Well, it's clear now that Paulie Malignaggi didn't walk away from his sparring session with Conor McGregor unscathed. Although Malignaggi chose to be purposely ambiguous about what actually transpired during their 8-round sparring session (citing his noble training camp ethics) he did do a quick interview where at least part of the story spoke for itself.
Malignaggi can be seen in this interview rocking an boo boo under his left eye — a clear indicator that McGregor was able to land at least one clean shot on the former titlist.
Now, really, this isn't such a big deal — people do get hit in combat sports — but given the attention this fight has garnered, everything is going to be magnified. So fully expect this to supercharge fanatics who will take this as proof positive of Conor's chances against Floyd. Here's what Malignaggi would spill on the session...
"It was good, it was good. We did eight good rounds of work, I'd say it was educational, you know, it was a lot of trash talking as me and him are both known to have a little bit. And like I said, we did eight good rounds of work, it was physical work, it was good work, and Conor's coming along.
On what his expectations were going into this sparring session:
"I didn't really go in with any expectations. I was told I would do six [rounds] but I had a feeling it might go a little longer if it got good and it was what he needed, you know. And, uh, in the end, after the six rounds were done we ended up going a couple more so, you know, we ended up doing eight so uh, it was good work and I look forward to continuing to help him out even more."
On his expectations and what it was like breaking the ice with McGregor in the ring after all their tension:
"In a championship camp the sparring is intense so I didn't expect to go in there and it be a picnic. Conor is a competitor, I'm a competitor, we got in there and there was a lot of trash talking right away, there was a lot of fighting right away and, you know, in the end you look back upon it and it was kinda fun because I don't have everybody that can match my trash talking but Conor definitely can so it was making a lot of fun.
"As far as the expectation is concerned, um, you know, I wasn't sure what to expect. To say that a mixed martial artist coming to boxing wouldn't be awkward - it would probably be an understatement. He's gonna have his own style, he's gonna have his own set of things that he does and, you know, he's got a game plan behind it. It's not what people think, there's a game plan behind it. There's a game plan behind what he's doing, there's a method to Conor's madness."
On his experience with Conor's magical left hand:
"Yeah, yeah, he's got some pop in the left hand. I can't take that away from him. I think in boxing, especially against a guy like Mayweather, you probably need to devise a few more weapons and that's what Conor's working on. I think you come into the situation already knowing Conor has a big left hand. So if you're fighting Conor you're probably going to prepare for that left hand. So obviously Conor's working on other things besides the left hand so that there can be a surprise element to it too.
"...in a sport like boxing where it's just fists, it's just striking, you're taking away the mixed martial arts element of it. Conor being known for the left hand is just one weapon. So there's gotta be other things that he needs to make you worry about and that's what's kinda being worked on in camp and whatnot. And, you know, without giving away too much he's effective at what he's doing, there's thinking behind it, there's a method to the madness. He and his team are working at it and I'm sure it'll be entertaining and fun."
On the mood in Conor's camp:
"They are very serious, you know, they're a championship team, they're a championship caliber training team, they're winners — they come from a winning background and they're winners nonetheless. Once the sparring was over we had a good talk. You know, uh, he's very cordial and we had a good talk and he expressed to me that he'd like me to stay for camp for the rest of the camp and we'll continue to work and I was happy to be able to talk to him cordially because before that we hadn't really been very cordial, including inside the ring.
"So, you know, the mood in camp, when you're competing and when you're training is that of a fighter — I mean there's no being nice. But, of course, outside, yeah, you kinda let your guard down a little bit and you want to relax your mind a little bit and Conor's a human being just like everybody else. You're not going to play that role 24 hours a day, you'll get yourself tired just doing that."