The ever growing public feud between retired boxer Paulie Malignaggi and UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor continues to grow with each passing day.
During an appearance on Cagesiders, the former boxing star says another boxing great in Andre Berto recently canceled plans to spar with McGregor after hearing about the treatment Malignaggi received from the Irishman’s camp.
“I spoke to Andre Berto. Andre was supposed to go there and box on Saturday, and he changed his mind after seeing what happened with me,” Malignaggi said. “Everybody already knew what happened with Van Heerden, now he’s doing the same with me too. When word goes around that somebody is like that, even in regular life, you start to alienate (people).”
Berto has yet to comment on the claims from Malignaggi, the UFC Lightweight Champion hasn’t commented either.
Malignaggi believes that McGregor’s attitude will prevent him from getting more help in the future.
“He’s going to have trouble getting any help in boxing, because the sneaky tactics, the sneaky qualities that he has now can no longer be looked at as a coincidence. With the Van Heerden situation, like maybe he didn’t know how the ethics work in boxing, maybe he still had to learn, or now that he has learned, everything will be okay. I think the cat’s out of the bag with Conor McGregor in boxing, now that he’s tried this again, with sneaky tactics,” he said. “You spar, and let me put in sneaky pictures, or make sneaky videos in Van Heerden’s case and let me spin it.”
Conor McGregor versus Floyd Mayweather takes place on Saturday, August 26 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
