Tweet of the Day: Conor McGregor showboating in sparring session with Paulie Malignaggi

One of the interesting aspects of Conor McGregor’s upcoming bout with Floyd Mayweather has been Conor’s preparation. Whether it’s SBG Ireland head coach John Kavanagh’s insistence on following his own path in getting his fighter ready for a Mayweather bout, Conor McGregor’s insistence that he will continue to train for his MMA career while working on his boxing, or the few things that can be gleamed from the rare snippets of actual footage from the gym, how McGregor gets ready for the first pro boxing match of his career is a fascinating undertaking.

Among the notable aspects of McGregor’s camp has been his sparring partners, or more specifically, how he’s used them to promote the fight. McGregor has enlisted a team of semi-notable faces to help him prepare for Mayweather. However, to go with them he’s also released a few photos of himself besting each man in the ring.

Somewhat surprisingly, the latest sparring partner to find himself on the wrong end of that treatment isn’t a ‘semi-notable face,’ but rather former world champion boxer Paulie Malignaggi. Malignaggi was a late addition to McGregor’s camp, and the UFC lightweight title holder took to social media on Friday, July 21st, with a photo of himself doing some showboating while sparring the recently retired pro.

It all seems to be part of building a narrative of enigma for the Mayweather bout. McGregor has used the photos to highlight his boxing out of an orthodox stance, his right hand, and (as shown above) his confidence in his ring craft. Without much actual sparring footage to go on fans are left to speculate on how much is just a posed photo for promotion and how much might represent real improvements in Conor’s boxing game.

For his part, Malignaggi doesn’t seem like he’ll be giving many details, other than that both he and McGregor did their share of clowning.

Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor takes place on August 26th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more news, notes, and updates as the event approaches.