Malignaggi: ‘I’ll knock McGregor’s beard off’
Former two-weight world boxing champion Malignaggi calls out McGregor.
At first I was telling Conor to stay in his lane and I was thinking ‘you know what, you are going to embarrass yourself’ but if you are really going to disrespect the sport of boxing like that then I would like to be the one to teach you that lesson. I would never disrespect your sport and tell everybody ‘you know what, I could beat the best fighter in the cage’. You shouldn’t come to our sport and tell everybody you could beat the best fighter in our sport in a ring. I know you apologised about absolutely nothing last fight but after I am done with you – I am going to knock the beard off you homie – you are going to be apologising for everything you have been trying to do to get into boxing
McGregor to Malignaggi: ‘Who the f-ck is that guy?’
During the interview at Devenish nightclub in Belfast, McGregor responds to Malignaggi.
Who the f-ck is that guy? I don’t know who the f-ck that is, but I’ll slap the nose off him, if he mentions my name again.
Malignaggi on fighting McGregor: I would laugh my way through it
Malignaggi says he laughs at McGregor’s boxing skills.
After seeing that sparring session (with Chris van Heerden), I don’t think the guy would win the New York City Golden Gloves. I don’t think he would. I think he gets beaten in the New York City Golden Gloves, so the fact that you would put a guy that probably can’t even win the New York City Golden Gloves against the best fighter in the sport is almost laughable. Put him in with a guy like me, a two-time world champion, is still laughable. It’s comical. I would laugh my way through the whole fight, I really would. It would be like watching a Kevin Hart movie, you just sit there laughing. I would be sitting there laughing while I’m fighting the guy because it’s more comedy than it is anything else. Who the f-ck does he think he’s gonna scare in a boxing ring? I’ll put the camera guy against him and it will be competitive in a boxing ring. Does a guy who plays golf, is he able to get on the ice and play hockey because it’s a similar looking object that you’re hitting something with? It’s ridiculous.
Malignaggi: McGregor will fail in boxing
Malignaggi says McGregor would need to make $100million out of any boxing match because he will have his reputation destroyed.
I feel like most of the opinions of people that watch these kind of fights are probably ignorant and they don’t know anything, and that’s not even said in a disrespectful manner. You’ll get a lot of stupid people that will buy a lot of fights that aren’t worth the time…I think McGregor has some good striking skills. I think the Diaz brothers have some good striking skills, and there’s probably a few other guys, as well. The striking skills in mixed martial arts are a little bit different than the striking skills you need in boxing. In MMA, you can back yourself up with a Muay Thai clinch, or you can spear the guy and take him down, or a kick or throw. The angles are different when they’re coming from a pure boxing perspective. The fact that anybody that thinks it would be a risk for me to fight Conor McGregor in a boxing ring—I get a good laugh out of it. Ultimately, I think the fighters understand that, and because they understand that, I don’t think I ever see Conor McGregor boxing in my lifetime…The only way he’ll take a risk in boxing is if it’s a $100M risk. You may take a beating, but it’s worth it because of the money you’re doing it for. It’s going to totally destroy him. No matter who he boxes, it’s going to ruin his image…If you put him in boxing, you probably have to treat him as a prospect, just like these 20-year-old-prospects that turn pro and get put through the normal phases. You have to start Conor from the beginning. There’s no other way to put it.
McGregor team ask Malignaggi to spar
Malignaggi says McGregor’s team have asked him to spar with Conor in his prep to fight Mayweather.
I did get called to go to camp with McGregor… so I started working out a little bit. I’m working on the details. If it’s something that’s gonna be feasible, it’ll be cool, ’cause I think I’ll have some inside stuff to talk about on fight night. It’s interesting that they called me… I’ve announced my retirement [and] I did call him out [when he got his boxing license]. I think that shows the competitive spirit and the willingness to learn. It shows you how hungry he is, he put that pride aside. It makes me respect him a little bit more.
Malignaggi: Mayweather will fight McGregor ‘very aggressively’
Malignaggi says that he will will be part of the US leg of his training.
I was a little bit surprised, but at the same time it’s something exciting. You don’t have to make the wait. It’s cool…I look forward to having a healthy training camp with Conor. I was contacted for sparring…probably a little bit of my boxing knowledge, tactical knowledge… I have a speed boxing style. I was more of a speedster. While it’s almost impossible to mimic [Mayweather’s] style, you spar with guys who have fast hands and get used to the speed. They were looking for guys with speed and that counterpunching fast style.
He also talks about Mayweather;s strategy.
The trick to Mayweather is…Mayweather will adjust to you..If you come in with some sort of success in the early rounds. You have to be prepared to be able to be like Bruce Lee, to be ‘like water’ and to adjust. Because Mayweather will adjust and give you that right back…I don’t think Conor will have enough time to have a distinct game plan. He will have to figure out these three or four key weapons in his arsenal to use them, disguise them in various ways, to use them against Mayweather…Conor is best at range, so if he tries to become a rugged physical fighter, how much is it going to work? But does McGregor even know enough to hide the dirty stuff? Conor has good speed and good timing, he has to work on variations…If I had to predict to you…I think Floyd will fight this fight very aggressively. There’s a mean streak in Floyd. He may start taking it to him and getting aggresive.
