Conor McGregor declines Vasyl Lomachenko’s offer to step in as a sparring partner.
Conor McGregor’s recent rifts with sparring partners have been a talked about topic, as of late. This all stemmed from his conflict with former world champion Paulie Malignaggi about some leaked boxing photos and supposed “mistreatment” and other issues.
Malignaggi’s departure urged other boxers to offer to step in as a replacement, such as Chris Van Heerden, and most recently, Vasyl Lomachenko, who recently tweeted McGregor to make his intentions known.
McGregor, for his part, had nothing much to say about Van Heerden, who he already had worked with in the past. But as for Lomachenko, he just does not see a fit.
“First of all, he’s 120-pounds,” McGregor said (via MMA Weekly). “Second of all, he’s a southpaw. He’s pretty skilled, but he’s not applicable for this camp.”
Lomachenko is coming off a recent victory against Miguel Marriaga, where he won via seventh round stoppage to retain his WBO junior lightweight (130 lbs) title. For McGregor, the Ukrainian rising boxing star should be more focused on facing bigger challenges such as undefeated super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux.
“I’m more of a Rigondeaux man, myself,” McGregor said before his open workouts on Friday. “Where was the mention of that fight? That’s the fight you need to make, (Lomachenko) didn’t even seem interested in the last one, I think.”
“I think he needs to challenge himself more.”
Mayweather vs. McGregor takes place 14 days from now, on August 26th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.