Paul Malignaggi discusses sparring with Conor McGregor

Prior to the August 26th scrap between Floyd Mayweather & Conor McGregor being finalized, the UFC lightweight champ and two-time boxing champion Paul Malignaggi both engaged in some heated trash talk.

After the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor fight was finalized however, Conor McGregor and his team reached out to Malignaggi to join Team McGregor and help the UFC champ prepare for what many believe is a nearly impossible task. Following the Mayweather-McGregor world tour, Malignaggi joined Team McGregor, and was seen in a pic sparring with McGregor this week.

He spoke to ESPN to reflect on the sparring:

“It was good. It was educational,” he said. “There was a lot of trash talking, which me and him are both known to have a little bit. It was physical work, it was good work, and Conor is coming along.”

“In a championship camp, the sparring is intense, so I didn’t expect to go in there and it be a picnic,” Malignaggi said. “Conor is a competitor, I’m a competitor. We went in there and there was a lot of trash talking right away. There was a lot of fighting right away. In the end, you look back on it was kind of fun. I don’t have everybody that can match my trash talking, but Conor definitely can. So it was making it a lot of fun.”

“I wasn’t sure what to expect. To say that a mixed martial artist coming over to boxing wouldn’t be awkward, it would probably be kind of an understatement. He’s got his own style, and own set of things that he does.

“He’s got a game plan behind it,” Malignaggi said. “It’s not what people think. There’s a game plan behind what he’s doing. There’s a method to Conor’s madness.”

In addition, Malignaggi revealed that McGregor invited him to stay on throughout the remainder of the camp.

Stay tuned for more updates as they become available!

on 7/22/2017.