Paulie Malignaggi Talks Sparring and Trash Talking Session with Conor McGregor
Former World Champion Paulie Malignaggi joined ESPN to chat with Brett Okamoto after his sparring and trash-talking session with Conor McGregor. Malignaggi was drafted in to spar the UFC Champion before he faces Floyd Mayweather in their August 26th boxing superfight.
Malignaggi says that the guys got in some good work, doing full eight rounds. Paulie says that the session was educational, there was a lot of trash talking involved. There were a good 8 rounds of solid work and Paulie reckons that Conor is coming along.
Okamoto asks if he had any expectations going into his first session against an MMA fighter. To which replies that he didn’t have any! Initially told they would do six rounds, it ended up being 8. As the spar seemed to go well and it’s what Conor needed. Paulie says that it was good work and that he looks forward to helping Conor out even more.
The whole fight is quite unusual, with a boxer facing an MMA fighter. Was there any feeling out process? Paulie says that in a Championship camp the training is going to be intense. He didn’t expect a picnic. He talks about he is a trash talker, Conor is a trash talker and they went at it straight away. Paulie says that it was a lot of fun as there aren’t many who can match his trash-talking, but Conor definitely can.
Malignaggi says that he wasn’t sure what to expect with an MMA fighter coming into boxing. Was it going to be awkward? Conor was going to have his own style, his own game plan,
“There’s a method to Conor’s madness.”
And did Paulie experience McGregor’s left hand and if so what did he think? He said that he has some pop in the left. However, when you are fighting a guy like Mayweather, you need to have some more weapons. And that is what he is working on.
In a sport like boxing where you are taking the Mixed Martial Arts element. There needs to be more than the left hand. and that is what is being worked on in camp. And what about the overall mood in the camp? Paulie simply says that they are very serious. They are a Championship Team, a Championship calibre training team. That they are winners who come from a winning background. Once the sparring was done, everything was very cordial. With the Conor McGregor training camp expressing that they’d like Paulie to stay on for more training.