Legendary boxing coach Freddie Roach says he was 'very surprised' by what he saw from the footage of Conor McGregor sparring against Paulie Malignaggi.
A two-weight world champion, Malignaggi was brought into McGregor's camp as one of his main sparring partners for the upcoming fight against Floyd Mayweather.
The relationship lasted just two sessions before Malignaggi departed in acrimonious circumstances following the leaking of images from their second time in the ring together. Those images showed McGregor in a favourable light, as did the brief footage which Dana White released just over a week later.
Speaking in a video for Fight Hype, Roach questioned why Malignaggi took the job with McGregor - 'Did he really need the money as a sparring partner? It was very odd.'
Roach had previously called McGregor 'not that good of a fighter' but now says he 'looked pretty good'.
Paulie's a great kid but did he really need the money as a sparring partner. It was very odd. One guy's active, one guy's not.
Paulie looked like he got beat up a little bit in the tapes that they’ve shown, but we don’t know if the tapes show the other way.
With what’s out there, he looked pretty good. He has a strong left hand, and he does have power. I was very surprised.
I wouldn't say [it was] good technique, Paulie hasn't fought in a long, long time. He's been an announcer and did make a comeback fight here and there.
Maybe he’ll be able to do something. He did fight a legitimate fighter, a world-class fighter, a two-time champion at one time.
Of course, McGregor looking better in sparring than Roach had expected still doesn't mean he has a chance of beating Mayweather. Rather, it's simply that McGregor - a superb athlete - has brought his boxing skills to a level that Roach had not anticipated.
