Boxing match cancelled; Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo trade vicious verbal blows

Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo did not fight, but instead sat in a boxing ring to tell each other some brutal home truths.

The ex-MotoGP rivals had bizarrely promoted a boxing match to finally settle their grudge.

But when the time came on Thursday night, the boxing itself was postponed.

Instead, Pedrosa and Lorenzo interviewed each other for Spanish TV DAZN (for whom they now both work on MotoGP broadcasts).

Pedrosa was quoted by Marca as saying to Lorenzo’s face: "Now that I have you in front of me, as my rival in this ring, before the fight I would like to know who I am facing.

“Therefore, my first question is very simple: who are you?"

Lorenzo responded: "I am a curious person, very competitive, as you know.

“A perfectionist, it is very difficult to work with me, and with a lot of ambition.”

Lorenzo said to Pedrosa: "Our rivalry is known to everyone.

“But, at some point did you come to hate me?"

Pedrosa answered: "Of course, don't doubt it.

“I can't deny that there have been moments in which my direct rival, and my direct motivation, was you.

“Therefore, at the same time, I came, at times, to hate you.”

Lorenzo said: "I have been very shy and insecure, but I have always tried to transform myself, through books and other ways, to change that way of thinking into positive things.

“That shyness turned into cockiness and arrogance so my fame was deserved.

“I always liked those arrogant and self-confident characters and I wanted to be like them: Muhammad Ali, Cantona, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mourinho..."

Lorenzo and Pedrosa discuss infamous handshake

The most notorious moment of the Pedrosa vs Lorenzo rivalry was at the Spanish MotoGP in 2008.

The King of Spain demanded that the two rivals shake hands.

Lorenzo asked Pedrosa why he didn’t want to shake hands.

Pedrosa told him: "You came to MotoGP and you didn't speak well of me.

“I'm not a fake person, and since I didn't like you or what you said about me, I wasn't willing to give you part of myself.

“I didn't want to shake your hand, but I saw myself forced. I didn't feel it.”

Lorenzo later said: "A lot of times I wanted to punch a rival, but I couldn't.

“If there were no rules, I would have done it.”

Lorenzo also said: "I get very frustrated when things don't go as I imagined and the team doesn't provide what I expect.

“I get frustrated and it's very difficult to work with me.

“I've had very difficult situations in life, in which I've had to take the bull by the horns, turn around and kill him.

“With my father, [ex-manager Dani Amatriain], Marcos, the Treasury, when I exploded in Japan... I always say that you only find unconditional love in your mother. And, if you're lucky, in your father.

"Friendship is conditional.”