WHAT’S next? That’s the question everyone is asking and that is great news for Michael Conlan who silenced the last doubters and grabbed mainstream public attention with a terrific performance against TJ Doheny last Friday night.
He has options against Nottingham’s featherweight champion Leigh Wood (in December) or against the winner of next month’s super-bantamweight unification battle between Stephen Fulton and Brandon Figueroa (St Patrick’s weekend in New York next year).
A clash with Wood at featherweight could be the favourite but, then again, a last hurrah at super-bantam makes sense too. Conlan says he wants to savour the memory of a night that went so well for him and for Conlan Boxing before he sets his mind on the next step, the biggest step.
“It’s one of those ones that you want to talk about,” said Conlan.
“Sometimes people, myself included, are too quick to ask ‘what’s next?’ but I’ve decided not to do that this time, I’ve decided to bask in this love bubble that I’ve been in since the victory for a few more days before I go on holiday. I’m still buzzing, I’m still on a high… It was amazing.”
The rain clouds made their way around Falls Park on Friday night and joyous fans came out in their thousands and made their voices heard throughout a succession of excellent undercard fights.
Then Conlan took centre stage against Doheny and produced the best performance of his professional career by a distance. He jabbed and hooked, countered off the back foot, went on the attack, slipped and weaved and had the teak-tough Laois native down in the fifth.
He was a clear winner on points.
“I’ve been saying for day one – and at times I have doubted it myself because things do take time – that the better the opponent, the better you’ll see from me,” he said.
“I think that played out a lot on Friday night. I was in against the best opponent and I came up with my best performance in the most pressurized conditions yet for me because everything was at stake. I was running the show myself with Jamie so I had that pressure and then I had the fight which was a world cup semi-final basically, there was an awful lot of risk against the best opponent I’ve faced.
“I think it just brought the best out in me and everyone saw that. I felt it was easy – there were times when TJ had little spurts but it was nothing I couldn’t handle with ease. I was able to nullify his good work and his success and just counter with my own.
“What a tough dude he was and he needed to be in serious condition to keep going after taking all those bodyshots. He was eating bodyshots all night and you could tell that they were hurting him – I could see him wince.
“He did 15 weeks’ of training for that fight and he was in the best condition he could possibly have been in. He came to win and he played the villain part very well – you need a dance partner in that this game and he was the perfect dance partner.
“I always knew he was going to be tough but he said to me afterwards that he got very tentative to throw a punch because every time he threw, my counters were too quick and too sharp for him. I did say to him: ‘Well you shouldn’t have told me I couldn’t crack an egg because I made sure I cracked you!’ We just laughed about it.
“I showed I could hurt a top quality opponent, I showed I could take shots, I ticked a lot of boxes even in my own head.
“I was really happy all round, all the pressure I took on for that fight paid off and I started getting a bit of credit which I’ve been craving.”
The Falls Park Feile an Phobail show was the first promotion from ‘Conlan Boxing’ which is run by Michael and his elder brother Jamie and, as debuts go, it was a spectacular success. The undercard fighters all provided rich entertainment with the highlights coming from Padraig McCrory, Tyrone McKenna and Lee McGregor. Between those three, Limerick’s Paddy Donovan only had 82 seconds to shine but he showed real class in his stoppage victory.
“I can’t thank Jamie enough,” said Michael.
“I know the stress that I give him (laughs) nevermind the show itself. That was an awful big show to take on for your first one and I think he pulled if off very, very well. There were some fantastic fights – a coming-of-age fight for Pody McCrory, Tyrone McKenna was in a barn-burner and the Lee McGregor fight, the way he gritted his teeth and came back to get the victory, was fantastic.
“The weather wasn’t looking good for us at all and then it was like somebody said: ‘Turn the showers off!’ It all worked out and it was like it was meant to be like that so I’m very proud and I probably won’t appreciate the magnitude of it until I’m finished boxing.
“I could see the pride on my mother’s face and on Shauna’s face and when I spoke to my Da I could see how proud he is. It’s special.”
Of course the question must be asked: What’s next then Mick?
“I have options and I’m not going to rush into it,” he answered.
“I’ll see what happens on September 11 in the 122lb division. We have the featherweight option of Leigh Wood which we could do in December and that would be fantastic.
“There’s no point in me saying who or what is next because I don’t know. Once I get back from holiday I’ll sit with Jamie and Adam and we’ll pick the route to go.”
BELFAST fighter Cathy McAleer (4-1) returns to the ring in Malta this weekend determined to put her first career defeat behind her this weekend.
The Kellie Maloney-managed fighter takes on Eva Hrkotova [0-6] over six rounds on a Fight Zone broadcast card on August 13.
It’s McAleer’s first fight since she lost to Gabriella Mezei in Sheffield back in December last year.
The former Down Ladies’ footballer and karate and kickboxing world champion was due to return on the stacked Celtic Clash 11 card in Alicante earlier this summer but her opponent pulled out at short notice and a replacement couldn’t be brought in.
Meanwhile, Monaghan welterweight Stephen McKenna is in action at the Coventry Skydome on September 10. Unbeaten McKenna will feature live on Channel 5 on the undercard of the Sam Eggington headlined show.
