Retired boxer Paulie Malignaggi has once again renewed calls for a fight between himself and Conor McGregor.
“There’s no other fight he can make that he makes more money than he does fighting me – the problem is, he gets beaten by me,” Malignaggi said on the ‘Off The Ball’ show. “[Eddie] Hearn can easily put the fight together, [Al] Haymon can easily put the fight together, Showtime have said they’d be interested in it — I don’t think it’s a no-brainer at this point. I don’t think it’d any secret at this point — there’s money in the fight.”
And raising the stakes, Malignaggi said his dream is to fight him in a winner-takes-all bout.
“I would love to fight Conor McGregor in a winner-takes-all fight in a boxing match, I would absolutely love it because I would beat him to a pulp, I would hospitalize him and I’d make him go home broke too.
“In boxing I’d be interested in it — I’d love to do a winner-takes-all fight just so he can go for free but I don’t think he’d ever agree to that.”
Malignaggi also took a swipe at McGregor for trying to arrange a money-spinning fight with Tenshin Nasukawa after the Japanese star was KO’d by Floyd Mayweather in a recent exhibition bout in Japan.
“McGregor’s trying all that he can to keep himself relevant as best he can – even going as far as calling out the Japanese featherweight Nasukawa. That guy just did an exhibition with Floyd Mayweather – I don’t think he was intending to fight guys as big as Floyd and Conor, that physically big – he’s a very small guy. It was a one-off situation. Conor’s not the same – he’s not Floyd Mayweather.
“Floyd Mayweather doesn’t lose – Conor loses every year. So I think Conor twisted up the roles a little bit. He got a bit confused – he forget he was Conor ‘McQuitter’ and thought he was Floyd Mayweather for a second where he could just walk into the free money. Guys like Floyd earn that kind of thing.
“In truth, he’s trying to look for free money because he knows that his time at the top is coming to an end.”
