Paulie Malignaggi wants to draw Conor McGregor into fight by putting Lobov in a coma
On June 22, at BKFC 6, Paulie Malignaggi will compete in a bare knuckle grudge match with Artem Lobov. This fight will serve as the climax of one of the most sizzling combat sports beefs in recent memory — and remarkably, it’s not even Malignaggi’s most high profile beef.
The retired boxer’s original and most severe gripes were with Lobov’s training partner Conor McGregor. And he’s now hoping that, by putting Lobov “in a coma,” he can coax McGregor into a fight.
But first, he wants McGregor to release the full, unedited version of their infamous 2017 sparring session.
“What’s gonna eat him inside more is when I put his boy in the hospital and he’s gonna be able to do nothing about it,” Paulie Malignaggi told Helen Yee (transcript via MMA Fighting). “That’s gonna be even more satisfying.
“Once I put his boy in a coma, he’s gonna want to fight me,” Malignaggi said. “If he’s any kind of man, he would. So once I do that in June, he will want to fight me, but the conversation doesn’t even get initiated unless 12 rounds of sparring, unedited, the way it actually happens, comes out. If it doesn’t, then Conor doesn’t even start the conversation.”
The first priority for Paulie Malignaggi, of course, is laying a devastating beating on Artem Lobov.
“I’m telling you right now, if they don’t pull him out of this fight in the correct way, he’s going to get hurt,” he said. “He’s going to get permanently hurt. This is actually a very professional fighter against a guy who basically belongs in a tough-man show.”
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 4/19/2019.
Topics:
Artem Lobov BKFC Conor McGregor Paulie Malignaggi
