Retired Paulie Malignaggi will put his gloves back on to work with Conor McGregor



The former two-weight world champion Paulie Malignaggi (36-8, 7 KOs), who once said that “Mayweather-McGregor is an absolute joke”, was appointed be to one of McGregor’s sparring partners.

The 36-year-old Paulie will help the Irishman Conor to prepare for his upcoming boxing match against Floyd Mayweather on August 26 in Las Vegas.

“I've never been the type to talk about what happens in sparring. If they are comfortable with a confidentiality clause I'd have no problem. I've never done this before. I’ve never been the sparring partner since my early twenties. “ "I'm not a 22-year-old going in there to make a name for myself.” "They are the bosses and they run it how they want to. I'm curious about it, to see how Conor has progressed in these months." – Paulie Malignaggi

Paulie’s main role is to support Conor to improve his technical boxing operation in the ring. But many are unsure if he could really help the UFC star.

Paulie Malignaggi who retired last march ended his 16-year career in boxing, hasn’t brawled since a KO loss to Sam Eggington (19-3). Paulie is a respectable fighter but he isn’t technical and as great as what you think.

Let’s look back from the past, Paulie’s 7 defeats were from his elite opponents. He has a low percentage of winning in a high-level competition. He had fought and loses to Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton, Juan Diaz, Amir Khan, Adrien Broner, Shawn Porter and Danny Garcia.

And by reviewing his last bout, he looks tired and done. Since his retirement, he hasn’t been in the gym for a while. Obviously, he’s out of shape.

On McGregor’s part, we know that boxing isn’t his discipline. He’s a very perilous mix martial artist. He has nothing to prove. We’ve already seen how he operates inside the cage, it’s his playground.

But we are talking about boxing, a sport that you can’t take in by just having a couple of sparring sessions with former greats or active fighters. You need to go out there and step in the ring. You need to fight. 

Boxing can be learned through experience.

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