Malignaggi: Eight rounds with McGregor was ‘good work’
Malignaggi talks about his eight-round sparring session with McGregor, which he describes as “good work”. Malignaggi says they were originally scheduled for six rounds, but ended up extending it to eight. He said both showboated at times, but he couldn’t guess whether McGregor will do so in the fight with Mayweather.
There was a lot of trash talking right away. A lot of fighting right away. At the end, you look back on it, it was kind of fun. I don’t have many people who can match my trash talk, but Conor definitely can. It was making it a lot of fun…To say a mixed martial artist is coming into boxing and wouldn’t be awkward is an understatement. He’s going to have his own style and set of things he does. He’s got a game plan. It’s not what people think…I’ll put it like this: He knows what he wants to do and he has a method of how he wants to get there. The mechanism of how he gets there may look, to the naked eye, ‘hmm, I don’t know about this.’ But there’s a method to his madness. He’s a thinker…He’s got some pop in the left hand, I can’t take that away from him. In boxing, especially against a guy like Floyd Mayweather, you need to devise a few more weapons, and I think that’s what Conor is working on. I think … coming into this situation already knowing Conor has a big left hand … you’re probably going to prepare for that left hand. Obviously, Conor is working on other things besides the left hand, so there can be that surprise element to it. … There’s going to be other things he needs to make you worry about, and that’s what’s being worked on in camp. He’s effective at what he’s doing.
Malignaggi now respects McGregor after watching him train
Malignaggi says McGregor has earned his respect after helping the Irishman prepare for his Las Vegas fight with Floyd Mayweather.
It makes me respect McGregor to see his work ethic that he’s put into the training camp. Seeing him work hard every day and see that he’s really determined to upset the odds. When you talk to Conor, at first I started thinking this guy doesn’t really think he’s going to win this, it’s just a 100 million dollar fight for him. Then when you really start to talk to him, you start to realise that this guy really believes it down deep inside his heart and he’s got every reason to, because every time he’s been doubted in his life he has been able to overcome those odds and win, no matter what it is. Come out of poverty, become a UFC champion, become a two-time two-weight UFC champion. Whatever it’s been, he’s done it. He has no reason to ever doubt himself, because he is yet to be proven wrong…He’s not going in there to play patty cake, he’s going in there with any other fighter’s mentality. Conor is the kind of guy who is going to come with a different style…It’s going to be up to Conor to throw those little curve balls here and there and throw things a bit out of line for Floyd, and see if he can get Floyd’s respect.
Cortez: McGregor-Malignaggi sparring got ‘a little out of control’
Cortez, who is in McGregor’s camp to help ease the transition to boxing rules, by overseeing sparring sessions as he would real bouts, says he had to admonish McGregor and Malignaggi during a recent sparring session.
He was in there mixing it up a little bit with Paulie and it was the real thing I had to stop the action and I had to say, ‘Alright guys, you guys are getting a little out of control here, you gotta stop this.’ It got a little rough. They were both roughing each other up and I had to stop the action like as in a regular fight. They were holding too much, they were trying to punch each other. I mean, it got a little bit out of control where I had to call ‘Time!’ [I said] ‘Alright guys, you gotta stop this right now, I want a good clean round, give me sportsman-like conduct. Understand? I don’t want to take any points from either one of you. Understand?’ I looked at them and they said, ‘Okay, alright.’ And I said, ‘Time in.’
And when asked if there had been alot of trash talking:
I had to put a stop to that as well. That’s probably why I had to stop the action.
Malignaggi has 12-round ‘full on fight’ with McGregor
Malignaggi fights McGregor, shortly after arriving on a cross-country flight. Their spar is described by Tiernan Bradley as a “full-on fight”. Bradley:
I was in Paulie’s corner and although he hasn’t fought since March and is retired, he’s getting sharper by the day. You can see he’s still a class operator, and it was an interesting spar to watch – more a full on fight actually. Conor told us all when Paulie came into camp ‘this is not a spar, I want to fight him. I’m ready for a war’.
Malignaggi:
We had 12 rounds of sparring last night. It was good work, hard work. I actually wasn’t too thrilled that they wanted me to go twelve rounds 24 hours after getting off a cross-country flight. Especially when I hadn’t worked all last week, so I wasn’t thrilled and I kinda came into the gym last night with a bit of a chip on my shoulder and the sparring got intense, it got heated. We went 12 hard rounds and I think I made my point last night I’ll say that. Basically, don’t f— with me. I’m here to help, I’m here to do the best I can for you guys, so don’t try to take advantage of me. Don’t try to make like you’re running a two-time world champion out of your camp or whatnot. Honestly I questioned last night whether I could go twelve rounds and the first five rounds of back-and-forth action, I wasn’t really sure I could go the full twelve. Then as we got to round six, he started fading a little bit and that’s when I really tried to dig in there and that’s when I said you know what I’m going to stay in here, I got a point to make tonight. I managed to last until about 12, but in rounds 11 and 12 he came back and put it on me. I just totally gassed out in the eleventh and twelfth. So we returned the favors to each other last night.
