MICHAEL Conlan and Tyrone McCullagh will put their friendship on hold and let their punches fly in tonight's National elite Championships bantamweight final.
The Belfast buddies are two of six Ulster boxers in finals action at the National Stadium tonight - the others are Paddy Barnes (light-fly), Stephen Donnelly (welterweight), Sean McComb (lightweight) and Steven Ward (heavyweight).
Conlan and McCullagh meet for the first time in their careers in the only all-Ulster final on the 10-contest bill and Conlan is bidding to become the first fighter since Damaen Kelly to win national senior titles at fly and bantamweight level.
The Olympic Games bronze medallist is the clear favourite, and he's confident that he and McCullagh will resume their friendship after tonight's showdown for the title, left vacant after defending champion Declan Geraghty moved up to lightweight.
"I've never fought him, we're actually mates - we went away on holiday together," explained St John Bosco's Conlan.
"Tomorrow night we'll not be friends in the ring but we'll be friends after it. There's nothing awkward about it." He added, joking: "It'll probably be awkward after it if he doesn't speak to me after I beat him."
Conlan won three titles in-a-row at flyweight before moving up to bantamweight. he explained that he had naturally outgrown the 52kg fly limit.
"I couldn't have made the weight," he said. "I'd just grown out of it. If I could have made it I'd probably still be there but I would eventually have gone up.
"I've stepped up now and I have to win the seniors before I go anywhere."
A win tonight would practically guarantee Conlan a spot at this summer's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. He's keen to win a gold medal to make up for the disappointment of losing in Delhi in 2010, but he won't look too far ahead.
"The only thing I'm looking at the minute is tomorrow night," he said yesterday.
"That's the main goal - to win the national title and I'll have to win the nationals next year before I go anywhere," he added in reference to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. He doesn't expect his showdown with holy Family's former european Championships bronze medalist McCullagh to be a treat for the fans.
"It's a hard one, it's going to be a hard one," he said.
"Tyrone is a more awkward fighter, so it's going to be an awkward fight and it probably won't be very exciting.
"I'm looking forward to it but I'll have to keep my wits about me the whole fight and keep my shape because it'll be nip and tuck the whole way."
Conlan was seen as a shoo-in for the bantamweight title well before the first punch was thrown. He says that the weight of expectation brings its own challenges.
"It's a hard pressure to take sometimes," he said.
"You're expected to do well and even if you do well and if you perform badly people will say 'he's not as good as everybody thinks he is'.
"You just have to go out and forget about winning, just try and perform to your best."
* Further build-up P55