McGregor’s sparring partner quits boxing ‘circus’
WASHINGTON Because of the whole he’s-not-a-boxer thing, MMA star Conor McGregor needs serious sparring competition to get him ready for his Aug. 26 match against Floyd Mayweather. No tomato can will do; McGregor needs 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. On Thursday night, he told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto 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 happened in the ring.
One appeared to show Malignaggi falling to the canvas in a knockdown. Malignaggi responded on Twitter, saying it wasn’t anywhere near a knock-down and called on McGregor’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 he beat up McGregor pretty soundly and did so soon after a cross-country flight.
Malignaggi seemed to soften his stance a bit in a statement released Thursday night, saying he and McGregor have “a mutual respect inside the ring.” But he wants nothing to do with his training.