Boxing: McGregor’s sparring partner quits, saying ‘this has become a fiasco’
Because of the whole he’s-not-anactual-boxer thing, MMA star Conor McGregor needed some serious sparring competition to get him ready for his Aug. 26 boxing match against Floyd Mayweather. No tomato can would do; McGregor would need to get a steady diet of ring time against solid competition.
Enter Paulie Malignaggi, a recently retired two-weight world champion boxer whose tenure as McGregor’s sparring partner lasted all of a few days this week. On Thursday night, he told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto that he was quitting after the MMA fighter’s camp released photos that depicted the sparring in an unfavourable light to Malignaggi and an untruthful light to what actually happened in the ring.
One appeared to show Malignaggi falling backward to the canvas in a knock-down.
Malignaggi responded on Twitter, saying that it wasn’t anywhere near a knockdown and calling on McGre- gor’s camp to release video of the entire 12-round sparring session.
“I wanted to be part of this event, but I didn’t want to become the story — and that’s what this has turned into,” Malignaggi told Okamoto. “I won’t release any information about his game plan or what he’s working on. I wouldn’t do that. But this has become a fiasco. It’s a circus.
“And I do want that sparring video released. The UFC’s PI definitely has that video. I understand it can’t come out now, but Conor, if you have any balls, release what really happened.”
What really happened, Malignaggi claims, is that he beat up McGregor pretty soundly.
Malignaggi seemed to soften his stance a bit in a statement released Thursday night, saying that he and McGregor have “a mutual respect inside the ring.” But he wants nothing to do with his training.
McGregor’s camp made the perhaps odd move of not bringing in an experienced boxing coach to train him, instead sticking with Owen Roddy, his MMA striking coach of more than a decade. Naturally, Roddy said McGregor is an unstoppable sparring machine.
“Conor is killing it in sparring. He’s not getting touched, you know what I mean?” Roddy told Okamoto on Tuesday. “He can do as many rounds as we want because he’s doing so well.
“One thing I’ve noticed in camp is that week after week, he becomes twice the fighter he was. I’ve said this before, talking about MMA, that every fight, the ‘New Conor’ would smash the ‘Old Conor.’ Well, that’s happening every week this camp. Knowing what he’s doing, and how much he’ll improve in the next four weeks, I’m excited for people to see it.”