Paulie Malignaggi claims talks are ongoing for boxing match against Conor McGregor
It’s been nearly two months since Conor McGregor stepped in a ring to face Floyd Mayweather, but the boxing world hasn’t forgotten about the hot-tempered Irishman who participated in what will likely become the second biggest combat sports event in history.
With McGregor helping to pull those kinds of gaudy numbers on pay-per-view, it’s no surprise that other boxers would like the chance to face him as well but no one has a bigger axe to grind than former two division champion Paulie Malignaggi.
Malignaggi was brought in as a sparring partner for McGregor in the lead up to his fight with Mayweather but left the training camp after photos were released that didn’t paint him in the most favorable light after going several rounds with the UFC champion.
Malignaggi contender that the photos didn’t tell the whole story to the sparring session and when UFC president Dana White released two short video clips — one of which showed a possible knockdown — the boxer only became more enraged.
While McGregor is currently negotiating his return to action against an opponent in the UFC, Malignaggi now claims that his team by way of manager Al Haymon have already spoken to UFC president Dana White about making the matchup happen.
“I know Al Haymon’s talking with Dana White,” Malignaggi told Fight Hype recently. “I know they’re speaking so if they want the fight they’ll make it. You know, I don’t need to do all that because Al Haymon makes anything he wants happen, happen.
“The only way this doesn’t happen — once I spoke to Team Haymon and they told me they were on board to make this fight — I knew they only way it wouldn’t happen is if this guy doesn’t have absolutely any balls to make it.”
Malignaggi actually retired from fighting last year following a knockout loss to Sam Eggington last March, he sounds ready to return with the prospect of facing McGregor in the ring.
The former champion also knows that McGregor stands to make a lot more money from a boxing match against him rather than any fight he would have in the UFC.
“This fight would pay him more, this fight would get him more exposure, this fight is a bigger fight than anything else he has,” Malignaggi said. “There’s no more Mayweather fight, this fight is the biggest fight there is.
“So once they told me that I said all right, the only way this doesn’t happen is if this guy has no balls, which wouldn’t surprise me because he has absolutely no balls, but what I’m saying is, the way they’re going to present it to him, it’s going to be presented to him in a way where he really shouldn’t turn it down.”
Malignaggi even took it one step further by suggesting that the fight with McGregor doesn’t have to happen now but rather it could take place after he makes his return to the UFC.
McGregor has been attached to rumors about a title unification bout with interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson as well as a potential trilogy fight against Nate Diaz. Following either of those matchups, Malignaggi says he would still be interested in settling the score with McGregor once and for all.
“Even if it’s not the next fight, even if it’s an MMA fight in his next fight, there’s no way he should be walking away from this fight,” Malignaggi said. “Unless he has no balls.”