McGregor floors Malignaggi in sparring
Gerry Byrne, a friend of McGregor’s, posts then deletes an image of Malignaggi on the floor of the sparring ring, apparently after being floored by McGregor.
Malignaggi: It was a pushdown, release the whole video
Malignaggi responds to the photo that shows McGregor over him, while he lies on the boxing ring floor.
Its not nice 2 paint a pic that isn't true, this was a pushdown in sparring, post the whole video rounds 1 through 12 UNEDITED https://t.co/R82BLiMMVm
— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) August 4, 2017
Malignaggi: ‘I came to help this camp out, not to be exploited’
Malignaggi threatens to tell ‘the truth’ about his session with McGregor, after he says he feels that he has been exploited by McGregor’s camp.
I came to help this camp out, not to be exploited, now your gonna get the truth though. Post FULL UNEDITED VIDEO FROM TUES night #Ethics
— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) August 4, 2017
Malignaggi: ‘I actually beat his ass’
Malignaggi says he was the one who came out on top in his 12-round sparring session with McGregor.
I actually beat his ass, 24 hrsoff a flight 2 lol, which is why Im saying post the vid, I try not 2 be petty but seems it's late 4 that now. https://t.co/vSE2Iw4ffM
— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) August 4, 2017
Malignaggi leaves McGregor’s training camp
After the release of a photo by one of McGregor’s team that, according to Malignaggi, gave a false impression that he had been knocked down by McGregor, the boxer says he will leave McGregor’s training camp.
I just wanted to clear the air. I am leaving the McGregor training camp today. I came with best intentions & intended to help out. Just the chance to be part of such a big event in this capacity excited me.
I believe Conor & I have a mutual respect inside the ring, earned from each other with some good work over 2 sparring sessions. It’s some of the stuff outside 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 2 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.
McGregor: Malignaggi ‘got his ass whooped’
McGregor talks about Malignaggi coming to his camp. He had initially invited Malignaggi because of his trash talk.
I looked at his stance. Looked at his approach. Some similarities to Floyd. I dint really give a f—if he was similar to Floyd.. He was speaking a hell of a game.
After they spar:
He stayed in there. Got to give respect to that. But that was it. He came, he got his ass whooped. And that”s it.
Malignaggi claims he was not paid for McGregor work
Malignaggi says he was not paid by the McGregor camp, but that he is fine with it, claiming he gave McGregor an ‘ass beating’.
I didn't get paid, I'm not worried about it though. I paid him with the ass beating he recieved from me on Tuesday lol https://t.co/HnsfUGKMKk
— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) August 5, 2017
Malignaggi: McGregor ‘whimpers like a girl when he gets ripped’
In a series of tweets, Malignaggi says he regrets agreeing to spar with McGregor and is promising to reveal everything about the training sessions later this week.
Yea but this coming week I’ll actually start to discuss a bit what happened Tuesday, he whimpers like a girl when he gets ripped to body lol…Truthfully I was tryin hard 2 not make him look bad but if u listen 2 me b4, the praise is hollow, there wasn’t much substance 2 that praise…I won’t speak tactics of his, that I wouldn’t do, I still have some ethics I’m not Conor but def will give the story straight about stuff…I did [give him an ass whoppin’] after Tues work, I suppose the ass whippin didn’t suit him so he posted dumb pics again by Thurs while skipping sparring that day…I wouldn’t say that {McGregor gave me a tough session], a guy who’s been retired 4 months n jus got back in gym 2 spar with him was kickin his ass by second sparring sesh lol.
Malignaggi criticises McGregor’s fighting technique
Malignaggi criticises McGregor’s fighting technique.
Watch how he rolls over n gives his back then doesn't protect his neck, he wanted 2 be choked out so he could tap n end the misery #NoBalls https://t.co/GhlCTb7K2J
— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) August 6, 2017
Malignaggi: McGregor is weird and arrogant
Malignaggi continues to criticise McGregor, during an interview on Fox 5.
Only his photographers are allowed in the gym, so they’re gonna get pictures favorable to him. I don’t mind that…He knows, and I know that that wasn’t from a punch. He was actually frustrated from being getting beaten up that day, and that was actually a shovedown, a pushdown…I wouldn’t have went around saying I’d beat up McGregor, if I wasn’t forced to…He can definitely fight, he is an MMA champion. But as for boxing…he has to progress, and it’s not so easy to come along that fast…My problem with Conor is his arrogance. He’s arrogant to the point where he can’t make progress, he can’t learn. He doesn’t want to be told he’s doing something wrong…I’m not like Conor McGregor, even if I had knocked down Conor McGregor and had a picture of it, I wouldn’t have posted it on social media…He’s trying too hard to sell it…He took it a little personally, he’s a bit of a weird guy in in that way.
