Paulie Malignaggi has advised Conor McGregor to retire from fighting after he “got smashed around” by Floyd Mayweather.
Malignaggi had been in negotiations to take on the UFC star late last year but now, after those talks broke down, the American thinks McGregor should quit fighting for good.
The pair were famously embroiled in a row when Malignaggi left McGregor’s training camp early after pictures of the retired boxer hitting the canvas were released on social media.
Speaking at the launch of ‘Ultimate Boxxer’, the former world champion said: “He got smashed around by Mayweather. He won’t come near me now and, frankly, I don’t think he should fight at all.
“If he’s smart he should take a hike. He’s not a very good boxer and in MMA, he has to fight some tough contenders.
“Unless he vacates his UFC title and takes on a lesser contender, which I can see him doing, I wouldn’t fight at all if I was him.”
McGregor was convincingly stopped by Mayweather when he made his boxing debut in August and the former pound-for-pound No 1 has recently flirted with – via social media – the idea of switching codes himself to the octagon.
“Mayweather is just pulling everyone’s chains so to speak, especially McGregor fans who are so mad that their guy got beat up and smacked around.
“They want to see Conor get his own back but Mayweather is teasing, he’s not going in the cage.”