Malignaggi: McGregor Has Game Plan, It's Not What People Think

As previously reported on BoxingScene.com, former two division world champion Paulie Malignaggi officially joined the training camp of UFC superstar Conor McGregor and the talkative Brooklyn boxer was impressed by the Irish fighter's ability in an eight round sparring session.

During an interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Malignaggi was sporting some bruising on his right cheek and around his left eye.

McGregor will see action on August 26th, when he takes part in his first ever boxing match against the comebacking five division world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. 

Mayweather, 40 years old, is returning after nearly two years of being retired and he's tabbed as a tremendous favorite to win the contest.

The Mayweather bout takes place at the junior middleweight limit of 154-pounds and the fighters will use 10 ounce gloves.

While Malignaggi would not reveal too many details from the sparring, he did reveal that McGregor is not simply showing up for a nine-figure payday, he's actually coming to win and has a realistic game plan in motion.

“He’s got a game plan behind it,” Malignaggi said. “It’s not what people think. There’s a game plan behind what he’s doing. There’s a method to Conor’s madness.”

“Without giving away too much, he’s effective at what he’s doing. There’s a method behind the madness. He and his team are working at it. I’m sure it’ll be entertaining and fun.”

Both athletes are big talkers - and Malignaggi says there was a lot of trash talking when the two of them were trading punches in the sparring session. It was pretty physical and Malignaggi credits McGregor with having good power, especially in his left hand.

“It was educational,” said Malignaggi. “There was a lot of trash talking, which me and him both known to have a little bit. Like I said, we did eight good rounds of work. It was physical work and Conor is coming along.”

“In a championship camp, the sparring is intense, so I didn’t expect to go in there and it be a picnic. He’s a competitor, I’m a competitor. We went in there and there was a lot of trash talking right away. There was a lot of fighting right away. In the end, you look back on it was kind of fun. I don’t have everybody that can match my trash talking, but Conor definitely can. So it was making it a lot of fun.”