Commonwealth super-flyweight championship: Anthony Nelson (11-0)
v Jamie Conlan (15-0) (Saturday, live on Box Nation)
JAMIE CONLAN is poised to make real progress this year, but he is well aware everything could quickly unravel if he doesn’t deal with Anthony Nelson on Saturday.
MGM fighter Conlan has his sights set on a world title showdown with long-term rival Paul Butler - possibly in Belfast this September - but first up is unbeaten title holder at London’s Copper Box Arena.
“Hopefully, the Butler fight will happen,” said Conlan.
“But Anthony Nelson is in the way because, if I lose or I don’t look good enough, everything else crumbles or takes three or four steps back, so I have to go out there and do the job.”
Conlan is based in Marbella at the MGM gym these days and he has been putting his time there to good use in preparation for Saturday night’s fight.
“Every fight now is a world title fight and, even for this one, we’ve brought in top class sparring with the European bantamweight champion Ryan Farrag, who pushed me in sparring,” he said.
“We’ve been doing eight and 10 rounds together and working hard. Every box has to be ticked now and Anthony Nelson is another box. He’ll test me, but I’ll match him because Butler and the world titles and eliminators go out the window if Saturday is a bad night.”
Conlan finished last year with shoulder injury problems, but he says they are all behind him now: “Everything is grand. I did the right thing, I took Christmas off and relaxed, rested. Then, I did all my strength work and got strong and I’ve had no problems whatsoever in camp.
“Everything was done to perfection and I’m really happy with camp - I know everyone says it - but this has been an amazing camp. Everything I’ve been told to do, I’ve done.”
Nelson is game, but the word is he is prone to leaving his chin exposed when he throws punches. The South Shields fighter is taking a step up in class on Saturday and Conlan will look to finish this by the halfway point.
