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Morning Report: Hall of Fame boxing referee who trained Conor McGregor says fouling won’t be an issue against Mayweather

Last week, disgruntled former training partner Paulie Malignaggi warned that Conor McGregor was a dirty fighter who might get disqualified against Floyd Mayweather, Jr if he continued to use the roughhouse tactics he employed in sparring. But now, the man who oversaw those sparring sessions is refuting that claim.

Hall of Fame boxing referee Joe Cortez, who was hired by the McGregor camp to oversee all of his sparring session and train McGregor in the intricacies of the boxing ruleset, recently spoke with The Mac Life, saying that McGregor is an excellent student of the game and that he was “pleasantly surprised” with how quick McGregor learned.