By Declan Taylor
A lot has been said about the relationship between Paulie Malignaggi and Conor McGregor ahead of the Irishman's fight with Floyd Mayweather on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
The man they call 'The Notorious' brought the former two division world champion into Camp McGregor as a sparring partner; but things seemed to go sour as Paulie left after two sparring sessions, citing personal differences with the way things were being handled as the reason why he dropped out.
While he maintained that he and Conor had nothing but respect for each other inside the ring, it seems like a different story outside.
Reporters swarmed on the pair when they encountered each other in Las Vegas.
Conor could be heard telling Paulie to 'get over it', while the former boxing champ hit back, saying 'bring your balls'. It looked like they could still be warring over the allegations that Conor whooped Paulie's ass in their training sessions.
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 told Sky Sports.
"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?"
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