Paulie Malignaggi has backed Jake Paul to knock out Conor McGregor if the pair were to meet in a super-fight, declaring that the legendary UFC star is "gutless".
Former world champion boxer Malignaggi infamously sparred 12 rounds with McGregor in the lead-up to his fight with Floyd Mayweather in 2017, after which the pair fell out almost instantly. The Irishman's team leaked footage of him putting the American down, while he has claimed that he got the better of the exchanges.
And speaking with Betway, Malignaggi explained that he feels Paul has the boxing skills to take it to his rival, who the boxer feels doesn't have the heart to take that sort of pressure. The YouTuber-turned-boxer has been calling for a bout with McGregor for years, while the Irishman often disregards his efforts.
"I think Jake Paul would knock Conor out," Malignaggi said. "Conor is too susceptible to those loopy shots and Jake hits hard enough that only needs to hit you with one or two of them. I think Conor has decent sharp shots but I don't think Conor has the discipline to stay with those little sharp shots for a certain amount of rounds. I think he would fall apart because he doesn't have a lot of heart.
"Conor has no balls. If you take Conor a few rounds he already has this very big discomfort and mistakes naturally create themselves. You don't even have to create them anymore. I think he would do okay for a couple of rounds, but if you didn't get Jake out in a couple of rounds, I think Jake would knock him out, and he would probably knock on out with a big shot.
"Conor’s a frontrunner, a guy who's good early on. But as a fight wears on he breaks down. He doesn't have the character to withstand a long fight. Typically frontrunners have no heart. So I think Jake would have a disadvantage early because I think Conor's sharper with his one-two.
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"But I think as the fight wears on Jake would be pressuring him and using his natural weight and size over him, I think he would eventually fall apart, make the mistakes, and those defensive lapses would would hurt him. Jake's pretty strong, and Jake's boxing is, you know it's not terrible. It's decent, so I think it would come into play."
And Malignaggi feels that Paul will also defeat UFC legend Nate Diaz when the pair meet later in the year. They will compete in Texas on August 5, with McGregor picking in favour of his two-time octagon foe when asked about the bout.
"Nate is the best stand up fighter from MMA that Jake’s fought," Malignaggi added. "The other guys had no stand up fighting ability at all, but I do think that Nate is sort of a shot guy. I don't know how much Nate has left. I think he's going to have a lot of heart and character but he seems kind of shot to me. The key to the fight is how much does Nate have left. How shot or not shot is Nate?"
