Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Boxing

Paulie Malignaggi calls out sparring rival Conor McGregor and says UFC star can only get more money against Jake Paul

PAULIE MALIGNAGGI offered Conor McGregor a winner-takes-all fight and said his sparring rival can only get more money against Jake Paul.

Malignaggi has feuded with the Irishman ever since their infamous sparring sessions ahead of McGregor’s fight with Floyd Mayweather in 2017.

Paulie Malignaggi in his controversial 2017 sparring session with Conor McGregor

The American former two-weight world champion stormed out of McGregor’s camp after images and footage – including a disputed knockdown – were leaked.

Fast forward four years and Malignaggi, now 40, is still open to settling the score – so long as the winner is awarded all the money.

And he argued YouTuber Paul – who has continuously chased a fight with McGregor – is the only more lucrative option for the UFC legend.

Malignaggi told SiriusXMBoxing: “I mean, I wouldn’t put it past anything but I don’t think Conor McGregor is ever going to want to fight me.

“The only way that I’d fight Conor McGregor is if it’s winner-takes-all at this point.

“I wouldn’t fight Conor McGregor, there wouldn’t be any kind of negotiations it’s either winner-takes-all or we don’t fight.

“At this point he’s got everybody convinced he’s better and there’s more than enough money in the pot.

“He makes more money fighting me than anybody else other than maybe Jake Paul.

YouTuber Jake Paul has continued to chase a fight with Conor McGregor

JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET A FREE £10 BONUS WITH 100s OF GAMES TO PLAY AND NO DEPOSIT REQUIRED (Ts&Cs apply)

“So, I don’t see him taking that kind of deal, so there’s probably not going to be a fight.”

McGregor, 32, went on to lose his boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather, 44, after sharing an eight-round and 12-round sparring session with Malignaggi.

He is yet to return to the ring, but was in talks to fight Manny Pacquiao, 42, last year before he faced Dustin Poirier, 32, in a rematch.

But in January Poirier knocked out McGregor, avenging his 2014 loss, which set them up with a trilogy bout at UFC 264.

McGregor was then beaten again after he suffered a broke tibia as the first round ended, leaving the doctor no choice but to stop the fight.

He has since undergone surgery and will be on crutches for the next six weeks while being handed a six month medical suspension.