The dust had barely settled on Conor McGregor’s defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov when the Irishman’s coach, John Kavanagh, insisted that a boxing match with Paulie Malignaggi remained an option for ‘The Notorious’.
McGregor’s immediate fighting future is currently up in the air as he sounds determined to get a rematch with Nurmagomedov but that appears highly unlikely given the manner in which their UFC lightweight title fight ended last month.
Kavanagh claimed that McGregor could well return to the boxing ring in a bid to claim his first victory, with former foe Floyd Mayweather and ex-sparring partner Paulie Malignaggi legitimate options.
Malignaggi has not stopped taunting McGregor since the fallout of their sparring sessions, with the pair in disagreement about what happened in the gym.
McGregor claims to have dropped the former two-weight world champion but Malignaggi, who retired last year, maintains that he was pushed down.
Here is the video everyone wanted to see of Conor vs Paulie Malignaggi former IBF and WBA World Champion @TheNotoriousMMA pic.twitter.com/GfFP3SKsye
— danawhite (@danawhite) August 12, 2017
The potential payday that comes with sharing the ring with McGregor might be enough to tempt Malignaggi out of retirement as the Brooklyn fighter is eager to prove that he is the superior boxer.
And Matchroom Boxing boss Eddie Hearn is dead serious when he says that he wants to promote the grudge match.
Speaking to iFL TV in the run-up to Tony Bellew’s cruiserweight title fight against Oleksandr Usyk, Hearn admitted that he had spoken to McGregor’s people in the hope of making McGregor vs. Malignaggi a reality.
“I said it to him (Malignaggi) this morning that I’d love to do it!” Hearn said.
“DAZN would pay a lot of money for that fight. I said it to Conor McGregor’s guys that I’m going to float the numbers to them and see what they think. Why not?
“As I said to Conor McGregor’s guys, maybe he can beat Paulie Malignaggi. I don’t know. I don’t think he beats Khabib. He has been living a good life since he has been retired, so you never know how he’s going to be coming back. But I’ll say one thing, it is a good fight.”
If the appetite is there among fans, Hearn is happy to pounce and he reckons he “can do some horny numbers for that fight.”
“It would be a good fight,” Hearn added before joking with Malignaggi.
“Didn’t he drop you in sparring? As far as I’m concerned he knocked you out in sparring. We need to make this as big as possible!”
