Conor McGregor’s Sparring Sessions With Former Boxing Champ ‘Got Out Of Control’
UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is taking his upcoming professional boxing debut against Floyd Mayweather very seriously. That’s why he brought in Hall Of Fame boxing referee Joe Cortez to officiate his sparring sessions.
Cortez officiated a sparring session between “The Notorious One” and former two-weight boxing champ Paulie Malignaggi recently and told Sirius XM that the Irishman actually ‘handled himself pretty good with Paulie.’ Cortez did, however, have to stop the action at one point after things got a little too heated (quotes via Bloody Elbow):
“He handled himself pretty good with Paulie. That guy can pop. He was in there mixing it up a little bit with Paulie and it was the real thing,” he said. “They was no messing around. In fact, I had to stop the action and I had to say, ‘Alright guys, you guys are a little out of control here, you gotta stop this.’ It got a little rough.”
The ref then suggested that both me were roughing each other up pretty good and that he had to stop the action at one point as if it were an actual fight:
“They were both roughing each other up and I had to stop the action like in a regular fight. They were holding too much, they were trying to punch each other. I mean, it got a little bit out of control where I had to call ‘Time!’
“(I said) ‘Alright guys, you gotta stop this right now. I want a good clean round. Give me sportsman-like conduct. Understand? I don’t want to take any points from either one of you. Do you understand??’ I looked at them and they said, ‘Okay, alright.’ And I said, ‘Time in.’”
As per usual in a McGregor fight, Cortez also claimed that he had to put a stop to the trash talking going on between the two at one point as well:
“I had to put a stop to (the trash talking) as well,” said Cortez. “That’s part of why I had to stop the action.”
Mayweather vs. McGregor goes down live on Showtime pay-per-view (PPV) from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada later this month (August 26, 2017).
