Tag: McGregor vs. Mayweather World Tour

With only two-and-half weeks remaining until the ultra-hyped boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, the onus of promoting the bout seems to have curiously fallen on ranting former boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi, whose sparring drama with ‘The Notorious’ has ruled any and all talk about the fight lately.

The scene has created a far cry from last month’s world tour, where both stars earned mixed reviews for their promotional hype throughout an exhausting four-city, three-country whirlwind. The most groan-worthy moments undoubtedly centered on McGregor’s supposed racism when he told Mayweather to ‘dance for me, boy,’ before denying any accusations of racism as he claimed to be ‘black from the bellybutton down’ before humping the air for his ‘beautiful black female fans.’

According to a report from MMA Fighting, however, it was actually a moment that occurred backstage during an interview for Jimmy Kimmel Live in Toronto where McGregor was faced with a question about Rocky 3, to which he asked, ‘Is that the one with the dancing monkeys in the gym?’ It’s uncertain just what he meant, but the general opinion was that he was referring to a scene where Rocky Balboa trains at an all-black gym. The clip has since been taken offline.

It’s a bad look for McGregor to be certain, and although he doesn’t seem to care much about that perception, Mayweather is clearly growing tired of it. His previously voiced concerns became more prevalent during an interview with Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s SportsCenter last night, where he described his disapproval of McGregor’s questionable interview:

“I just didn’t like when he called us monkeys,” Mayweather said. “I think that was totally disrespect. … He called us monkeys. I didn’t like it. It didn’t push a button to make me jump out of my character and go crazy, but I didn’t like it.”

Mayweather then hearkened back to African American pioneers like Malcolm X, giving respect to what they’ve accomplished but also acknowledging the racism that still exists. With that established, “Money” said he was a patient man, and McGregor’s day would come on August 26:

“I just thought about all our different leaders. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X. They went on the front line for me and my family and all my loved ones. Like I said before, this stuff still goes on. But I’m strong, I’m smart, patient. And come Aug. 26, I’ll be the same person — smart, strong, patient. And the same way he called us monkeys, we’re gonna see if he say that Aug. 26.”

And in closing, Mayweather devoted his performance to all black people in the world:

“No different,” Mayweather said. “But this is for a cause. This is for the American people. This is for all the blacks around the world.”

The post Floyd Mayweather: Conor McGregor Fight Is For ‘All Blacks Around The World’ appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Days after former boxing champ Paulie Malignaggi and Conor McGregor met in a highly-publicized sparring session at the UFC Performance Institute in as Vegas, Nevada, Malignaggi has apparently left the McGregor camp after a late night rant against his now-former training partner.

After the session reportedly got a bit ‘out of control’ according to Joe Cortez, the referee brought in to oversee the action, Malignaggi posted on Twitter that some of the pictures of the session posted on social media were misrepresented, especially one that made him look like he had been dropped to the ground when he was allegedly pushed.

Here is the photo in question:

Malignaggi offered his view that he fell down from a push, prodding McGregor and his camp to release the full video of their sparring session:

Its not nice 2 paint a pic that isn't true, this was a pushdown in sparring, post the whole video rounds 1 through 12 UNEDITED https://t.co/R82BLiMMVm

— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) August 4, 2017

The respected boxer then said he came to McGregor’s camp to help him train to fight Floyd Mayweather, not to be exploited to make him look good:

I came to help this camp out, not to be exploited, now your gonna get the truth though. Post FULL UNEDITED VIDEO FROM TUES night #Ethics

— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) August 4, 2017

Malignaggi then tried to set the record completely straight, claiming that he had ‘beat McGregor’s ass’ and wants the full video of the session posted because the time to not be petty is clearly over:

I actually beat his ass, 24 hrsoff a flight 2 lol, which is why Im saying post the vid, I try not 2 be petty but seems it's late 4 that now. https://t.co/vSE2Iw4ffM

— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) August 4, 2017

And as a code between fighters, professionals usually don’t do interviews about sparring sessions in order to keep what they saw in the gym, but when McGregor began leaking photos that were from his official photographer – the only photographer allowed in the room – he was forced to defend himself:

I did interview BECAUSE of the pics, I'm not ur average sparring partner u post pics with me media will hound me, I've said stop with pics. https://t.co/9c85977PQ5

— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) August 4, 2017

Malignaggi got a bit testy with a ‘fan’ who blasted him for doing the interview, noting that it wasn’t him who kicked off the media blitz:

It stays in the gym, until the guy you're boxing with keeps making it public u fucking mutt, works both ways use some common sense lol

— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) August 4, 2017

Malignaggi continued blasting McGregor supporters, telling another to stop ‘inventing his own reality’:

Only his personal photographers allowed in the gym. Don't just invent you're own reality of things because it's how u wish it to be buddy. https://t.co/OsnN2AkL56

— Paul Malignaggi (@PaulMalignaggi) August 4, 2017

Finally, Malignaggi posted a lengthy Instagram response revealing he was officially leaving McGregor’s training camp and would divulge the reasons why later:

A post shared by Paul Malignaggi (@paulmalignaggi) on Aug 3, 2017 at 8:07pm PDT

So McGregor’s highest profile sparring partner has left his camp 22 days away from the circus-like event in Las Vegas, mainly be cause he didn’t like how he was portrayed in photographs that he believes were engineered to only show McGregor in a favorable light.

With no professional boxing matches on his record, it could be assumed that McGregor needed to puff himself up by only allowing his official photographer in the room and posting only pictures that were favorable to him.

Perhaps Malignaggi got tagged and had his pride hurt a bit too, but as the former boxing champion noted, we’ll never know until they release the full video of the sparring session, and that doesn’t seem like a likely occurrence at this time.

The post Former Boxing Champ Leaves Conor’s McGregor’s Training Camp Amidst Massive Drama appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.