SITTING at a restaurant overlooking the famous Copacabana beach, the events of Tuesday morning at the Riocentro Pavilion are still playing on Jamie Conlan’s mind.
He just can’t shake that horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Conlan had to watch from the sidelines as younger brother Michael ended up on the receiving end of one of the most contentious decisions at this summer’s Olympic Games, shipping a shocking unanimous points defeat to Russia’s Vladimir Nikitin.
Having lived together until last year, Conlan has seen at close quarters just how much Michael has put into his dream of becoming the first Irishman to win a boxing gold medal since Michael Carruth in 1992.
He knows the sacrifices that have been made, the work his 24-year-old sibling put in to give himself the best possible chance of success at what is expected to be his final amateur competition before joining the pro ranks.
To see it taken away in such sickening fashion was hard to take. “We’re still quite numb about it - it’s a bitter pill to swallow,” said Conlan, himself an unbeaten 17-0 featherweight.
“Tuesday was heartbreaking – heartbreaking knowing you’ve watched someone up close put in countless hours, years and years of work, and for it to be taken out of his hands. If he’d been beaten by a better man, you’d hold up your hands and say ‘listen, you give it your all’, but he wasn’t.”
Conlan and his family stood in stunned silence underneath the stands at Riocentro, waiting for Michael to make his way back after media duties.
While tears were shed as tensions ran high, it was his younger brother – the man who was wronged – whose spirits lifted first out of everybody.
Jamie continued: “Mick’s actually surprisingly positive, more than I thought he would be. Out of us all, he’s dealing with it the best. He knows nothing can be done now and he just has to look to the future.
“The rest of us were just numb. We just stood there flabbergasted after. Me, my mum, Shauna, Paddy Barnes’s dad and Katie [Taylor] were just in shock.
“We were underneath waiting on him to come through and I didn’t say anything for ages, I couldn’t get my head round it.
“When he [Michael] came out and seen us for the first time, he broke down and was distraught, he was in a bad way, but literally five minutes after he had a smile on his face, chasing his daughter around the stadium.
“That changed his mood. She was who he was doing it for. He’ll deal with this in his way, like he did after the fight. A lot of people would maybe have sat back, took it on the chin and said ‘it happens’, but he wears his heart on his sleeve.”
Knowing his brother as he does, Jamie feels Michael will use that injustice as motivation when he becomes a professional – the same way Evander Holyfield moved on from a poor decision in 1984, as did Roy Jones jnr four years later and Floyd Mayweather jnr at Atlanta 1996.
All three went on to enjoy hugely successful careers in the paid ranks, and Conlan feels his brother is also destined for greatness.
He also feels the high-profile nature of Tuesday’s fight could actually work in his favour.
“We spoke about this last night – me, him and Paddy [Barnes] – and, in six or seven years, he’ll look at this as a turning point in his career.
“At the minute it feels like the worst thing, but it could help him in his professional career because, worldwide now, he’s known. A success story sells well, but a controversy sells even better. People seem to grip onto it.
“Those other guys [Holyfield, Jones jnr and Mayweather jnr] have used it to do better things, with that slight chip on their shoulder, to keep things in your own control and out of people’s hands.
“If he [Michael] gets a quarter or a half of what they’ve achieved, he’ll be very happy, but I fully expect him to follow in their footsteps and become a professional world champion, because I’ve never seen anyone like him.”
