Paulie Malignaggi is one of the most respected boxer in the world, recently appearing on Showtime as an analyst during the McGregor vs. Mayweather world tour.
The boxing great is now heading to train with Conor McGregor in an effort to help prepare him for Floyd Mayweather.
“I guess it’s down to how long they need me to work,” Malignaggi said on The MMA Hour. “We’ve discussed a couple potential things, but I don’t know (how long I’ll be out there), it’ll depend on them. I’ve always been in camp that’s been my training camp. I’ve never been in somebody else’s training camp. Even when I was a prospect and I helped champions get ready for their fights, it was mostly at home where I came up in Gleason’s Gym in New York, where there’s so many champions training there. A lot of times, I sparred with them a lot during their training camps in Gleason’s, but I was never a guy who was brought into camp as a sparring partner where I had to leave my house, where I had to leave home. This is the first time that ever happened to me, so in my professional experience when I used to run my own training camps, I’d make all the decisions. I’d meet with my team and we’d make all the decisions as far as how long sparring partners should stay, when a sparring partner should go, and all this other stuff. So, if I’m going by the way that I look at things, all those decisions are going to be up to them — how long they want to keep me around for, how long they don’t want to keep me around for, and so on and so forth. I’m just there to accommodate as best as I can.”
It has only been a couple of months since the boxing great announced his retirement, with his final bout being a loss to Sam Eggington by knockout in round eight.
Malignaggi plans on sparring with McGregor and he’ll see how things go before making any other decisions.
“If I’m going to give a couple of technical tidbits, maybe, maybe not, but I definitely won’t come talking about training (McGregor),” Malignaggi said. “I think his team has that foundation down pat and they’re going to be doing the training, and they’re going to be in charge of all that. But of course, I’ll be going there to spar, and if I see anything and we’re on good terms, of course I’ll share my views on some things.”
Conor McGregor versus Floyd Mayweather takes place on Saturday, August 26 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
