignaggi was not impressed with selective, edited content coming out of the camp, and released what it really looked like.
Conor McGregor boxes Floyd Mayweather on August 26 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
