Paulie Malignaggi is a familiar face to MMA fans who watched the Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather press conferences recently, as he was a part of the Showtime broadcast team for them. However, the former boxing champion is now a part of McGregor's training camp.
Paulie Malignaggi spoke with Brett Okamoto of ESPN Friday, noting that he got in eight rounds of sparring with McGregor on Thursday.
“I didn’t go in with any expectations. I was told I would do 6, but I had a feeling it would go a little longer if it got good, and if it was what he needed. After the 6 rounds were done, we ended up doing a couple more. It was good work, and I look forward to helping him out a little more. It was good. It was educational. There was a lot of trash talking, which me and him are both known to have a little bit. It was physical work, it was good work, and Conor is coming along," said Malignaggi.
McGregor would also tweet about the session, which Malignanngi said was serious.
“In a championship camp, the sparring is intense, I didn’t expect to go in there and it be a picnic," said the former boxer. "Conor is a competitor, and I’m a competitor. We went in there and there was a lot of trash talking right away. There was a lot of fighting right away. You look back on it was kind of fun. I don’t have everybody that can match my trash talking, but Conor definitely can. So it was making it a lot of fun."
