The Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor sideshow continues to grow heading into Saturday night’s fight.
On Thursday, video emerged of Mayweather saying that his “friend” Paulie Malignaggi acted as a spy when he agreed to be one of McGregor’s sparring partners.
“Paulie has always been my friend,” said Mayweather with his arm draped around Malignaggi to Fighthype.com. “I even told my friend, my friend called me and said ‘Floyd, do you want me to go to [McGregor’s] camp?’ I said ‘Abso-f*****-lutely.'”
Malignaggi, a retired fighter who now works as a boxing analyst, trained with McGregor through part of the Irishman’s camp. He quit when photos were released of him supposedly getting knocked down by McGregor during a session, leading to their public feud.
Throughout the video, Malignaggi continued to repeat the word “suckers,” and although the UFC fighter’s name was never spoken, it became clear he was the topic at hand when Mayweather signed a newspaper featuring him and McGregor crossing out the MMA star’s face.
It’s hard to tell whether they’re just joking or not. McGregor, who has yet to make his professional boxing debut, has no film for Mayweather to study, but it could be a way to generate more hype for a fight that’s expected to set pay-per-view records.
“Me and Paulie gonna stay at the house and talk about strategy, we gonna talk about everything,” said Mayweather, who enters Saturday’s fight with a 49-0 record.
The four-fight SHOWTIME PPV event, beginning live at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, will feature undefeated rising star Gervonta "Tank" Davis making the second defense of his 130-pound title against undefeated challenger Francisco Fonseca plus light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly defending his belt against former super middleweight champion Badou Jack. The telecast begins with unbeaten Andrew Tabiti and former world champion Steve Cunningham meeting in a 10-round battle.
Coverage begins on FOX and FOX Deportes with a one-hour Prefight Show at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT. Prelims on FOX and FOX Deportes begin at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT and will see a battle between welterweight contenders Thomas Dulorme and Yordenis Ugas plus a showdown of unbeaten prospects as Juan Heraldez meets Jose Miguel Borrego in a 10-round bout.
Additional action inside the arena will see unbeaten Kevin Newman (7-0-1, 3 KOs) in super middleweight action and the pro debut of 2016 Savannah Marshall from London.
