Mayweather, Malignaggi: McGregor was dirty when sparring
Mayweather says footage of McGregor sparring Malignaggi shows the UFC lightweight champion to be “extremely dirty” in the ring.
A lot of shots were illegal. Lots of grappling and illegal punching behind the head…He had Joe Cortez in his camp but I still saw him being extremely dirty. My job is not to worry about the referee but to let the referee do his job.
Malignaggi also says the same:
His intensity is a good thing. I just don’t know if he can go without fouling. Fighting up close, I think he gets a bit confused and he ends up fouling. I think that’s where he can be most intense but fighting up close is the hardest thing in boxing to learn and I don’t think you can do that in a few months.
McGregor: I am still the UFC featherweight and UFC lightweight champion
On his media conference call, McGregor says he still considers himself the UFC featherweight and UFC lightweight champion
I mean, how can I not consider myself the UFC featherweight world champion and the UFC lightweight world champion? The current UFC featherweight world champion is Max Holloway, a man who I dismantled, and the former was Jose Aldo — I still reign supreme over that division. And then also, the 155-pound division, I know there’s talks of an interim belt, I’d only won that belt, and literally a month later there was an interim scheduled…But it is what it is, everyone knows I am the multiple-weight world champion of the UFC’s featherweight division and lightweight division, and I look forward to going back and continuing where I left off.
Mayweather: McGregor will lose 90% of his purse if he kicks
On Jimmy Kimmel Live, Mayweather talks about what would happen if McGregor kicks him.
That’s a huge fine. I don’t think he wants to lose 90 per cent of his money, or even more. I don’t really know what it’s gonna be [the fine] but it’s gonna be a heavy fine.
Asked if he would kick McGregor back:
I’m not gonna do that. I follow the Queen’s rules of boxing.
And if he would fight in MMA:
As of right now, we gotta get past August 26. Once we get past August 26, then we can talk about other things.
White: McGregor ‘is going to be the biggest athlete on the planet’
White says that boxing has snubbed MMA, and is now ready for a wake up call.
Here’s the reality: boxing has tried to snub this sport for a very long time. The people who think is going to be this one-sided whatever with Floyd Mayweather, don’t know Conor McGregor yet. The beautiful thing about this thing is that it’s the biggest combat sport [event] ever in the history of combat sports — now you’re going to meet Conor McGregor, motherf—s!…When he makes this upset — and it’ll be the biggest upset in the history of sports — he’s going to be the biggest athlete on the planet. It’s going to be awesome.
Malignaggi calls out McGregor
Malignaggi says he wants to settle his feud with McGregor in a boxing ring.
It’s picked up a ton of momentum, the bad blood is there so let’s fight. We’ll need to see how he looks against Mayweather. If he looks dog s***, no one will want to see us fight. As long as he doesn’t get the living s*** beaten out of him, I think the demand is there to make the fight…I showed up with the best intentions in camp, but at a certain point you realise that you are being used as a pawn where somebody is trying to get ahead at your expense and not through your help…f I never see him or speak to him for the rest of my life, it’s cool.
White: McGregor ‘gave Malignaggi a one-sided beating’
White talks about suggestions by Malignaggi that he had edited the McGregor sparring footage to make McGregor look better.
What am I Steven Spielberg! Come on! It’s footage of the actual sparring. I was there for all 12 rounds. Paulie has said some bad things about me. I felt sorry for the guy. It was a one-way beating. A lot of people were saying Conor couldn’t box. Paulie was obviously lying about everything about the sparring match, so I released it….I got no problem releasing the full tape, the problem is that Conor doesn’t want Mayweather to see everything he’s working on…It was very one-sided. it was an absolute beating. It was the right thing for Paulie Malignaggi to leave, for his health’s sake…Conor’s going to come at [Mayweather] different than anyone he’s every faced before. It’s not going to be a boxing match, it’s going to be a fight.
Alvarez: ‘You’re a fool if you don’t think Conor can put Floyd away’
Alvarez says not to underestimate McGregor.
I think a lot of boxing fans are looking at Conor as if he’s never, ever boxed. Even the way they’re talking seems that they’re writing him off like he never boxed. He boxed, he understands boxing. I just think his chance is going to happen within the first four rounds. And Conor can. I think you’re a fool if you don’t think Conor can put Floyd away. I think he can. I think he can land a punch and put Floyd away…I think if it goes past the fourth round and gets in the fifth, sixth, seventh where it can become a technical boxing match, I think it could look look one sided. Floyd’s the king of that, he’s the king of swimming and not getting wet. He can punch and not get hit. So I think if it goes further past five, six, seven, eight he could win by TKO. But I think before that time, that’s where Conor’s time is — in the first four rounds.
https://www.facebook.com/UFCCanada/videos/1572784052743232/
White: It’s crazy to rule out McGregor beating Mayweather
White says he believes in McGregor’s ability to beat Mayweather.
