In a surprise move, Conor McGregor has reportedly signed on former 2 division world champion Paulie Malignaggi (36-8, 7 KOs) as one of his sparring partners to help him prepare for his August 26 fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Malignaggi, 36, recently stepped away from boxing in ending his 16-year pro career following an 8th round knockout loss to British domestic level fighter Sam Eggington on March 4.

Trainer Nacho Beristain is picking Gennady “GGG” Golovkin to knockout Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in their fight on September 16. Beristain says that if Canelo (49-1-1, 34 KOs) fights in the same manner that he recently did in his win over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. last month on May 6, then Golovkin will beat him, because he’s missing something from his game in the defensive side of his game.

Former WBA World heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (31-1, 23 KOs) will be fighting this Saturday night on July 1 against fringe contender Andriy Rudenko (31-2, 19 KOs) in a 12 round fight for the vacant WBO International title at the Luzhniki in Moscow, Russia. Rudenko is rated #11 WBO, #13 IBF. This is a big step down for Povetkin from his previous fight against Johann Duhaupas, who would likely make easy work of a small heavyweight like the 6-foot Rudenko.

Jeff Horn (16-0-1, 11 KOs) says he’s been studying Juan Manuel Marquez’s brutal knockout of Manny Pacquiao from 2012 so that he can learn from him, and he plans on following what he learned this Saturday night when he faces the Filipino star at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia.

Vasyl Lomachenko (8-1, 6 KOs) has a big fight if he’s interested in fighting 2-time Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux (17-0, 11 KOs). The unbeaten Cuban talent has called out Lomachenko repeatedly in the last week asking initially for a fight at 126. That offer did not perk up interest by Lomachenko thus far. Rigondeaux has now offered to move up 2 weight classes to fight Lomachenko at 130. Rigondeaux says he’s still not hearing Lomachenko agree to the fight despite him being willing to fight in his weight class at super featherweight.

Manny Pacquiao isn’t looking past his mandatory challenger Jeff Horn this Saturday night on July 1 in their fight on ESPN at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia. Pacquiao will in foreign territory, fighting in front of a large crowd of Horn’s boxing fans. There will be over 50,000 fans crowing the Suncorp Stadium.

Ring Magazine heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) says he’s the fattest he’s ever been before in his career. Fury, 28, figures he’s got 8 stones [112 pounds] to lose before he’s back at his old fighting weight. Fury he’ll be back inside the ring in September or October. He wants to fight heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, who he refers to as a “weight-lifter.”

Eddie Hearn, the promoter for IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte, is interested in having unbeaten WBC champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder travel over to the UK to fight his two heavyweights, starting with Whyte. As of now, the cash isn’t there from Hearn’s side to get Deontay to fight the once beaten Whyte in the UK.

Amir Khan didn’t like the way Kell Brook went out on one knee in his 11th round knockout loss to Errol Spence Jr. on May 27 at Bramall Lane in Sheffield, England. Khan feels that if he fights Brook, he’ll just quit against him just like he did in his fight with Spence. It’s difficult to imagine Brook quitting against Khan like he did with Spence, but you never know.

BRISBANE—Philippine boxing great Manny Pacquiao arrived in Australia ahead of his title fight with Jeff Horn and declared: “I will be going home as world champion.”

The “Pac Man” touched down in Brisbane late Saturday from Manila with a large entourage for his World Boxing Organization welterweight title bout at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane next weekend.

Manny Pacquiao will be fighting next Saturday night against Jeff Horn on ESPN on July 1 at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia. This fight is not on pay-per-view. The fight will be in front of 55,000 mostly Australians in a sold out stadium. Pacquiao is the visitor against a welterweight contender that is still unproven.

The August 26th circus fight between inexperienced novice fighter Conor McGregor and the biggest star in boxing Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be going for around $100 on Showtime PPV, according to ESPN. The price of the fight is going to leave a lot of fans put off with having to pay such a steep price for a contest that could leave them with very little value.