Artem Lobov: I Won’t Shake Paulie Malignaggi’s Hand, But I’ll Shake His Brain
Artem Lobov won’t be shaking Paulie Malignaggi’s hand after their bare-knuckle boxing fight tomorrow night (Sat. June 22, 2019).
Speaking to TMZ Sports, Lobov noted he won’t be shaking Malignaggi’s hand when it’s all said and done tomorrow night, but he’ll shake his brain:
“I won’t be shaking his hand, but I might shake his brain,” Lobov said.
Lobov was then asked about if he has spoken to his good friend and training partner Conor McGregor before the fight. The beef between Lobov and Malignaggi began due to Malignaggi’s past issues with the McGregor camp. Malignaggi was a former sparring partner for McGregor ahead of his 2017 boxing match with Floyd Mayweather.
However, after McGregor released a clip of what looked like him knocking Malignaggi down, which Malignaggi claims was a trip, “The Magic Man” left holding a bitter grudge:
“Yeah, absolutely we spoke about the fight,” Lobov said. “Before every fight we always exchange strategies, we always help the other guy out into planning the strategy and how we’re going to approach this fight. But in terms of this fight, we have everything broken down at the time of the sparring happened.
“We already knew what we’re dealing with. There’s nothing to be amazed by, there’s nothing special about him. This guy has no power. Fragile little hands, plucked out eyebrows, he’s hiding his f*cking bald patch.”
Given McGregor has sparred with Malignaggi already, Lobov was asked if McGregor had any advice for him before he takes the former boxing world champion on in bare-knuckle competition:
“Yeah, absolutely, like I said, we broke down the whole sparring,” Lobov said. “So I know his weakness and I know his strengths. I was getting ready for the best version of Paulie even though I knew only a fat mass was going to show up.”
BKFC 6 goes down from the Florida State Fairgrounds Expo Hall in Tampa, Florida. It kicks off at 9 p.m. ET on pay-per-view (PPV). You can view the event on FITE TV for $39.99.
Check out the full BKFC 6 fight card below:
- Paulie Malignaggi vs. Artem Lobov
- Chris Leben vs. Dakota Cochrane
- Reginald Barnett Jr vs. Johnny Bedford
- Joey Beltran vs. Jamie Campbell
- Tom Shoaff vs. Julian Lane
- Abdiel Velazquez vs. Travis Thompson
- Elvin Leon Brito vs. Jim Alers