I stopped doubting Conor McGregor a long time ago. Everything he’s told me he’s going to do, he’s done, so if he says he’ll beat Floyd Mayweather inside four rounds, he will. I don’t think Conor underestimates him, he obviously respects him but you’ve got to remember – Floyd is 41 years old and Conor McGregor is 28 years old. He’s the bigger, stronger fighter. People aren’t giving him a chance and that’s just crazy. This is going to be a fight, and anything can happen in a fight…[8 ounce gloves] definitely benefits Conor. First of all, Floyd isn’t a big puncher, he’s not a knockout puncher. His whole game is defence, using the gloves to defend himself and smaller gloves means Conor will have more places to hit. We’ve always wanted to have smaller gloves, they didn’t want it and now all of a sudden Floyd has decided that he wants smaller gloves. So now we have a hearing with the state commission this week and hopefully that will happen. Conor isn’t concerned about Floyd’s punching power at all.
Porter reacts to McGregor-Malignaggi sparring footage
Porter, who will face Mayweather Promotions’ Thomas Dulorme in the main event of the Fox Prelims for McGregor vs. Mayweather on August 26th, talks about the McGregor-Malignaggi sparring session.
That’s a knockdown. That’s a knockdown…Conor’s roughing up Paulie a lot like he should do Floyd…And he’s bringing that left hand, which we’re all being told is going to be his deadly punch.
McGregor: I’ll be 20 pounds heavier than Mayweather in the ring
McGregor says he will be heavier than Mayweather.
You ain’t never seen me troubled by no small man like that…If he comes in any heavier [than 150] he’s not going to be in peak physical condition. If he comes in at 150, he’s in peak physical condition, but he’s gonna be 150 pounds. I’m going to be 170 plus on the night. If I don’t know what else to say…It’s over before it even begins. Trust me on that.
.@TheNotoriousMMA sizes up @FloydMayweather ⚖️
via @ShowtimeBoxing #MayweatherMcGregor pic.twitter.com/e3mFIUUsTu
— SHOWTIME SPORTS (@SHOsports) August 12, 2017
McGregor: ‘Not really too much of a fan of either’ Canelo Alvarez or Gennady Golovkin
McGregor gives his opinion on Alvarez and Golovkin.
I’m not really too much of a fan of either of those. I think Canelo’s a little but stuck, a little bit flat on his feet. When I watch footage of him I just see him getting peppered — he has no feet under him…Golovkin I think came into camp, for this preparation, badly out of shape. I’m looking at him badly out of shape up in Big Bear and I just see a drained individual. So, although they’re supposedly up there as well, I don’t really think they are.
Lobov: Malignaggi didn’t land anything on McGregor
Lobov, McGregor’s long-time training partner and fellow UFC fighter, says Malignaggi wasn’t used to not being the centre of attention.
In boxing they very rarely train in camps. You very rarely see two champions train together. It’s always centered around one guy – he is the star and then everyone else is there to support him. Paulie just was not used to not being that star, he just wasn’t able to deal with it.
On the ‘pushdown’:
Sorry that there was no good pictures of Paulie, because he didn’t land anything in sparring! So, what can we do?
On McGregor being cheap with sparring partners:
They had their own house. A normal house, they had a car, they had their meals sorted. Three meals a day sorted from a restaurant. You know, not just where they had to cook themselves. No, they had restaurant meals delivered to them, every day, three times a day. And they were getting paid! I mean, what else can you ask for?
McGregor: We were worried about Malignaggi, he ‘took a lot of head trauma’
At his Media Scrum, McGregor talks about his sparing session with Malignaggi.
He was looking for an exit. The spars were not good for him. He took a lot of head trauma. Straight after it we were worried. The sparring partners were actually telling us when he was dropped back at the home that he was stumbling out of the car after the 12-rounder…He was flattened against the ropes; multiple times the ropes kept him on his feet. We were worried about him. We thought the worst was about to happen. He was certainly badly concussed. And then he just got out of there and went running…He showed (up), he tried his best, it didn’t go his way. He got his ass whooped, he got his pride dented, and then he wanted a way out. What better way for a guy like him to exit under a load of questions…He was flattened. What can I say? He got his ass whooped. But I like the guy. He’s kind of like a lovable mouthpiece.
McGregor: Mayweather is a ‘rat and a weasel’ for racism claims
In response to accusations from Mayweather that McGregor’s team called his team ‘monkeys’:
I just didn’t like when he called us monkeys. I think that was totally disrespect. He called us monkeys. I didn’t like it. It didn’t push a button to make me jump out of my character and go crazy, but I didn’t like it.
At his Media Scrum, McGregor says:
He knows there’s no racism from me; his father knows, [his manager] Leonard Ellerbe knows, ask these people. He says I labelled him a monkey, I never once labelled him or any other African American a monkey, and it f****** annoys me he’s bringing this stuff up…If I was to label him after any animal it would be a rat or a weasel, that’s a rat and a weasel move trying to manipulate someone’s words and create something that isn’t even there. That’s such a sensitive subject. He’s a man who beats his wife in front of his kid. He is the dirt of the dirt so to even bring that up and engage in that, that shows me his true colours.
Ellerbe: $60 million box office answers critics
Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather productions says critics of the fight, such as Oscar de la Hoya, are on the wrong track.
