Conor McGregor and his team have reached out to Paulie Malignaggi to prepare for Floyd Mayweather.
McGregor is gearing up for an Aug. 26 “super fight” against Floyd Mayweather on Showtime pay-per-view. Malignaggi is a retired boxer who now serves as a color commentator for Showtime.
During a recent edition of the Showtime Sports podcast, Malignaggi said “Notorious” recently called to get him to join their camp (via MMAFighting.com):
“I did get called to go to camp with Conor McGregor. I was surprised [since] I haven’t really been training, I haven’t been in the gym, so I started working out a little bit. I’m working out the details to spar with McGregor. If it’s something that’s going to be feasible, I think it’ll be cool because I think I’ll have some inside stuff to talk about on fight night.”
The request surprised Malignaggi as he has blasted McGregor in the past for his trash-talking style. He gave McGregor praise of his dedication:
“I did call him out, but I think that shows the character of the man. He could’ve said ‘screw that kid, he called me out, I’m not going to put him in my training camp’, but I think it shows the competitive spirit and the willingness to want to learn on the part of McGregor. It shows you how hungry he is because he put that pride aside. It’s not easy to put that pride aside specially when you’re a fighter. It makes me respect him a little more.”
