Former boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi and UFC veteran Artem Lobov got into a squabble during a press conference this Monday. Held for their upcoming Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship bout, the situation got to the point where Malignaggi spat at Lobov.
It’s official now, with a location and everything. Paulie Maligniaggi and Artem Lobov will face off at BKFC 6 on June 22. The bout will be held at Florida State Fairgrounds Entertainment Hall in Tampa.
Before stepping inside the ring, the two rivals held a news conference on Monday at Dave & Buster’s in Times Square, and it went exactly how you’d expect. Neither Malignaggi nor former Lobov had anything nice to say about each other.
The two have been on a collision course ever since Paulie Malignaggi had a falling out with Conor McGregor (Lobov’s teammate). He helped the Irishman prepare for his boxing debut opposite Floyd Mayweather.
Lobov, being a close friend to McGregor, has always supported him andhen Malignaggi returned to active competition under the new Bare Knuckle rules, they quickly took aim at each other, mostly because of the friction with McGregor.
Things nearly got out of control quickly when Malignaggi tried to bop Lobov over the head with the microphone. The two fighters were restrained, though Malignaggi carried on with threat after threat.
Paulie Malignaggi said;
“My hands are frickin’ like razor blades, no doubt. First of all, get a good look at this guy’s face right now, the way it looks right now. Because next month I’m gonna make it all look like a road map. Back in the day, before we had MapQuest and Waze and everything, we had road maps. You’d pull them out, they had a bunch of lines all over them. I’m gonna make this guy’s face look like a road map next month. Permanently, because these scars are not gonna go away.”
More threats and insults ensued.
“I wasn’t made for this, right? I wasn’t made for this bare knuckle stuff. One thing about my career, I’ve always been known as one of the toughest guys in boxing, besides winning two world titles. This guy here, who’s known as a punching bag with a loud mouth, was known as the guy who just trained with Conor McGregor. What is this guy’s accomplishments?”
It has certainly helped Paulie Malignaggi regain the spotlight and gives BKFC some drama to build around as the promotion tries to gain traction.
