Two division world champion Paulie Malignaggi believes UFC superstar can take advantage of certain things and have his moments in the upcoming showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Mayweather (49-0, 26 KOs), a five division world champion, is returning to the ring after a two year stint in retirement. He walked away from the sport in September of 2015 after dominating Andre Berto over twelve rounds.

McGregor, who is 28 years old, has youth on side as he takes on the 40 year old veteran - but the talented MMA fighter has never had a single professional boxing match.  

Before the fight, Malignaggi saw the contest as a complete mismatch and saw no reason for the bout to take place.

But he's developed a different opinion on the matter, after being hired by McGregor as a sparring partner.

Malignaggi sparred eight hard rounds with McGregor on Friday. Afterwards, the Brooklyn native was sporting a decent shiner on his left eye and some facial bruising from the hard exchanges in the gym.

The sparring session, along with being exposed to McGregor's game plan for the fight, has made Malignaggi a believe that the MMA fighter is possibly going to make things much tougher than anyone would expect.

"I think you'd have to favor Mayweather but Conor has been working on tactics and certain things that should give him moments in the fight and certain moments can become bigger moments," Malignaggi told Sky Sports News.

"It's all about capitalising on moments that present themselves on fight night and only Conor can control that. Overall, looking at the big picture of course Mayweather is a big favourite - he's the guy that has been doing it for a lot longer.

"But he hasn't fought in two years which is a long lay-off. I think Conor can exploit the fact that the energy levels of the guy in front of him may not match Conor's because he has got more youth on his side. It's hard to pick weaknesses in a guy like Floyd Mayweather because he is so good and he is such a complete fighter but Conor is bringing a different style to the table, a different toolbox so to speak. Maybe those tools will work maybe they won't but we'll find out on fight night."

The contest takes place on August 26th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.