Paulie Malignaggi had enough. On Thursday, he went to Twitter to explain why he left Conor McGregor’s camp. Malignaggi was upset by leaked photos of his sparring session with McGregor from Tuesday in Las Vegas:
Conor McGregor's sparring partner Paulie Malignaggi was so furious with these photos, he quit https://t.co/GTdOTncGo7 pic.twitter.com/A9xUnnY4Ze
— Complex (@Complex) August 4, 2017
What happened to Malignaggi was not surprising to former McGregor sparring partner Chris van Heerden. The former IBF and IBO welterweight champion leaked a video of his sparring session with McGregor from 2016.
van Heerden told USA Today Sports back in June why he leaked the video:
“When people ask me why I’ve released this footage now, it’s because it hurts me that there are guys like myself who have been devoted to this sport, risking our lives,” he said. “And to see McGregor, who has zero knowledge of professional boxing, make it out like he could just get out of an octagon, step in the ring and beat up the best pound-for-pound fighter out there – to just make out like our lifestyle is so easy and that anybody could do it, and then for people to be saying he has a big chance of beating Floyd. I just thought, judge for yourself,” van Heerden told USA Today Sports.
People telling me Mayweather will have his hands full trying to land on McGregor -STOP IT! I respect McGregor BUT i ain't Floyd and i landed pic.twitter.com/gd4dFi3XUU
— Chris van Heerden (@TheHeat001) June 14, 2017
van Heerden gave his thoughts to TMZ Sports on the McGregor- Malignaggi situation:
“I’m quite surprised that they done Paulie bad like that. A big part of me expected it because that’s what happened to me, but I thought they would show more respect toward Paulie, and by surprise, they didn’t,” van Heerden told TMZ Sports.
“People are calling me a “snake” all the time for me putting the truth out there (video of McGregor-van Heerden sparring session). They were like ‘you a snake’ this and that, and I was like no Conor’s team did me bad first. Luckily, I had some footage, and I revealed the truth. It looks like they learned from their lesson. I spoke to Paulie last night. Very upset, not happy with what happened. He wasn’t allowed any cameras or phones. Obviously, he was done bad. “
van Heerden does believe Malignaggi deserves an apology from Conor McGregor.
Listen to the complete interview below:
