Why boxing world is laughing at McGregor

Paulie Malignaggi, former sparring partner to Conor McGregor, says the boxing world is laughing at him over his fight with Floyd Mayweather.

Conor McGregor's upcoming fight against Floyd Mayweather has made him a laughing stock in the world of boxing, according to Paulie Malignaggi.

MMA star McGregor will face Mayweather in Las Vegas on Saturday, with the latter's unbeaten 49-bout record on the line in the Irishman's first ever boxing match.

Malignaggi sparred with McGregor in the build-up to the fight before quitting after photos of their sessions were released on social media, the American believing them to have been leaked deliberately by McGregor's camp.

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"McGregor gets angry because boxing has not accepted him, but would an MMA fighter accept a boxer walking into their sport claiming that they are the best when he's never done it in his life?" Malignaggi said to Sky Sports.

"That's the situation with McGregor in boxing, he is being laughed at and it is only getting worse as each video of a public workout or him shadow boxing is released.

"It's been a wild ride the last couple of weeks and every time I think I'm no longer part of the storm, another photo or video comes out. Part of me thinks that he has done this on purpose, maybe he wants to figure out a new opponent after the Mayweather fight if he wants to stay in this sport.

"He maybe even planned to make me disgruntled before we even got in the ring. I had situations where I would show up to the gym just to be told I wasn't allowed to train and I was put in a house that didn't even have cable TV. Was it all done to create trash talk, he has been dragging this all along for some reason?"

Malignaggi has been particularly aggrieved by claims he was knocked down by McGregor during their sparring sessions, which he says is untrue.

"They want you to believe this was a knockdown and people can choose to be deceived but then they can only be mad at themselves when they realise the truth," Malignaggi added.

"Nothing landed in that exchange. You can think something landed, but it is clearly not the case, a passing graze is not enough to get a knockdown. The added footage of punches landed were edited in from the previous round and I always told people that he had a good couple of rounds before.

"I was tired and out of shape, the fact that he's not ashamed that a guy came in off the couch and done 12 rounds shows you where his confidence levels are really at. I had done the bare minimum beforehand just to show up in a little bit of shape as I assumed the training camp would be like mine or other boxers' where each sparring partner does four to six rounds, not 12.

"Edit this video how you want, you're trying too hard to prove what? I've sparred with hundreds of champions and very rarely does a knockdown happen, especially with the bigger gloves and headgear. He is living in this alternate reality where he can punch and hurt people and sometimes I ask myself is he really that stupid, is it an act, why try to prove something that didn't happen?

"Between me and him, we know the truth. [Boxing referee] Joe Cortez instantly said no knockdown and look at the people ringside, they would surely react differently at something so rare in a gym. Is McGregor that insecure?"