One of the stories dominating the headlines for the upcoming Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor showdown - is the training camp blowup between McGregor and former two-division champion Paulie Malignaggi.
McGregor had hired Malignaggi to serve as a sparring partner, as the UFC superstar continues to prepare for the contest with Mayweather on August 26th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Malignaggi and McGregor appeared to be getting along fine - but their relationship quickly fell apart last week.
After only two sparring sessions, Malignaggi quit.
The Brooklyn boxer was livid after members of McGregor's team had leaked out photos of the most recent sparring session - and the images created the appearance of Malignaggi getting beat up and knocked down.
Malignaggi claims that he more than held his own, and says McGregor became frustrated and pushed him down.
In a recent interview, Olympic medal winner Michael Conlan gave his take on the situation.
Conlan is very good friends with McGregor. Back in March, when the 2012 bronze medal winner turned pro at New York's Madison Square Garden, McGregor was at his side and walked him down to the ring.
Having said that, Conlan admits that Malignaggi has a legitimate beef when it comes to McGregor leaking out the sparring photos. Conlan firmly believes in the boxing code of ethics - that what happens in training camp should stay in training camp.
“Maybe after Paulie was talking sh*t the first time [they sparred], Conor maybe wanted to embarrass him and I think he’s been successful doing that, putting up a picture of Paulie on the ground,” said the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist and former world amateur champion," Conlan told Villainfy Media.
“I’m not going to say whether it was a KO or a knockdown or a push because I don’t know. I can’t comment. Paulie is adamant it was a push, if that’s the case, that’s the case, I think McGregor has just gone in and tried to embarrass him so, by putting up pictures like that.”
“What happens in the gym stays in the gym. I don’t know. Paulie was talking [McGregor] up, so he wasn’t saying any bad stuff about Conor. Conor was putting pictures up of him hitting [Malignaggi] and with hands behind the back and stuff. If it was my opponent doing that – I’m friends with Conor – but I wouldn’t like it if my opponent was doing that. It’s not nice."