6 years after sparring incident with Conor McGregor, Paulie Malignaggi insists he’d beat the Irishman in a boxing fight

In 2017, Conor McGregor took part in one of, if not the most, high-profile crossover boxing match of all time, when he faced Floyd 'Money' Mayweather. Ahead of the fight, the Irishman enlisted the services of former two-division world champion boxer, Paulie Malignaggi as a sparring partner.

Unfortunately, the McGregor camp's decision to release clips and images of a sparring session, which included a highly disputed knockdown that McGregor scored on Malignaggi, caused the ex-boxer to storm off in a rage, abandoning the sparring sessions altogether.

Conor McGregor claims to have both rocked Paulie Malignaggi numerous times and knocked him down. Meanwhile, Malignaggi claims that there was no knockdown. He insists he was shoved to the ground, while also asserting that he got the better of the Irishman during their sparring session.

Ever since then, Malignaggi has taken every chance he can to lambast McGregor, even calling for a boxing match between the two. In a recent interview with Action Network, courtesy of The Sun, Paulie Malignaggi claims that he would have dominated Conor McGregor inside and outside the ring:

"I'm a better trash talker than McGregor, that's one of the reasons he did not fight me. I would have trashed him in the press conferences and the fight. It would have ended all of the hysteria around him because I would have destroyed him in the trash talking and in the ring. I would have ruined the whole aura around him. He was smart not to pull the trigger on a fight with me."

Malignaggi took it a step further by attacking McGregor's will and mental fortitude and comparing him to Anthony Joshua:

"We've talked about AJ losing that edge, but McGregor is on a different level. McGregor will quit on you, he does quit. AJ does not take as many risks anymore but at least he's not quitting. McGregor is an outright quitter. He is a fighter that was not as good as advertised, there was great marketing behind him."

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Did Pauli Malignaggi fight Conor McGregor's teammate, Artem Lobov?

While Paulie Malignaggi never managed to secure a bout with Conor McGregor, he did end up facing Artem Lobov in a 2019 bare-knuckle boxing match. At the time, Lobov and McGregor were still friends, and due to Malignaggi's history with McGregor, Lobov's bout with him was billed as a grudge match.

Despite vowing to leave Lobov comatose and having the edge in boxing experience, Malignaggi lost the bout via unanimous decision. After the fight, decided to retire from combat sports altogether.