The fact of the matter is we have over $60 million in the box office right now, which is more than double any other live gate that’s ever been done. The fight that they have on the 16th of September (Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin) next month, our fight right now we’ve got more in the box office right now — double — than they will have…Mind your f****** business. “You know? It’s like do your job, cover the sport. Obviously, you have to give your opinion, which we understand that. It’s like, we don’t see you saying nothing else about anybody else’s events. We know what this is about. It’s like, OK, one thing is for sure — you’re not gonna stop this event. The fans demanded this event and that’s what they’re gonna get. We didn’t ask for this. Social media was on fire because these two guys were going at it…Did we happen to miss the world tour? Did we see the record number of amount of fans to come out and support a world tour. You kidding me?
Mayweather: Beating McGregor by decision would be ‘win for him’
Mayweather says he will have failed if he fails to knock out McGregor in their upcoming fight.
If the fight goes the distance it is a win for him. But I don’t think that is going to happen. He is going around saying that it will be over in four rounds, and he might be right. But it will be because I say so, and not him…The people should expect entertainment, and that is what I am going to give them. They have to understand that this is a show. One of the biggest shows in history. No one is going to be disappointed. I will be coming forward. I am coming to get him.
Barker: McGregor should fight Malignaggi next
Former world champion Darren Barker says McGregor should stay in boxing after facing Floyd Mayweather and settle his feud with Malignaggi.
I think McGregor will box again after this fight. I have called it a bad day for UFC, because I think they will lose McGregor. He’ll be loving the hype around this fight and especially the money…He won’t be able to get an opponent like Mayweather again, but he is going to love being involved in the No 1 combat sport which is boxing, no doubt. It’s stood the test of time and I think McGregor will want to be a part of it for years to come…I think McGregor released those pictures for his own confidence, regardless of what happened, to try and unsettle Mayweather in some way. But that’s going to be impossible as Mayweather has seen and heard it all before. Good luck to McGregor for trying.
McGregor: ‘Precision beats power, and timing beats speed’
The UFC posts a short McGregor video.
Precision beats power, and timing beats speed.
"Precision beats power, and timing beats speed."#MayweatherMcGregor @TheNotoriousMMA pic.twitter.com/xOHZE90XA8
— UFC (@ufc) August 9, 2017
Roddy: McGregor gets better every day, every week
Roddy, McGregor’s striking coach, praises his fighter’s progress.
We’re all very happy and very excited. Conor improves on a daily basis. The Conor of today is better than the Conor of yesterday. He gets better every day, every week. We’ve got another three weeks, so there will be huge improvements again. He is such a good student. He has a great ability to pick up on things. I don’t know how he does it. I’ve never seen it before from any student. From the start of camp to now, he has improved phenomenally and he will continue to improve over the next couple of weeks. It’s so exciting.
Bradley: I was there when McGregor sparred Malignaggi
In an article in The Irish News, Tiernan says he is surprised by Malignaggi’s statements.
Any time I’ve logged on to social media, it’s been ‘Paulie say this’ or ‘Paulie says that’ – we all know Paulie can talk, but even he must be exhausted after doing so many interviews. It’s almost a week since he left the training camp, and it was a shame to see him go. Although he was only really about for a week-and-a-half, Paulie was a good guy to have around the place. But, having been here the whole time, some of the things he has come out with in the last seven days have taken me by surprise.
On the sparring session:
I did Paulie’s corner for the spar, their second after a feisty first encounter, and I can safely say it will be very interesting when the video comes out after the fight. When you’re in sparring, sometimes you think you’re doing better than you are, but watching back afterwards can reveal the true nature of the spar. I’ve experienced that myself, you start to notice little things you did wrong, or maybe punches landed that you don’t remember…Conor stayed very professional; Paulie was saying stuff and then getting hit. Conor chose his moments to talk back. There are tactics to mental warfare too, knowing when to talk, and then there’s stupidity.It wasn’t a one-sided spar either way but I thought one was the clear winner overall and that was Conor. He was very calm, very professional and, honestly, he really impressed me on the day.
When Malgnaggi saw the ‘shovedown’ photo:
He was clearly pissed off, showing us his phone, saying ‘what the f**k?’ or whatever. It was weird though because after that Conor came into the changing room but Paulie didn’t mention it, even though they did speak. We were in the car home from training to get food and Paulie was like ‘drop me back to the house’. You could see he was hanging his head, thinking about things. He was in a bad mood. We left him to the house and when we came back he was gone – we were only away about 45 minutes. He must’ve been straight in, suitcase packed, out the door…As for the ‘knockdown’ itself, you can make your own mind up when the footage is eventually released, if anybody even cares by that stage. I’ve seen people say that, from the photo, you can tell that it was a push down by the body language of Joe Cortez. I can tell you now – Joe didn’t see the incident that led to Paulie being on the ground. He didn’t see it.
This camp is not about Paulie. When we’re in the gym, we’re concentrating on Conor, getting him ready. I did some school sparring with him on the Thursday, the day Paulie left and it was as if nothing had happened. This is not the Big Brother house. It’s a training camp, and that’s all anybody left here cares about.